Symmetrical arrangement, 280
Squared effects, 281
Simple treatment of little copy, 282
Character in letterhead design, 283
Colonial rule border panel, 284
Advertising a meeting, 285
A well-treated panel heading, 286
Suggestion of the ecclesiastic, 287
Three lines of equal length, 288
For the general store, 289
Treatment suggesting the business, 290
Novel and dignified treatment, 291
A distinctive heading, 292
Decorative initials in heading, 293
Just a neat typographic arrangement, 294
Dignity in letterhead designing, 295
A heading in two groups, 296
Uncommon distribution of color, 297
Double-panel treatment, 298
Distinction in letterhead design, 299
An ornament with a touch of color, 300
A cross-lined panel, 301
A German idea, 302
Note-sheet typography, 303
Humor in a notehead, 304
Conventional treatment of an envelop corner, 305
Artistic envelop treatment, 306
Envelop corner in text letter, 307
Harmony of device and typography treatment, 308
Elaborate envelop corner, 309
BILLHEADS AND STATEMENTS
_Page 119_
Features of the average invoice, 310
Converting letterhead into billhead, 311
The non-stock-ruled type of billhead, 312 (insert)
Italic lower-case and Roman capitals, 313 (insert)
Billhead suggesting early printing, 314
Good taste on billheads, 315
Interesting border treatment, 316
Large setting of a billhead, 317
Invoice with many columns, 318
Decorative type treatment that is suitable, 319
An uncommon arrangement, 320
Credit bill made from billhead, 321
Professional bills, 322
PACKAGE LABELS
_Page 123_
Catching attention at a distance, 323 (insert)
Emphasizing daintiness and delicacy, 324 (insert)
Lettering for typographic study, 325
A label rich in suggestion, 326
Ruled line for the address, 327
Black lettering with contrasts, 328
Artistic quality thru typography, 329
Study in black and white, 330
A Caslon specimen, 331
Harmony of border and lettering, 332
Possible of typographic improvement, 333
Freedom of treatment, 334
Label used for a special list, 335
BUSINESS CARDS
_Page 127_
Standardizing the arrangement, 336
Dignified treatment for a well-known house, 337
Forceful card treatment, 338 (insert)
An unconventional effect, 339 (insert)
A black monogram that is attractive, 340 (insert)
The monogram in color, 341
An uncommon typographic effect, 342
High-hat-and-frock-coat treatment, 343
Business card in blocked capitals, 344
An underprinting decorative device, 345
Roman capitals with italic lower-case, 346
Modern German card treatment, 347
Decorative style suited to business, 348
Italic is sometimes pleasing, 349
A strong design for special purposes, 350
Classic arrangement in one size, 351
A large amount of copy, 352
Highly decorative, 353
Horizontal lines well employed, 354
For general purposes, 355
THE BLOTTER
_Page 131_
A model blotter, 356 (insert)
Modest amount of copy, 357
A convention-hall blotter, 358
Strong but pleasing contrasts, 359
Suggestive of an architectural panel, 360
Treatment that survives the test, 361
Neat, refined arrangement, 362
Type matter that fills the blotter, 363
A blotter arranged the narrow way, 364
Harmonizing typography, 365
POSTERS, CAR CARDS, WINDOW CARDS
_Page 135_
Typographic poster in Roman capitals, 366 (insert)
Lettered poster worthy of study, 367
A car card that has suggestion, 368
Little copy and strong contrasts, 369
Unique insurance advertising, 370
Simplicity worthy of adaptation, 371
Refined theatrical printing, 372 (insert)
A strong poster on plain lines, 373 (insert)
Type treatment that suggests Franklin’s time, 374
Poster in Shakespearean typography, 375
Simple typographic treatment, 376
Colonial style on a window card, 377
Suggestion for an excursion card, 378
ADVERTISEMENTS
_Page 130_
Newspaper advertisement arranged without thought, 379
Easier to read and more pleasing to look at, 380
A city department-store advertisement, 381 (insert)
The conversational style, 382
Name and trademark sell the goods, 383
One word thoroly advertised, 384
Interesting use of white space, 385
A bordered advertisement, 386
Study in advertising values, 387
Pictorial store advertisement, 388
The store name does not appear, 389
Four country-newspaper advertisements, 390 (insert)
A good-looking advertisement, 391
Suggested by building architecture, 392
A long list of agents, 393
Planned to sell high-priced cars, 394
Roman lettering and architecture, 395
Uncommon placing of blank space, 396
Modest display of a magazine advertisement, 397
Blank space emphasizes illustration, 398
A country-newspaper advertisement, 399
Classified advertisements, 400
NEWSPAPERS
_Page 147_
First number of America’s first newspaper, 401
The first newspaper issued regularly, 402
Make-up of a suburban newspaper, 403 (insert)
Front-page make-up of a Hearst newspaper, 404
Same news story by the “Times,” 405
A four-deck heading, 406
Sporting-page make-up, 407
Pyramid make-up of advertisements, 408
PERIODICALS
_Page 151_
Decorative treatment of a Thanksgiving number, 409 (insert)
Dignity in make-up and typography, 410
Samples of actual type matter, 410-A, 422-A, 424-A
Typographical harmony of heading and text, 411
Advertising the story to the readers, 412
Inserted feature panel, 413
Illustration separated from heading, 414
Headings and text in same face, 415
Use of a small illustration, 416
Box headings on editorial pages, 417
Another way to feature editorials, 418
Excellent editorial typography, 419
Use of rules on editorial page, 420
News photograph on front page, 421
Fine typographic make-up, 422
Attractive first text page, 423
Running around illustration, 424
Feature page of a Christmas number, 425
Convention feature of a trade journal, 426
News headings and make-up, 427
Conservative, readable editorial page, 428
Caslon headings and old-style text, 429
Caslon typography on a magazine, 430
Typography of a pocket magazine, 431
HOUSE-ORGANS
_Page 161_
Two pages in Kennerley typography, 432 (insert)
Three pages from a quaintly-treated house-organ, 433, 434, 435
Distinctive lettering and typography, 436
Interpolated paragraphs in italic, 437
A house-organ in miniature, 438
Another on the same plan, 439
Attractive rule treatment of headings, 440
Contents outlined on cover, 441
Simple, effective typography, 442
Dark-toned typography, 443
Suitable treatment for silverware, 444
Rubricated typography on a house-organ, 445, 446
Easily read and pleasingly illustrated, 447
A typographic house-organ, 448
Editorial page typographically neat, 449
Attractive use of rules and italic, 450
Elaborate house-organ title-page, 451
A page in Cloister type, 452
Use of paragraph marks, 453
Good specimen of house-organ cover, 454
Blank space used to good advantage, 455
Cover of the “Philistine,” 456
An “almanack” feature, 457
Bodoni typography, 458
Cover of a small house-organ, 459
Suggestions for return post cards, 460, 461, 462
TYPE-FACES
_Page 169_
Comparison of the same type forms on two finishes of paper, 463
(insert)
Roman alphabet from Trajan column, 464-A
Proportions of Roman capitals, 464-B
Evolution of Roman lower-case, 465
Two standard legible type-faces, 466
Six standard representative Roman type-faces, 467
Types of Sweinheim and Pannartz, 468
Roman types of John and Wendelin of Spires, 469
Roman type-face of Nicholas Jenson, 470
Manuscript of the fifteenth century, 471
Type-face used by Paul Manutius, 472
Cloister Oldstyle as a Jenson title, 473
Type-face used by National Printing Office, 474
Comparison of old-styles, 475
Cheltenham Oldstyle in Plantin typography, 476
Type-faces used by Daniel Elzevir, 477
Roman types of Fournier, 478
Capital alphabet drawn by Moxon, 479
Moxon’s lower-case alphabet, 480
Moxon’s alphabets inked in and reduced, 479-A, 480-A
Earliest Caslon specimen sheet, 481
Two slightly different faces to Caslon fonts, 482
Baskerville types, 483
Possible descent of Scotch Roman, 484
A study in French Oldstyle, 485
Resetting in Bodoni Book, 486
Comparison of original Bodoni with present types, 487
Modern Roman of the nineteenth century in three tones, 488
Modern Roman as used on newspapers, 489
Optical changes by adding serifs, 491
Differences in serif construction, 492
Oldstyle changed to modern, 493
Modern changed to old-style, 494
Comparison of strokes, 495
Thick and thin strokes in the alphabet, 496
Serifs and stroke contrasts, 497
Vertical thick strokes, 498
Diagonal thick strokes, 499
Heavy strokes in the letter “O,” 500, 501
Letters with ascending and descending strokes, 502
Descending strokes long in lettering, 503
Cramped descenders and compressed ends, 504
Descending and ascending numerals, 505
The space between words in good lettering, 506
Lower-case letters grouped according to formation, 507
Legibility and other qualities, 508
Sizes of type set to proper lengths, 509
Ascertaining the proper optical length, 510
Moxon’s Italic capitals of 1676, 511
Italic lower-case of Moxon, 512
Resetting in Cloister types, 513
Decorated capitals or Swash letters, 514
Roman and Italic compared, 515
A few representative Italic type-faces, 516
Complete Roman and Italic Caslon alphabets, 517
Text capitals of Moxon, 518
Text lower-case of Moxon, 519
Two standard German type-faces, 520
A half-Gothic and half-Roman type, 521
Several representative Text types, 522
Block types, serifless and of one thickness of stroke, 523
Modern art poster type, 524
A bold-face from French Oldstyle, 525
A few representative bold types, 526
Eighteenth-century ornamental types of Fournier, 527-A
Early nineteenth-century ornamental types of English founders, 527-B
Recent American types of the ornamental kind, 527-C
IMPRINTS
_Page 195_
The first “imprint,” as found on Fust and Schœffer’s Psalter, 1457,
528-A (insert)
.pn=xx
Colophon and imprint by Peter Schœffer, 1476, 528-B (insert)
The first imprint-device, and three adaptations, 529
Aldus’s anchor and dolphin device, and adaptations by modern printers,
530
The most popular imprint-device as early used by printers, and modern
interpretations, 531
Arms supposedly granted the Typothetæ, German master printers, 532
The imprint-device of England’s first printer, its probable derivation,
and two notable devices evolved from it, 533
Two designs with ancient motifs, 534
The pun, as found in two ancient printers’ marks, 535
Devices used by notable printers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, 536
A printer’s device and imprint that monopolizes two-thirds of the
title-page, 536-A
Colophon-imprint by D. B. Updike, 537
The Lion of St. Mark adapted to a book on Venetian life, 538
The Lion of St. Mark and its use by the Oswald Press, 539-A, 539-B
Robert Estienne’s mark and Bruce Rogers’s adaptation, 540
An appropriate mark for a printer, 541
Use of oval shape in the designing of printers’ marks, 542
Modern imprints suggested by ancient forms, 543
Printers’ marks based upon architectural motifs, 544
An imprint that has to do with mythology, 545
The monogram is an attractive form for printers’ devices, 546
Representative of the large variety of devices in use by printers, 547
Decorative imprints constructed with typefounders’ ornaments and
suitable type-faces, 548
Type imprints and the various effects possible with them, 549
Quaint book-ending as used by Elbert Hubbard, 550
APPENDIX
HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Reproductions of more than a hundred greetings, in various forms,
received by the editors of “The American Printer.”
LIST OF DESIGNERS
PART ONE
Aldus Manutius, p. 15
Barker, Christopher, p. 18
Bodoni, John Baptist, p. 26
Bradley, Will, opp. p. 32, 33, 34
Caxton, William, p. 17
Daye, John, p. 18
Daye, Stephen, p. 19
De Vinne, Theodore L., p. 34
Franklin, Benjamin, p. 25
Fust and Schœffer, opp. p. 7
Gutenberg, Johann, p. 12, opp. p. 12
Jacobi, Charles T., p. 33
Jenson, Nicholas, p. 14
Koburger, Anthony, p. 14
MacKellar, Thomas, p. 29
Morris, William, opp. p. 27
Newcomb, Thomas, opp. p. 19
Parker, Peter, p. 24
Plantin, Christopher, p. 16, 17
Rand, George C., and Avery, p. 29, 30
Roberts, James, p. 20
Sensenschmidt, J., opp. p. 14
Thomas, Isaiah, p. 28
Whittingham, Charles, p. 21, 32
PART TWO
(_Figures refer to the example numbers_)
Adams-Brander Company, 301
Advertisers Press, 300
Anger, Harry A., 121, 292, 296
Baker, William Henry, 155, 156, 239, 340, 457, 458, 462
Bartlett-Orr Press, 335
Becker, August, 362
Beran, C. R., 207
Blanchard Press, 170
Bradley, Will, 62, 76, 100, 139, 167, 211, 219, 237, 339, 409, 425, 430
Bradley, William Aspenwall, 141
Cadillac Printing Company, 187
Calkins & Holden, 384
Calumet Press, 241, 245
Capon, Charles R., 283, 311, 326, 454
Carr, Horace, 252, 361
Chasmar-Winchell Press, 195
Cleland, T. M., 49, 160, 175, 176, 188, 233, 250, 394
Colonial Press, 136, 137
Cook Printing Company, 124
Cooper, Frederick G., 338
Cooper, Oswald, 234, 235, 328
Corday & Gross, 172, 295
Crittenden, Lee L., 204, 351
Currier, Everitt R., 230, 231, 448
De Vinne Press, 217
De Vinne, Theodore L., 144
Douglas, Lester, 423
Dunn, H. H., 367
Dwiggins, Will, 177, 435
Fell Company, William F., 289, 325
Fleming & Carnrick, 96
French, George, 126, 127, 294
Frommader, E. A., 363
Gilliss, Walter, 183, 184, 410, 411
Glover, John, 304
Goudy, Frederic W., 142, 149, 170, 334, 366
Government Printshop, Berlin, 118
Gress, Edmund G., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20,
21, 22, 25, 26, 27-A, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, 48, 58,
64, 65, 68, 69, 82, 85, 86, 106, 107, 115, 116, 119, 168, 169, 171,
200, 205, 208, 214, 218, 220, 240, 242, 243, 246, 256, 257, 258,
259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271,
272, 273, 274, 276, 277, 278, 282, 285, 287, 289, 291, 307, 310,
313, 316, 317, 319, 322, 323, 324, 329, 330, 336, 337, 343, 345,
348, 352, 355, 356, 357, 358, 364, 365, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376,
377, 378, 391, 393, 399, 400, 415, 416, 426, 427, 428, 438, 439
Greenleaf, Ray, 308
Gress, Walter B., 346
Griffith-Stillings Press, 210, 213, 443
Haime, Harry, 221
Hall-Taylor Company, 193, 393
Heintzemann Press, 45, 281
Jacobson, E. G., 165, 166
Kehler, J. H., 40
Kleukens, F. W., 32
Lang, Fred S., 226
Leader, Leon I., 288, 297
Lewis, Barnard J., 157, 158, 159
Mackay, A. F., 232, 244
Marchbanks Press, 150, 151, 331, 460, 461
Matthews-Northrup Works, 125, 178, 179, 192
Munder-Thomson Company, 122
Nash, J. H., 134, 135, 147, 185, 279, 442, 450, 451
Neal Press, 306
Nelson, Arthur, 138, 249, 284, 286, 290, 440
Peabody, Charles Edward, 342
Radcliffe, B. Walter, 360
Rogers, Bruce, 43, 128, 129, 148, 223, 224, 449-B, 451
Roycroft Shop, 143, 456
School of Printing, Boston, 42, 75, 335
Seaver-Howland Press, 433, 434
Sherbow, Benjamin, 152, 153, 236, 238, 247, 248, 380, 412, 413, 414,
420
Smith Company, Eugene, 452
Stetson Press, 225, 228
Stillson Company, Robert L., 186
Stutes, Edward W., 206, 350
Taft, Henry D., 353
Tapley Company, J. F., 344
Taylor & Taylor, 163, 164, 194, 445, 446
Trow Press, 140
University Press, 41
Updike, D. B., 70, 145, 146, 180, 181, 190, 191, 203, 215, 222, 227,
303, 314, 315
Warde Press, 447
Winchell, Edward Everett, 161, 162, 209
PART ONE
[Illustration:
THE SCRIBE AT WORK
Representing a secretary to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and
patron of learning, copying manuscript books at the Hague about the
time typography was invented
]
[Illustration]
WHEN BOOKS WERE WRITTEN
To many persons the words “Printing” and “Typography” are synonymous.
The Standard dictionary, in its leading definition of the word
“Printer,” says: “One engaged in the trade of typographical printing;
one who sets type or runs a printing press; specifically a compositor.”
But in these days there are so many kinds of printers (lithographic
printers, steel- and copper-plate printers, linotype printers, textile
printers, etc.) that to define the sort of printer who does his work
with type the use of the adjective “typographic” is necessary.
The word “typography” is derived from the Greek _typos_, or type; and
_graphe_, or writing—type-writing. Typography, then, as I shall use it,
means printing from movable, or separate, types.
The origin of typography may be open to dispute, but it is an undeniable
fact that the art of printing with separate types was practiced at
Mainz, Germany, during the years 1450–1455, and from there spread over
Europe.
Before that period books were written by hand or printed from crudely
engraved blocks of wood.
* * * * *
The thousand years preceding the invention of printing (the fifth to the
fifteenth century) are known in history as the Middle Ages, and the
first six centuries of this period (the fifth to the eleventh) are
called the Dark Ages, because during those years civilization in Europe
relapsed into semi-barbarism, and scientific, artistic and literary
pursuits were almost entirely abandoned.
Latin had been the language of intellectual Europe up to the time of the
fall of Rome (476 A.D.) and one of the influences that led up to this
benighted period was that Southern Europe was overrun by so-called
barbarians from Germania in the north—the Angles and Saxons, who settled
in Britain; the Franks, Burgundians and Goths, who settled in Gaul (now
France) and Germany; the Vandals who settled in Spain, and the Lombards,
who settled in Italy.
In Italy, Spain and Gaul the Latin-speaking natives far outnumbered the
invaders, and the Germanic conquerors were forced to learn something of
Latin. The present languages of those countries are the result of that
attempt. The language of the Germanic Angles and Saxons was used in
Britain after their invasion of that country, but was modified by the
French-speaking Normans who conquered England in the eleventh century.
Thus Latin as a common language died.
* * * * *
Altho dead to most of the population of Europe, Latin was made the
official language of the Christian church, and, during that period of
the Middle Ages when French, Spanish, Italian and English were in a
state of evolution, it afforded a means of keeping alive in written
books the knowledge the world had gained before the dark curtain of
ignorance was rung down.
Manuscript books are so-called from the Latin words _manu scripti_,
meaning “written by hand,” and the initials of these two Latin words are
frequently used for the word manuscript, i.e., “MS.”
The materials upon which books were written have at various times been
clay, stone, wood, lead, skin, papyrus and paper.
[Illustration:
ASSYRIAN CLAY TABLET
Showing the cuneiform (arrow-shaped) writing
]
Looking back six thousand years to the beginning of recorded time we
find the Chaldeans (Babylonians and Assyrians) writing arrow-shaped
characters with a sharp tri-pointed instrument upon damp clay, which was
then made permanent by baking. In 1845 a library of baked clay tablets
was discovered among the ruins of Nineveh. Thousands of these tablets
have been collected in the British Museum, the most interesting of which
is one which had been broken in eighteen pieces, containing an account
of the Flood.
Twenty-five hundred years before the Christian era, when the great
pyramids were being built, the Egyptians wrote upon papyrus, a plant
growing on the banks of the Nile. The inner portion of the plant was
stripped, the strips laid across each other, pressed and dried. The
squares of material thus made were then joined together to form a long
strip which was rolled around a rod.
Upon papyrus is written one of the oldest “books” in the world, “The
Book of the Dead,” now in the British Museum. This is a literary work of
a semi-sacred character, and copies were placed in the tombs with
deceased Egyptians, whence its name. A reproduction of a portion of this
book is given on page three.
Supposedly under the patronage of the Egyptian ruler, Rameses II., about
thirteen hundred years before Christ, many books on religion, law,
medicine and other subjects were written, and a great library was
accumulated.
The Chinese wrote with a stylus or brush upon tablets of bamboo fiber.
It is impossible accurately to determine the antiquity of Chinese
methods, as the extravagant and often unsubstantiated claims of
historians antedate those of modern discovery. Ink, paper, and printing
from blocks were all supposedly invented by the Chinese early in the
Christian era, and even the first use of separate types is credited to
Pi-Shing, a Chinese blacksmith. It may be relevant to suggest that the
old-time “blacksmith” joke and the printing-term “pi” are derived from
this source.
Dressed skins and palm leaves were used by the Hindoos, and writings in
Sanscrit were probably done in the temples by the Brahmins, the priests
and philosophers of early India. The Vedas, sacred writings as old as
2000 B.C., formed a big portion of the Hindoo literature.
The Hebrews wrote upon stones and animal skins. In this manner they
preserved the Old Testament portion of the Bible, and gave to posterity
one of the most wonderful books ever written.
* * * * *
The ancient Phœnicians were commercial people, and being such did very
little in producing literature; yet it is to them that we owe the
present Roman alphabet. The illustration on a following page shows how
this transition probably came about. There is a slight resemblance
between some of the twenty-one characters in the Phœnician alphabet and
certain picture writings of the Egyptians, whose hieroglyphic alphabet
consisted of several hundred characters and was as cumbersome as is the
Chinese alphabet with its several thousand characters.
The Greeks received their alphabet directly from the Phœnicians, there
being a tradition that one Cadmus introduced it into Greece. Some
writers claim that “Cadmus” merely signifies “the East” and does not
refer to an individual. The names of the first two letters of the Greek
alphabet, Alpha and Beta, are similar to those of many other languages,
and the word “alphabet” is derived from these two words.
* * * * *
In Greece, especially at Athens, before manuscripts became numerous,
lectures and public readings were important features of intellectual
life.
The poems of Homer, supposed to have been composed about 880 B.C., were
not put into writing until 560 B.C., and during this period of more than
three hundred years they were retained in the memory of bards, by whom
they were sung or recited.
“Plutarch’s Lives,” one of the best known Greek literary works, was
written in the second century, A.D.
The Greek nation is generally acknowledged to have been one of the most
intellectual of ancient times, yet it is a peculiar fact that only the
boys were given an education, the intellectual development of women
being considered unnecessary.
Copying of manuscripts was often a labor of love. Demosthenes, the great
philosopher, is said to have transcribed with his own hands the eight
books of Thucydides on the history of the Peloponnesian War.
Many of the Greek manuscripts were written by scribes and copyists who
were slaves, and some of these slaves developed much talent of a
literary kind.
The Greeks imported papyrus as a writing material, until one of the
Ptolemies, in the interests of the Alexandrian library, decreed that no
papyrus should go out of Egypt. This led to the development of
parchment, so named from the city of Pergamus, where it was first made.
Parchment is the skin of calves, goats or sheep, cleaned and smoothed.