of the Italic also, with the exception noted), there are slight
differences in details of design in the various sizes. For this reason,
when Caslon Oldstyle is compared with the original letters, the
comparison should be with the same size in each instance.
De Vinne, perhaps influenced by the prejudices and practices of
nineteenth-century typefounders, in one of his books points out as
defects in the original Caslon types features that typefounders and
composing-machine makers are today restoring to the face as used in
America. The “defects” were supposed to be: “Too long a beak to the _f_
and _j_; unnecessary narrowness in the _s_ and _a_, and in some
capitals; too great width of the _c_, _o_ and _v_.”
Typefounders and composing-machine makers have filled the type cases of
the printers of this country with Caslons that have been improved (!),
recut, modified, adjusted to “lining” systems, made bold, disfigured,
sawed-off and ill-treated generally; and as they bring out good copies
of the original letter, it is to be hoped that, so far as possible, sale
of the defective and offending type-faces and matrices will be
discontinued.
William Caslon died in 1766, and the business was continued by William
Caslon the second, and then by William Caslon the third. Mrs. Henry
Caslon conducted the business in 1796, when was brought out the
modernized Caslon (Example 484-B) that was probably the model for the
type we know as Scotch Roman. This modernization was a concession to the
demand for types in the new style that had been designed by Giambattista
Bodoni, an Italian typefounder.
The influence of Bodoni’s ideas in type design was such that Caslon
Oldstyle was not included in the 1805 specimen book of the Caslon
foundry, and did not again appear therein until 1860, a year after the
face had been reintroduced to America by a Philadelphia foundry.
The story of the revival of Caslon Oldstyle in England has been told in
these words:
In the year 1843, Mr. Whittingham, of the Chiswick Press, waited
on Mr. Caslon to ask his aid in carrying out the then new idea of
printing, in appropriate type, “The Diary of Lady Willoughby,” a
work of fiction, the period and diction of which were supposed to
be of the reign of Charles I. The original matrices of the first
William Caslon having been fortunately preserved, Mr. Caslon
undertook to supply a small font of great-primer. So well was Mr.
Whittingham satisfied with the result of his experiment that he
determined on printing other volumes in the same style, and
eventually he was supplied with a complete series of all the old
fonts.
America took part early in the revival of Caslon’s old-style types, for
in 1858 matrices were brought to the United States by the Johnson Type
Foundry, afterward MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, now the Philadelphia
branch of the American Type Founders Company.
The first size made in this country was brevier, which was announced in
the “Typographic Advertiser,” the company’s house-organ, of January,
1859. Six months later thirteen sizes were shown, and in 1865 Caslon
Oldstyle was made in sizes from pearl to six-line pica.
The decorative Italic types, known as Swash letters, were not until 1916
included in the American fonts, but these, redrawn by T. M. Cleland, are
now procurable.
Selection of Caslon Oldstyle, in 1892, for the text and advertisements
of _Vogue_, the use of the letter by Will Bradley at the Wayside Press,
in 1896, and the general old-style revival, influenced by the work of
William Morris, of the Kelmscott Press, in England, were causes that led
to the present popularity of Caslon Oldstyle.
This Caslon style of type-face is one of the few standard letters that
has practically unlimited usefulness. Properly treated, it looks well on
any class of printing, from a business card to the text and advertising
pages of periodicals. It may be seen in action in this book by referring
to Examples 18, 34, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 81, 82, 86, 96, 119, 121, 126,
127, 132, 133, 134, 135, 138, 150, 151, 167, 168, 169, 172, 178, 180,
188, 190, 191, 195, 203, 215, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 228, 230, 231,
232, 236, 239, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 260, 262, 268, 274, 282,
284, 287, 289, 290, 292, 294, 296, 297, 300, 374, 375, 382, 384, 385,
393, 394, 396, 426, 429, 430, 433, 434, 436, 438, 439, 440, 441, 448,
450, 451, 453, 455, 459, 460 and 461; the frontispiece; upper specimen,
page 21; reproductions, page 23; insert opposite page 32; upper
specimen, page 33.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 483
On the left is a reduced reproduction (from Reed) of Baskerville’s
types used in a book of 1758, and on the right, for comparison, is
the same matter set in Baskerville Roman, twelve-point size,
introduced to America in 1917
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 484
The possible descent of Scotch Roman. (A) Baskerville Roman, based on
Baskerville’s letter of 1758. (B) Mrs. Caslon’s “modern” Roman of
1796. (C) Scotch Roman, as we know it today
]
_Bodoni Book._—When a representative of the Bodoni type family was
selected for a place in the group of standard faces, Bodoni Book was
chosen for its refinement and legibility. In its lower-case, especially
when printed on other than gloss-surfaced paper, it seems to have more
of the qualities of the best types of the Parma printer than does
Bodoni, the first series brought out by the American Type Founders
Company. Scientific tests have demonstrated that in the small sizes
usually used for text purposes, type-faces with considerable contrast of
hairlines and heavy strokes strain the eyes. The contrast found in
Bodoni Book is moderate.
John Baptist Bodoni was born in Italy twenty years after William Caslon
cut his first font of Roman letter. Bodoni’s subsequent career as a
printer and typefounder doubtless resulted from his entrance, when
eighteen years old, to the printing house of the Propaganda, in Rome. He
began his important work in Parma in 1768.
The print of his books is remarkable for clearness, and in both
type-cutting and printing he was skilful to a high degree. His types are
not quite so regular in design as the recent Bodonis, and were given
additional character by being impressed firmly in paper that did not
have the enameled surface so much in use in our day.
His type-faces were a change from those previously used—different from
the type-faces of Jenson, the Elzevirs and Caslon. The change was
principally in the serifs, which were straight, thin strokes; and the
general character of the letters was also distinctive. He used a few
fonts in which the straight serifs were rounded by being filled in
slightly at the corners, and these fonts probably suggested to Scotch,
English and American founders the style known as “modern,” as compared
with the “old-style” faces in use before Bodoni’s time.
The reader can compare for himself the resemblance of Bodoni Book to one
of the text types of Bodoni as used in 1789. In order that the
comparison could be fairly made, the Bodoni Book (Example 486) was
printed on antique paper and etched on zinc, as the original Bodoni page
had been (see page 26). This type is not only lighter, but other details
are different from a 1790 type of Bodoni (Example 487-A), which may have
served as a model for the present-day type-face called Bodoni. Compare
the capital _R_s, and notice that the cross stroke on the lower-case _t_
in the 1783 alphabet is low and distinct, while on the 1789 page it is
high and joined with the upper end of the vertical stroke. The latter
treatment prevails on many of Bodoni’s types, as it does on practically
all type-faces. Excepting for the straight serifs, many of Bodoni’s
types have some general resemblance to other Roman types of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In designing the present-day Bodoni, the typefounders gave it much of
the “finish” in design that was given type-faces by Scotch and American
founders during the nineteenth century. Typefounders seldom succeed in
faithfully reproducing old type-faces, for the reason that they “correct
the faults” of the old faces, and in doing so lose much of the
humanistic spirit of the original. Were it not that the punches of some
of William Caslon’s types were preserved, we would not have the true
rendering of this old-style that we now possess. Modernized Oldstyle
represents the Caslon face corrected and improved as the typefounders of
the nineteenth century thought it should be. Some American founders,
however, are making excellent progress in reproducing the spirit of old
type-faces, and it is possible that we may yet have a satisfactory copy
of the famous “silver” types of the Elzevirs.
Bodoni types are shown in use on page 26, and in Examples 26, 36, 48,
175, 176, 194, 278, 310, 322, 330, 352, 355, 365, 387, 390, 412, 413,
414, 416, 428, 437 and 458.
* * * * *
_Scotch Roman_.—During the nineteenth century English, Scotch and
American typefounders took Bodoni’s type-faces, redesigned them more
along mechanical lines, filled in the corners of his straight serifs so
as slightly to round them, and gave to the English-speaking world what
are best known to printers as the modern Romans.
Looking over the specimen books of the type foundries of the last
century—those of Bruce, MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, and others—one
marvels at the wonderful skill in the cutting of the hairlines and the
general mechanical excellence of the modern Romans.
Because of their continued use on newspapers and in books of reference,
these letters are in wide use today, altho there is a movement away from
them.
The most generally used type-face on small city newspapers in America is
the linotype company’s Modern Roman No. 2 (Example 489). In the hand-set
days this broad, open-faced letter was so made for the reason that it
would stereotype easier than would the narrower letters. It was adopted
by the ready-print and plate houses, and when the newspapers installed
linotypes they naturally selected the same face, so that the type matter
thruout the publication would match. The larger city dailies give more
attention to the details of the faces they use for body purposes. If No.
2 is selected, or the leaner No. 1, modifications are frequently made in
some of the letters or figures. The No. 1 Modern Roman is used by the
New York _Times_ (Example 406).
However, instead of the selection of a severe letter, such as the
so-called Scotch-cut Modern Roman as a representative type-face in the
group of six standard Roman letters, the more interesting Scotch Roman
won the place. This type-face was first made in America by A. D. Farmer
& Son, and the eight-point and ten-point sizes were used as body type by
_The American Printer_ first in April, 1902. In September of that year
there appeared in that publication showings of the eight-point,
ten-point, eleven-point, twelve-point and fourteen-point sizes, with the
statement that other sizes were in preparation. The name, “Scotch
Roman,” probably comes from the fact that Miller & Richard, the
Edinburgh typefounders, made a similar letter in sizes from eight-point
to twelve-point. However, they call it “Old Roman.”
Scotch Roman is the link that connects the graceful old-style and the
severe modern Roman. Compare it with the letter (Example 484-B) made at
the foundry owned by Mrs. Henry Caslon in 1796, and notice the
resemblance. (As a further study, there is added an alphabet of
Baskerville Roman, recently introduced to America.) Scotch Roman is also
procurable under the names of Wayside Roman and National Roman.
Scotch Roman has been used in Examples 38, 39, 77, 78, 85, 143, 152,
153, 154, 185, 186, 238, 271, 317, 400, 420, 423, 427, 428 and 444.
* * * * *
_French Oldstyle._—This is the title by which is known among printers a
style of type-face made, under the name of “Elzevier,” by the Gustave
Mayeur foundry of Paris in 1878. Its design, M. Mayeur tells us, was
suggested by types used in a book printed in Leyden by the Elzevirs in
1634.
In 1889, Farmer, Little & Co. of New York procured drives of five sizes
from France and began making the letter in America, naming it “Cadmus.”
The type foundry of Phelps, Dalton & Co. of Boston had as early as 1884
made a similar and rather pleasing letter in capitals only, which it
called French Oldstyle.
Theodore L. De Vinne was the first to use the Mayeur French Oldstyle in
America. It was a favorite with Walter Gilliss, who adopted it in
remodeling the catalogs and other printed matter used by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 485
A study of the French Oldstyle design of Roman capitals
]
The capitals of French Oldstyle are especially pleasing, and when this
letter is employed they should be used in display with frequency. The
Mayeur letter would be even more attractive if the proportions of its
capitals were nearer those of early Roman lettering (Example 464-B), as
are some other French Oldstyles.
French Oldstyle is tall and formed with liberal space between the
strokes of the lower-case letters. It should always be leaded, as its
open character and large lower-case demand that it shall not be crowded.
Like Cheltenham, it is best suited for pages that are narrow and long,
such as the 12mos issued in the seventeenth century by the Elzevirs.
The Mayeur French Oldstyle has a slight resemblance to the type-faces
found in the Elzevir seventeenth-century books (Example 475), but is a
rather free rendering of those types. The capitals of the Elzevirs are
more in the proportions of Jenson’s (see Cloister Oldstyle, Example
467-A), and the small letters (_o_) of the lower-case are not so large
in comparison with the tall letters (_l_) as they are in French
Oldstyle. The Mayeur letter also contains the shortened descenders and
short-kerned _f_ of the nineteenth-century typefounders. In fact, both
ascending and descending strokes have been shortened.
Examples 45, 183, 184, 217, 410, 411, and the Jacobi specimen on page 33
show French Oldstyle in use.
* * * * *
_Cheltenham Oldstyle._—This extremely popular type-face was designed in
America and here developed into the most numerous family known to
typefounding—at least thirty series. A pamphlet issued in 1905 by the
Mergenthaler Linotype Company tells the story of its origin. Ingalls
Kimball, director of the Cheltenham Press, New York, was commissioned to
suggest and supervise the making of a letter that would have both beauty
and legibility. Cheltenham Oldstyle resulted, the drawings of which were
made by Bertram G. Goodhue.
It was realized by the designers of this type-face that space between
lines increases legibility, and experiments seem to show that the upper
half of lower-case letters are easier to read than the lower half. For
this reason the lower-case was then designed with long ascending strokes
and short descending strokes. While the theory regarding the superior
legibility of the upper half was announced as a new one, it had been put
forth about 1882 by Dr. Émile Javal, a Parisian oculist. (See the
demonstration in Example 508-G.)
The first announcement by the American Type Founders Company of
Cheltenham Oldstyle in _The American Printer_, January, 1903, showed
eleven sizes—eight-point to forty-eight-point. Claim was made that it
was a “compact and legible book type,” and that it would become the most
popular job type.
Because of its lean formation and close set it has been frequently used
for narrow booklets.
A Roman type-face entirely new in design would be a freak and unreadable
in the mass. As a completed design, Cheltenham Oldstyle was different
from others in use in 1903, yet it is made up of features of Roman type
design in vogue between the designing of Jenson’s letter and Caslon’s
types. Study Examples 470, 472, 476, 477 and 478. Compare with the
Portuguese capitals, especially _G_, _P_, _W_, in Example 485.
Cheltenham Oldstyle has strength, readability, and a certain amount of
beauty. Its capitals are awkwardly large in comparison with its
lower-case. It is shown in use with smaller capitals in Example 476.
Because of the smallness of most of the lower-case and the close set of
the letters, very little space is needed between words; yet, as used by
printers generally, much of the legibility the type-face possesses is
lost by wide spacing between words, especially on machines.
Because the eye, as a rule, gives less attention to the lower part of a
line of reading matter, the descenders were cut off almost entirely in
the designing of Cheltenham. It would be as reasonable, because the eye
usually sees only the upper part of a man, to amputate his legs. This
amputation of the legs of type-faces by modern founders has maimed many
other letters, notably Caslon Oldstyle as we most frequently see it.
The serif, which is supposed to distinguish modern types from old-style,
is very small in Cheltenham Oldstyle, and is more like the serif found
in modern types. The general character of Cheltenham, however, is
extremely old-style.
This letter has been used in the composition of Examples 35, 40, 47,
106, 122, 125, 209, 267, 273 and 350.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN TYPE-FACE
In the beginning, Roman letters were in capitals only (Example 464-A),
and, carved on stone, were at their best about the beginning of the
Christian era. The present so-called Roman, Italic and Text types are
descended from them.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 486
Resetting in Bodoni Book of the 1789 Bodoni specimen on page 26. Like
the original, this specimen was printed and then zinc-etched
]
Use of the pen and brush in lettering and the tendency to letter rapidly
finally gave us the lower-case type of today. The evolution is pictured
in Example 465. “A” shows the Roman capital alphabet as made with the
pen (compare with the chiseled letters of Example 464-A). In “B” we have
the result (known as uncials) of hurried writing of the Roman capitals,
and one can see how the lower-case letters were forming. At about this
point in the development, the minuscules, or lower-case letters, took
two separate growths—one in the direction of the “Black Letter” or
German Text types of today, and the other toward the “White Letter” of
the Caroline Minuscules, which, as Roman lower-case, are now used almost
exclusively in America, England, France and other countries in North and
South America and Europe, the notable exception being Germany.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 487
Comparison of one of Bodoni’s alphabets with a new type-face. Both are
rough, having been zinc-etched
]
When Gutenberg began to print he used a black Text type designed after
the bold lettering of the German manuscript books, and when Germans went
to Italy to print they had difficulty in rendering into types the
character of Italian lettering. Example 468 shows the efforts in this
direction by Sweinheim and Pannartz in 1465, and in Example 469, types
by John and Wendelin of Spires, an improvement is noticed.
It remained, however, for the Frenchman, Jenson, to design and cut a
letter that is the alpha of Roman type-faces (Example 470). Jenson was
fortunate in the selection of a model, and it is interesting to include
in the corner for comparison a section of an Italian manuscript of the
same century. Development of the Roman letter into the beautiful and
legible form known as “Caroline Minuscules” was due to the encouragement
of Charlemagne. Why it is called “White Letter” in contradistinction to
“Black Letter” may be seen by comparing the light-gray tone of the
Jenson page (Example 470) with the missal specimen opposite page 14. It
may be well to explain that the seeming disfigurement of the capitals in
the Jenson page is due to the custom that book decorators had of placing
a stroke of vermilion over the capitals. In the reproduction these
strokes came out black. Both the Spires and the Jenson specimens were
reproduced from the original volumes in the Typographic Library and
Museum at Jersey City.
Example 465 also shows, for comparison with the style of lettering known
as the Caroline Minuscules, a type-face based on Jenson’s letter of
1470, following which are Moxon’s and Caslon’s lower-case alphabets.
The faithfulness with which Jenson’s type-face was followed in the
designing of Cloister Oldstyle may be seen by comparing the Cloister
alphabet (Example 467-A) with the Jenson letters as they are found in
Example 470. A very interesting comparison can also be made of Jenson’s
capitals, on page 14, and Cloister Oldstyle, in Example 473. If a
comparison of present-day type-faces with very old faces is to have any
value, the present-day type-faces should be printed on antique-finished
paper dampened if possible. And if the old face is reproduced by zinc
etching from an old book the other type-face should also be zinc-etched.
Printing and zinc etching were resorted to in the case of this example
and in other instances in this chapter.
In some works reproductions of type-faces are valueless and misleading,
for the reason that they have been retouched by an artist, redrawn, or
cut in wood.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 488
Modern Romans of the nineteenth century in three tones
]
The influence of the Jenson style of Roman was seen for some years, but
in 1566 (Example 472) we find a change of form. The type is more
condensed, and instead of a diagonal stroke on the lower-case e there is
a horizontal stroke close to the top of the letter. This style, as used
by Paul Manutius in 1566, seems to have been maintained with little
alteration in the work of Daniel Elzevir a hundred years later (Example
477) and two hundred years later in the types of Fournier, the French
founder (Example 478). This style of letter was also used by Plantin,
the Antwerp printer, in 1569, and for the interest there may be in it
the reproduction of a bit of his work (see page 16) should be compared
with Example 476. This last-mentioned example has been set in Cheltenham
Oldstyle. However, ten-point capitals have been used with twelve-point
lower-case. It may be that the appearance of most reading matter would
be improved if the capitals were a trifle lower in hight than the
ascending strokes of the lower-case letters _b_, _d_, _f_, _h_, _k_,
_l_.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 489
Modern Roman as it is used on many American newspapers. Six-point,
seven-point and eight-point Linotype Roman No. 2. A readable but not
a handsome type-face
]
The National Printing Office at Paris is using on some of its
productions a type-face designed in 1693 by Grandjean. While it is
greatly like other letters of that period, it has peculiarities, one of
which is a slight dot on the left center of the lower-case _l_, a
feature also present in the Black Letter of Gutenberg, and in the types
of Fust and Schœffer (see inserts opposite pages 7 and 12).
We have a key to the formation of the Roman types of the seventeenth
century in the alphabets drawn by Joseph Moxon, an English typefounder,
and published in 1676 (Examples 479 and 480). These are here reproduced
from Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises,” as reprinted, under the supervision
of Theodore Low De Vinne, by the New York Typothetæ in 1896. Moxon says
these letters are copied from the letters of Christopher van Dijk, a
punch cutter of Holland. As will be seen by the scale in the upper left
corner of Example 479, he attempted to show how the shapes of letters
were “compounded of geometric figures, and mostly made by rule and
compass.” Each letter was to be plotted on a framework of small squares,
forty-two squares in hight and of a proportionate width. Passing up this
idea as impractical, De Vinne said:
It is admitted that the characters are rudely drawn, and many have
faults of disproportion; but it must not be forgotten that they
were designed to meet the most important requirement of a reader—
to be read, and read easily. Here are the broad hair line, the
stubby serif on the lower-case and the bracketed serif on the
capitals, the thick stem, the strong and low crown on letters like
_m_ and _n_, with other peculiarities now commended in old-style
faces and often erroneously regarded as the original devices of
the first Caslon.