type, and for this purpose had the outlined alphabets inked in and
reproduced in smaller size (Examples 479-A and 480-A).
When William Caslon, in 1720, cut his first Roman letter he may have had
Moxon’s Roman alphabet before him. There are some resemblances, but that
he did not slavishly follow the Moxon letters may be seen by comparing
both type-faces (Examples 465-F and 465-G).
We could be more familiar with the types of Baskerville than we are, but
now that the typefounders are reproducing them (Example 483) we shall
come to a realization that they rival the letters of Caslon in beauty
and readability. John Baskerville, the English typefounder and printer,
spent six years and thirty thousand dollars in designing and cutting his
first font of type. In 1758 he had cut eight fonts of Roman, but other
printers would not buy his types, preferring those of Caslon. Two years
later he attempted to sell his types and retire from the printing
business. After his death, in 1775, his widow sold all his type and
type-making material and they were removed to Kehl, near Strassburg.
There is a legend that the types finally reached France and were melted
into bullets for the French Revolution. It is a pity that Baskerville’s
original punches are not available, like those of Caslon, so that
printers of today could make use of the splendid type-faces that were
unappreciated in his lifetime. However, Baskerville Roman is a
satisfactory reproduction of the types of John Baskerville.
Like Caslon Oldstyle, however, it should be printed on other than
gloss-surfaced paper (Example 463), as then, especially in the smaller
sizes, the good qualities of the letter are brought out and it is made
more legible.
When Mrs. Henry Caslon, in 1796, “Bodoni-ized” the types of William
Caslon the first, she was probably influenced as much by the types of
Baskerville as by those of Bodoni. This is borne out by the comparisons
in Example 484. In “A” is shown an alphabet of Baskerville Roman as now
made in America, and in “B” Mrs. Caslon’s Modern Roman. The third
type-face (C) is Scotch Roman, one of the six selected representative
type-faces (Example 467-D).
John Baptist Bodoni made some very good type-faces, but it is not
difficult to lay at his door the responsibility for throwing typography
out of gear for almost a century. Thru his influence and the desire of
Scotch typefounders to improve on his work, the nineteenth century was
inflicted with those stiff “Modern Romans” (Example 488) that in all
their inhuman “perfection” yet abide with us and are still liked by
Victorian persons of staid tastes. Many of our school children are being
brought up on them, and in lighter form (Example 489) they are being fed
to millions of Americans thru the homely typography of most newspapers.
This double influence works for a lowering of typographic taste among
printers and buyers of printing that for many years will keep the
general standard of printing below what it should be.
To return to Bodoni. This Italian typefounder’s types, as a rule, were
not so faultlessly finished as are the recent types that bear the name.
There may be seen in Example 487 the alphabet of a type-face cut by
Bodoni in 1790, together with an alphabet recently cut in America. The
Bodoni type of the American foundry is a clever copy of the original,
yet there is in the copy much of the modernization of the Scotch
founders of the nineteenth century. Bodoni Book is a better-looking and
more readable type-face.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 491
(A) Optical changes caused by adding Vs at end of strokes. (B)
Appearance of vertical stroke altered by adding small horizontal
strokes, or serifs, and by joining both with curved line. (C) Cross
strokes or serifs added to E
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 495
(A) The diagonal stroke of the first Roman type-faces. (B) The lower
cross stroke or serif extended to right on the Roman type-face of
Jenson
]
The Scotch typefounders also attempted to improve the types of William
Caslon, and the result of their labors is known as Modernized Oldstyle
(Example 466-A). This kind of type was first made about 1852 for Miller
& Richard of Edinburgh, Scotland. With Caslon Oldstyle unknown,
Modernized Oldstyle would be a rather satisfactory letter, but with
Caslon Oldstyle procurable there seems to be no need of the Scotch
letter. There was brought out in 1884 by the MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan
Company a decorative Modernized Oldstyle under the name of Ronaldson
Oldstyle.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMAN TYPE-FACES
_The Serif._—The serif is that portion of a type-face indicated by the
small black sections in Example 492. It has a powerful influence in
determining the character and style of a face of type.
As an experiment, we will make three vertical lines exactly the same
length (Example 491-A), leaving one as it was first drawn, but on the
other two adding V-shaped marks, because of which the character of the
line is changed and the length seemingly affected.
However, the serif, when properly used, has a decorative quality and is
to type what the capital is to the column and the cornice to the
building in architecture.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 493
By altering the serifs, “old-style” type is changed into “modern.”
From Bullen
]
After further experimenting with three vertical lines that we will now
identify as capital _I_s (Example 491-b), there can be no doubt that the
serif is necessary as a finishing stroke. The serifless _I_ suggests a
man in the public streets without hat or shoes. The crudest manner of
adding a serif is to place a small horizontal stroke at the head and
foot of the long vertical line, but the sharp angles thus formed can be
softened and one stroke joined to another by a curve, with the corner
filled in, as is shown. These two illustrations of the serif are merely
for the purpose of introducing the novice to the subject. The fact that
there are so many different faces of type is due somewhat to the
manipulation of the serif—changes of length, thickness, direction and
curve.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 492
The black sections indicate the serifs, and show the differences in
serif construction on several well-known type-faces. From Bullen
]
It is by the serif that in most cases old-style types are distinguished
from the so-called modern Romans. An interesting demonstration of this
was made by Henry L. Bullen with Century Expanded, a modern Roman
(Example 494). The first line shows the letter unchanged. As the serifs
in most old-style faces project diagonally, he, in the second line,
altered the modern serifs to conform to this idea. The third line shows
Century Oldstyle as it actually appears in type.
There is, of course, more to a true old-style face than mere change of
serifs, and in the actual cutting of the types other minor alterations
were made, as will be seen by study of the third line.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 494
By altering the serifs “modern” type is changed into “old-style.” From
Bullen
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 496
In most Roman alphabets all vertical strokes are thick, excepting in
M, N, U. Horizontal strokes are thin. Diagonal strokes running down
from left to right are thick and from right to left are thin,
excepting Z, z.
]
This process was reversed by Mr. Bullen, and in Example 493 certain
serifs of Caslon Oldstyle are in the letters _i_, _n_, _k_, _p_, _h_
made horizontal, and in the letters _E_, _L_, _s_ made vertical.
Modernized in this manner, Caslon Oldstyle resembles Scotch Roman
(Example 484-C).
* * * * *
_Thick and Thin Strokes._—The inbred good taste and instinct for beauty
possessed by the Roman calligrapher which directed him to add the serif
to his lettering also impelled him to vary the width of the strokes
(Example 464-A).
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 497
(A) No serifs or stroke contrast. (B) Serifs added. (C) With serifs
and thick and thin strokes
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 498
Vertical thick strokes were made with pen held straight
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 499
Diagonal thick strokes were made with pen held at a slant
]
The most uninteresting kind of lettering is that which is not only
serifless but without contrast in the width of its strokes—lettering
that is known to the printer as Block, or Gothic (Example 497-A).
Dignity and something of good looks are given to it by adding serifs
(Example 497-b), yet it is not eligible for admission to the select
society of pure Roman type-faces until the various strokes show,
properly proportioned, a difference in thickness (Example 497-C). The
difference should be at least as two to one. It is about that in
Cloister Oldstyle, but in Baskerville Roman (Example 496) it is as six
to one. When the difference in thick and thin lines is exaggerated, as
was done in the nineteenth century, the result is a caricature and type
that is almost impossible to read, even in large sizes.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 500
Heavy strokes in the lower left and upper right part of curves
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 501
Heavy strokes in vertical positions
]
Generally the distribution of thick and thin lines in Roman letters, as
shown in Example 496, is as follows: All vertical strokes are thick
(excepting in _M_, _N_, _U_). Horizontal strokes are thin. Diagonal
strokes running down from left to right are thick, and from right to
left are thin (excepting _Z_, _z_).
When this rule is reversed, as was actually done by a nineteenth-century
typefounder in a weird attempt at novelty, there is begotten a
monstrosity. Good typography requires that basic principles be adhered
to.
In the recent recutting of the Roman type-face of Nicholas Jenson, the
founders went all the way back to his type for their models, and did not
content themselves, as they did near the end of the last century, with
copying Morris’s type or the faces of other foundries. As Jenson based
the design of his types closely on Italian manuscripts, we have in such
a face as Cloister Oldstyle many of the characteristics of the pen-made
letters, one of which is the position of the thick strokes on round
letters. The thick strokes on the _O_, as an instance, instead of being
vertical, are diagonal. This is due to the manner of holding the pen
when lettering. When held to write vertically and horizontally, the pen
makes lines as in Example 498; when held at a slant, the pen makes thick
lines diagonally as in Example 499. The Caroline Minuscules, upon which
the lower-case types of Jenson were based, were written with a slanted
pen.
In Example 500 are to be seen two well-known type-faces on which the
slanted-pen thick strokes are used. In Example 501 are two faces that
could be made by writing vertically. It was Mr. Goudy who reintroduced
into type forms a characteristic of Jenson’s Roman—that of having the
lower serifs extend more to the right than to the left, as shown by
Example 495-B.
* * * * *
_Ascenders and Descenders._—Not a little of the beauty of Roman
type-faces lies in the ascending and descending strokes, and one reason
why our types are becoming more beautiful is that we are going thru a
period of restoration—the long-missing ascenders and descenders are
being given back to us, after an absence of many years.
What should be the length of these strokes? Edward Johnston, in “Writing
and Illuminating and Lettering,” illustrates this point (Example 503),
and says: “The lines in massed writing are kept as close together as is
compatible with legibility. The usual distance apart of the writing
lines is about three times the hight of the letter _o_. The descending
strokes of the upper line must clear the ascending strokes of the lower
line.”
Bodoni, the Italian typefounder, had a system of measurement for the
proportions of his lower-case letters: “Divide the body of the type into
seven parts and let two at the top and two at the bottom be for the
ascenders and descenders and the three in the middle for the other
letters.”
The ascenders and descenders, as found in Cloister Oldstyle and in the
original Caslon Oldstyle, approximate the proportions given by Bodoni.
Half the letters of the lower-case alphabet—thirteen—are of the hight of
the _o_, and we will call them the small letters. The letters with
ascending strokes number eight, with descending strokes five (Example
502). Because the descending letters are only five in number, they are
most frequently picked out for mutilation. This sawing off of a portion
of the descending strokes cripples the letters just as the sawing off of
a portion of a man’s legs cripples his body. Not only is typography made
imperfect by missing descenders, but, generally, the practice has worked
toward the degeneration of type print, making it less easy to read, as
the lines set too close together. When the descenders are of proper
length they maintain a strip of blank space between lines, but when they
are cut off the printer must add leads to recover the space—which he
seldom does.
The printer and user of typography have been using false logic in
favoring type-faces that have descenders cut off. They think they are
getting more for their money when they obtain a normal twelve-point
type-face on an eleven-point body, but as the one-point linear space
must be restored by leading, there is nothing gained. Scientists, in the
study of eye hygiene, have ascertained that a certain amount of space
between lines is necessary to save eyestrain, and the descenders are
essential in furnishing some of this needed space.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 502
Of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, eight have ascending
strokes, five have descending strokes, and thirteen have neither
]
The descending curves of the lower-case _g_ are a thing of beauty when
allowed freedom (Example 504-A), but on the shortened plan they resemble
a man cramped with rheumatism, in need of crutches.
* * * * *
_Proportion of Letters._—One of the elements in the beauty of the
ancient Roman stone-carved alphabet is the proportion of its letters.
Goudy, drawing lettering and designing type-faces modeled after the
inscription capitals of the Romans, has had a large influence in
reviving good proportion in type. Cloister Oldstyle (Example 467-A),
designed by L. M. Benton after Jenson’s letter, is an excellent study of
the old proportions introduced in present-day type-faces. However, there
is no type that has the beauty of proportion to be found in the Roman
capitals (Example 464-A) reproduced from an inscription on the Trajan
column at Rome. The author has endeavored, in plain lines, to trace
these capitals and show their proportions on a background of squares. It
will be seen that the width of the letters _B_, _E_, _F_, _L_, _P_, _S_
is less than half their hight, and about half the width of _O_, _M_,
_Q_, _C_, _G_ and _D_. It is this contrast in width as well as in shape
that makes the alphabet as a whole so pleasing.
Comparison of the capitals of the six standard faces in Example 467 will
show that “old-style” faces tend toward the old Roman proportions and
that “modern” types, such as Bodoni Book and Century Expanded (Example
466-B), reveal an effort to make the capitals as uniform in size as
possible. Typewriter types are an example of what happens when this idea
of uniformity is carried to its logical end. It is really not necessary
to throw Beauty out of the back door as Utility is admitted at the
front. Both can live happily under the same roof.
As will be seen by Example 507, the lower-case letters are made up of a
variety of curved lines, and vertical, horizontal and diagonal strokes,
the purpose being the same as that of having capitals of different
widths, to make them when joined together in words readable and pleasant
to look at. The word “minimum” is an example of unpleasant monotony in
the repetition of similar forms.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 503
In good lettering, the descending strokes are as long as the ascending
strokes. From Johnston
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 504
(A) How descenders are frequently cramped. (B) Compression of upper or
lower ends of letters as found in “improved” Caslon Oldstyle
]
LEGIBILITY OF TYPE-FACES
Type matter should be easy to read, and this end is attained not only in
the designing of type-faces but in the manner of their use.
Many tests for legibility have been made in this country and in Europe,
but none of them, so far as the writer knows, has considered the manner
of printing the types and the character of the paper surface as factors
in legibility, altho glossy paper has been condemned because of its
reflection of light, and cream-white paper preferred to blue-white.
There is shown as Example 463 a test made in the printing of the same
type-faces on a hard-finished paper and on a soft-finished paper. The
Caslon and Bodoni types are not only more legible on the soft-finished
stock, but the character of the designs is brought out. The results of
this demonstration should not be wondered at, as the original Caslon and
Bodoni types were intended to be printed on soft-finished stock, and not
on highly calendered coated paper.
Studies in legibility are presented in Example 508. As there are many
details that count in the production of good-looking typography, so
there are seeming trifles which go to make typography easily read. In
“A” there are groups set in Cheltenham Oldstyle and Cloister Oldstyle.
As Cheltenham is narrower in form and closely set, it is more suitable
for long, narrow pages or columns. Cloister, on the other hand, conforms
better to wider pages and columns. In lighter types (B) Bodoni Book and
Caslon Oldstyle are similarly compared. For further illustrations of
this point see Examples 509 and 510.
One of the tests previously referred to proved Gothic (C) the most
legible type-face. This unshaded, serifless type, which has long been
popular on sales bills and for advertisements in some newspapers and
trade publications, is not approved by those who believe there should
also be character in type-faces, as it lacks the two essentials of
typographic beauty—serifs and contrasting thickness of strokes. Then,
again, it is not as legible in the mass as in single lines.
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 505
In the old-style Arabic numerals, five figures descended, two ascended
and three did neither. The modern style is to have them of one hight
]
While bold-face types, especially those with decided contrasts in
thickness of strokes, are legible when used in groups of two to a
half-dozen words, they greatly tire the eye when used for entire pages
of text. For this reason Bodoni Book is to be preferred over Bodoni for
text purposes (D). The writer came to this conclusion when, during the
reading of a book set in Bodoni, he found it necessary frequently to
stop because of eye fatigue produced by the sharp contrasts and
bewildering medley of light and shade.
It is generally conceded by authorities that lower-case types in the
same size of letter are more legible than capitals (E) and should be
used for headings and for display lines in advertising matter, where
easy reading is essential.
Assuming that the largest possible face on the smallest possible type
body results in legibility and allows more matter on a page, both users
and makers of type have in many fonts caused the descending and
ascending strokes to be shortened. The lower-case letters _g_, _j_, _p_,
_q_ and _y_ have been the principal sufferers, as they are the only ones
with descending strokes. The ascending strokes of letters _b_, _d_, _f_,
_h_, _k_ and _l_ have been treated with more respect, and their
principal ancestor, the Caroline Minuscule, would not have so much
difficulty in recognizing them.
The left portion of section F of Example 508 shows what this practice
has done to Caslon Oldstyle. It has also affected legibility by
lessening the space between lines (see also Example 509), and reading,
already difficult, is made still more so by the excess space that
careless hand compositors and “speedy” machine operators place between
words.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 506
The space between words in good lettering, according to Johnston, is
less than the width of letter “o” (lower-case)
]
[Illustration:
EXAMPLE 507
The lower-case letters grouped according to formation. As generally
mixed in various combinations, distinctive word groups are formed.
The word “minimum” is an exception
]
_Space Between Words._—The eyes can, in the same space of time, read
many more words if the words are narrowly spaced than if they are widely
spaced. The early printers knew this and set type accordingly. When
lower-case letters are widely spaced one letter must be read at a time
(508-I). When words are widely spaced one word must be read at a time. A
person accustomed to reading reads by thoughts—groups of words or
sentences. Even in the schools they are discarding the long-used method
of teaching the A-B-Cs, and instead of at first learning each letter
separately, the child learns to know words by their formation and to
read by word groups.
The present prevalence of wide spacing in the composition of books,
catalogs, pamphlets, periodicals and newspapers is a legacy from the
ante-machine period.
In hand-set days, job and book compositors, when they were called on to
set so-called straight matter, were required to use great care in
spacing. In the spacing out of a line the conscientious compositor would
remove thick spaces and insert thin spaces rather than add much extra
space between the words. The newspaper compositor, on the other hand—he
usually being a piece worker—seldom thin-spaced, but liberally added
space between words, especially on occasions when his “take” was to
“meet” that of another compositor. When machine composition was
introduced the spacing practices of the news-room hand compositor were
passed along to the machine, with the result that today a page of
machine matter set in the average careless way shows open spaces running
irregularly down the page, resembling a trench map of a modern
battlefield.
Close spacing and the resultant neat and readable appearance of the page
are possible in machine composition, as many users of these machines are
obtaining such results; but the general standard, due not a little to
the demand for rapidity and somewhat to ignorance of the fundamentals of
good typography, is humiliatingly low.
The design and form of the type-face, of course, determine the amount of
space between words. Johnston tells letterers that “the average space
between two words is less than the width of the letter _o_.” Example 506
is illustrative.
A newspaper editor some years ago asked the hand compositors to
thin-space, as there was a great deal of copy that day, whereupon the
printers all laughed in ridicule of the lay notion that such a procedure
would be of much use. That the request was not such an impractical one
was recently borne out by an experience of a periodical publisher, who,
on the machines in his own shop, produced close-spaced matter. In an
emergency an outside machine-composition house was called on to set a
part of the copy. When the work of making up was completed, it was found
that there were several galleys of matter that could not be used, altho
there was no more copy than usual. By again referring to Example 508-F
it will be seen that in the left group spacing between words is lavish,
while in the right group there is no waste of such spacing. Altho there
is more space between the lines of the right group, it contains three
more words than the left group.
In the lower part of Example 508 is the word “Typography” set in small
six-point, and near the word is the lone letter _a_, same size. It is
difficult for a person without excellent eyesight to identify the small
six-point “a,” but he can more easily and as quickly read the word made
in the same size from ten letters. When the letters of the word
“Typography” are widely spaced (even in larger size, as shown) they must
be read one letter at a time, but when closely assembled they can be
seen at a glance and read ten times as rapidly.
An experienced proofreader does not read a galley letter by letter, but
recognizes a wrong type because the natural formation of the word has
been broken.