Mr. Edwin Abbey is another able artist, who has shown considerable care

for his illustrated page, in some cases supplying his own lettering;

though he has been growing more pictorial of late: Mr. Alfred Parsons

also, though he too often seems more drawn to the picture than the

decoration. Mr. Heywood Sumner shows a charming decorative sense and

imaginative feeling, as well as humour. On the purely ornamental side,

the accomplished decorations of Mr. Lewis Day exhibit both ornamental

range and resource, which, though in general devoted to other objects,

are conspicuous enough in certain admirable book and magazine covers he

has designed.

[Illustration: HEYWOOD SUMNER.

FROM "STORIES FOR CHILDREN," BY FRANCES M. PEARD. (ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES KEENE.

ILLUSTRATION TO "THE GOOD FIGHT." ("ONCE A WEEK," 1859.)

(_By permission of Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew and Co._)]

[Illustration: HEYWOOD SUMNER.

FROM "STORIES FOR CHILDREN," BY F. M. PEARD. (ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Sidenote: THE "ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE."]

"The English Illustrated Magazine," under Mr. Comyns Carr's editorship,

by its use of both old and modern headings, initials and ornaments, did

something towards encouraging the taste for decorative design in books.

Among the artists who designed pages therein should be named Henry Ryland

and Louis Davis, both showing graceful ornamental feeling, the children

of the latter artist being very charming.

[Illustration: LOUIS DAVIS.

FROM THE "ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE" (1892).]

[Illustration: HENRY RYLAND.

FROM THE "ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE" (1894).]

But it would need much more space to attempt to do justice to the ability

of my contemporaries, especially in the purely illustrative division,

than I am able to give.

[Sidenote: "ONCE A WEEK."]

The able artists of "Punch," however, from John Leech to Linley

Sambourne, have done much to keep alive a vigorous style of drawing in

line, which, in the case of Mr. Sambourne, is united with great

invention, graphic force, and designing power. In speaking of "Punch,"

one ought not to forget either the important part played by "Once a Week"

in introducing many first-rate artists in line. In its early days we had

Charles Keene illustrating Charles Reade's "Good Fight," with much

feeling for the decorative effect of the old German woodcut. Such

admirable artists as M. J. Lawless and Frederick Sandys--the latter

especially distinguished for his splendid line drawings in "Once a Week"

and "The Cornhill;" one of his finest is here given, "The Old Chartist,"

which accompanied a poem by Mr. George Meredith. Indeed, it is impossible

to speak too highly of Mr. Sandys' draughtsmanship and power of

expression by means of line; he is one of our modern English masters who

has never, I think, had justice done to him.

[Illustration: F. SANDYS.

"THE OLD CHARTIST." ("ONCE A WEEK," 1861.)]

[Illustration: M. J. LAWLESS.

"DEAD LOVE." ("ONCE A WEEK," 1862.)]

I can only just briefly allude to certain powerful and original modern

designers of Germany, where indeed, the old vigorous traditions of

woodcut and illustrative drawing seem to have been kept more unbroken

than elsewhere.

On the purely character-drawing, pictorial and illustrative side, there

is of course Menzel, thoroughly modern, realistic, and dramatic. I am

thinking more perhaps of such men as Alfred Rethel, whose designs of

"Death the Friend" and "Death the Enemy," two large woodcuts, are well

known. I remember also a very striking series of designs of his, a kind

of modern "Dance of Death," which appeared about 1848, I think. Schwind

is another whose designs to folk tales are thoroughly German in spirit

and imagination, and style of drawing. Oscar Pletsch, too, is

remarkable for his feeling for village life and children, and many of his

illustrations have been reproduced in this country. More recent evidence,

and more directly in the decorative direction, of the vigour and

ornamental skill of German designers, is to be found in those picturesque

calendars, designed by Otto Hupp, which come from Munich, and show

something very like the old feeling of Burgmair, especially in the

treatment of the heraldry.

I have ventured to give a page or two here from my own books, "Grimm,"

"The Sirens Three," and others, which serve at least to show two very

different kinds of page treatment. In the "Grimm" the picture is inclosed

in formal and rectangular lines, with medallions of flowers at the four

corners, the title and text being written on scrolls above and below. In

"The Sirens Three" a much freer and more purely ornamental treatment is

adopted, and a bolder and more open line. A third, the frontispiece of

"The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde," by Miss de Morgan, is more of a

simple pictorial treatment, though strictly decorative in its scheme of

line and mass.

[Sidenote: THE INFLUENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY.]

The facile methods of photographic-automatic reproduction certainly give

an opportunity to the designer to write out his own text in the character

that pleases him, and that accords with his design, and so make his page

a consistent whole from a decorative point of view, and I venture to

think when this is done a unity of effect is gained for the page not

possible in any other way.

Indeed, the photograph, with all its allied discoveries and its

application to the service of the printing press, may be said to be as

important a discovery in its effects on art and books as was the

discovery of printing itself. It has already largely transformed the

system of the production of illustrations and designs for books,

magazines, and newspapers, and has certainly been the means of securing

to the artist the advantage of possession of his original, while its

fidelity, in the best processes, is, of course, very valuable.

Its influence, however, on artistic style and treatment has been, to my

mind, of more doubtful advantage. The effect on painting is palpable

enough, but so far as painting becomes photographic, the advantage is on

the side of the photograph. It has led in illustrative work to the method

of painting in black and white, which has taken the place very much of

the use of line, and through this, and by reason of its having fostered

and encouraged a different way of regarding nature--from the point of

view of accidental aspect, light and shade, and tone--it has confused and

deteriorated, I think, the faculty of inventive design, and the sense of

ornament and line; having concentrated artistic interest on the literal

realization of certain aspects of superficial facts, and instantaneous

impressions instead of ideas, and the abstract treatment of form and

line.

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM GRIMM'S "HOUSEHOLD STORIES." (MACMILLAN, 1882.)]

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FRONTISPIECE. "PRINCESS FIORIMONDE" (MACMILLAN, 1880).]

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

"THE SIRENS THREE" OPENING PAGE. (MACMILLAN, 1886.)]

[Sidenote: A DECORATIVE IDEAL.]

This, however, may be as much the tendency of an age as the result of

photographic invention, although the influence of the photograph must

count as one of the most powerful factors of that tendency. Thought and

vision divide the world of art between them--our thoughts follow

our vision, our vision is influenced by our thoughts. A book may be

the home of both thought and vision. Speaking figuratively, in regard to

book decoration, some are content with a rough shanty in the woods, and

care only to get as close to nature in her more superficial aspects as

they can. Others would surround their house with a garden indeed, but

they demand something like an architectural plan. They would look at a

frontispiece like a façade; they would take hospitable encouragement from

the title-page as from a friendly inscription over the porch; they would

hang a votive wreath at the dedication, and so pass on into the hall of

welcome, take the author by the hand and be led by him and his artist

from room to room, as page after page is turned, fairly decked and

adorned with picture, and ornament, and device; and, perhaps, finding it

a dwelling after his desire, the guest is content to rest in the ingle

nook in the firelight of the spirit of the author or the play of fancy of

the artist; and, weaving dreams in the changing lights and shadows, to

forget life's rough way and the tempestuous world outside.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV. OF THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF DECORATIVE BOOK ILLUSTRATION AND

THE MODERN REVIVAL OF PRINTING AS AN ART.

Since the three Cantor Lectures, which form the substance of the

foregoing chapters, were delivered by me at the rooms of the Society of

Arts, some six or seven years have elapsed, and they have been remarkable

for a pronounced revival of activity and interest in the art of the

printer and the decorative illustrator, the paper-maker, the binder, and

all the crafts connected with the production of tasteful and ornate

books.

Publishers and printers have shown a desire to return to simpler and

earlier standards of taste, and in the choice and arrangement of the type

to take a leaf out of the book of some of the early professors of the

craft. There has been a passion for tall copies and handmade paper; for

delicate bindings, and first editions.

There has grown up, too, quite a literature about the making of the book

beautiful--whereof the Ex-Libris Series alone is witness. We have,

besides, the history of Early Printed Books by Mr. Gordon Duff, of Early

Illustrated Books by Mr. Pollard. The Book-plate has been looked after by

Mr. Egerton Castle, and by a host of eager collectors ever since. Mr.

Pennell is well known as the tutelary genius who takes charge of

illustrators, and discourses upon them at large, and Mr. Strange bids us,

none too soon, to become acquainted with our alphabets. I have not yet

heard of any specialist taking up his parable upon "end papers," but,

altogether, the book has never perhaps had so much writing outside of it,

as it were, before.

[Sidenote: MODERN TYPOGRAPHY.]

A brilliant band of illustrators and ornamentists have appeared, too, and

nearly every month or so we hear of a new genius in black and white, who

is to eclipse all others. For all that, even in the dark ages, between

the mid-nineteenth century and the early eighties, one or two printers or

publishers of taste have from time to time attempted to restrain the wild

excesses of the trade-printer, with his terribly monotonous novelties in

founts of type, alternately shouting or whispering, anon in the crushing

and aggressive heaviness of block capitals, and now in the attenuated

droop of italics. Sad havoc has been played with the decorative dignity

of the page, indeed, as well as with the form and breed of roman and

gothic letters: one might have imagined that some mischievous printer's

devil had thrown the apple of discord among the letters of the alphabet,

so ingeniously ugly were so many modern so-called "fancy" types.

We have had good work from the Edinburgh houses, from Messrs. R. and R.

Clark, and Messrs. Constable, and in London from the Chiswick Press, for

instance, ever since the old days of its connection with the tasteful and

well printed volumes from the house of Pickering. Various artists, too,

in association with their book designs, from D. G. Rossetti onwards, have

designed their own lettering to be in decorative harmony with their

designs. The Century Guild, with its "Hobby Horse" and its artists, like

Mr. Horne and Mr. Selwyn Image, did much to keep alive true taste in

printing and book decoration, when they were but little understood.[7]

There have been printers, too, such as Mr. Daniel at Oxford, and De Vinne

at New York, who have from different points of view brought care and

selection to the choice of type and the printing of books, and have

adapted or designed type.

[7] And they elicited a response from across the water in the

shape of "The Knight Errant," the work of a band of young

enthusiasts at Boston, Mass., of which Mr. Lee and Mr. Goodhue may

be named as leading spirits--the latter being the designer of the

cover of "The Knight Errant," and the former the printer.

[Illustration: SELWYN IMAGE.

FROM TITLE-PAGE. "THE SCOTTISH ART REVIEW" (SCOTT, 1889).]

[Sidenote: THE KELMSCOTT PRESS.]

But the field for extensive artistic experiment in these directions was

tolerably clear when Mr. William Morris turned his attention to printing,

and, in 1891, founded the Kelmscott Press.

So far as I am aware, he has been the first to approach the craft of

practical printing from the point of view of the artist, and although, no

doubt, the fact of being a man of letters as well was an extra advantage,

his particular success in the art of printing is due to the former

qualification. A long and distinguished practice as a designer in other

matters of decorative art brought him to the nice questions of type

design, its place upon the page, and its relation to printed ornament and

illustration, peculiarly well equipped; while his historic knowledge and

discrimination, and the possession of an extraordinarily rich and choice

collection of both mediæval MSS. and early printed books afforded him an

abundant choice of the best models.

In the results which have been produced at the Kelmscott press we trace

the effect of all these influences, acting under the strongest personal

predilection, and a mediæval bias (in an artistic sense) which may be

said to be almost exclusive.

The Kelmscott roman type ("golden") perhaps rather suggests that it was

designed to anticipate and to provide against the demand of readers or

book fanciers who could stand nothing else than roman, while the heart of

the printer really hankered after black letter. But compare this "golden"

type with most modern lower case founts, up to the date of its use, and

its advantages both in form and substance are remarkable. Modern type,

obeying, I suppose, a resistless law of evolution, had reached,

especially with American printers, the last stage of attenuation. The

type of the Kelmscott press is an emphatic and practical protest against

this attenuation; just as its bold black and white ornaments and

decorative woodcuts in open line are protests against the undue thinness,

atmospheric effect, and diaphanous vignetting by photographic process and

tone-block of much modern illustration, which may indeed _illustrate_,

but does not _ornament_ a book. The paper, too, hand-made,

rough-surfaced, and tough, is in equally strong contrast to the shiny

hot-pressed machine-made paper, hitherto so much in vogue for the finer

kinds of printing, and by which it alone became possible. The two

kinds--the two ideals of printing--are as far apart as the poles. Those

who like the smooth and thin, will not like the bold and rough; but it

looks as if the Kelmscott standard had marked the turn of the tide, and

that, judging from the signs of its influence upon printers and

publishers generally, the feeling is running strongly in that direction.

(One would think the human eyesight would benefit also.) This is the more

remarkable since the Kelmscott books are by no means issued at "popular

prices," are limited in number, and for the most part are hardly for the

general reader--unless that ubiquitous person is more erudite and

omnivorous than is commonly credited.

[Illustration: WILLIAM MORRIS & WALTER CRANE.

A PAGE FROM "THE GLITTERING PLAIN." (KELMSCOTT PRESS, 1894.)]

Books, however, which may be called monumental in the national and

general sense, have been printed at the Kelmscott press, such as

Shakespeare's "Poems," More's "Utopia"; and Mr. Morris's _magnum opus_,

the folio Chaucer, enriched by the designs of Burne-Jones, has recently

been completed.[8]

[8] Completed, indeed, it might almost be said, with the life of

the craftsman. It is sad to have to record, while these pages were

passing through the press, our master printer--one of the greatest

Englishmen of our time--is no more.

In Mr. Morris's ornaments and initials, nearly always admirably

harmonious in their quantities with the character and mass of the type,

we may perhaps trace mixed influences in design. In the rich black and

white scroll and floral borders surrounding the title and first pages, we

seem to see the love of close-filling and interlacement characteristic of

Celtic and Byzantine work, with a touch of the feeling of the practical

textile designer, which comes out again in the up-and-down, detached bold

page ornaments, though here combined with suggestions from early English

illuminated MS.

These influences, however, only add to the distinctive character and

richness of the effect, and no attempt is made to get beyond the simple

conditions of bold black and white designs for the woodcut and the press.

Mr. Morris adopts the useful canon in printing that the true page is what

the open book displays--what is generally termed a double page. He

considers them practically as two columns of type, necessarily separate

owing to the construction of the book, but together as it lies open,

forming a page of type, only divided by the narrow margin where the

leaves are inserted in the back of the covers. We thus get the _recto_

and the _verso_ pages or columns, each with their distinctive proportions

of margin, as they turn to the right or the left from the centre of the

book--the narrowest margins being naturally inwards and at the top, the

broadest those outwards and at the foot, which latter should be deepest

of all. It may be called _the handle_ of the book, and there is reason in

the broad margin, though also gracious to the eye, since the hand may

hold the book without covering any of the type.

It is really the due consideration of the necessity of these little

utilities in the construction and use of a thing which enables the modern

designer--separated as he is from the actual maker--to preserve that

distinctive and organic character in any work so valuable, and always so

fruitful in artistic suggestion, and this I think holds true of all

design in association with handicraft.

The more immediate and intimate--one might occasionally say

imitative--influence of the Kelmscott press may be seen in the

extremely interesting work of a group of young artists who own

their training to the Birmingham School of Art, as developed under the

taste and ability of Mr. Taylor. Three of these, Mr. C. M. Gere, Mr. E.

H. New, and Mr. Gaskin, have designed illustrations for some of Mr.

Morris's Kelmscott books, so that the connection of ideas is perfectly

sequent and natural, and it is only as might be expected that the school

should have the courage of their artistic opinions, and boldly carry into

practice the results of their Kelmscott inspirations, by printing a

journal themselves, "The Quest."

[Illustration: C. M. GERE.

FROM THE "ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE" (1893).]

[Illustration: (_By permission of the Corporation of Liverpool._) C. M.

GERE.

FROM A DRAWING FROM HIS PICTURE "THE BIRTH OF ST. GEORGE."]

[Illustration: ARTHUR GASKIN.

FROM "HANS ANDERSEN." (ALLEN, 1893.)]

[Illustration: EDMUND H. NEW.

PROCESS BLOCK FROM THE ORIGINAL PEN DRAWING.]

[Sidenote: THE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL.]

Mr. Gere, Mr. Gaskin, and Mr. New may be said to be the leaders of the

Birmingham School. Mr. Gere has engraved on wood some of his own designs,

and he thoroughly realizes the ornamental value of bold and open line

drawing in association with lettering, and is a careful and conscientious

draughtsman and painter besides. A typical instance of his work is the

"Finding of St. George."

Mr. Gaskin's Christmas book, "King Wenceslas," is, perhaps, his best work

so far as we have seen. The designs are simple and bold, and in harmony

with the subject, and good in decorative character. His illustrations to

Hans Christian Andersen's "Fairy Tales" are full of a naïve romantic

feeling, and have much sense of the decorative possibilities of black and

white drawing. Mrs. Gaskin's designs for children's books show a quaint

fancy and ornamental feeling characteristic of the school.

Mr. New's feeling is for quaint streets and old buildings, which he draws

with conscientious thoroughness, and attention to characteristic details

of construction and local variety, without any reliance on accidental

atmospheric effects, but using a firm open line and broad, simple

arrangements of light and shade, which give them a decorative look as

book illustrations. It is owing to these qualities that they are

ornamental, and not to any actual ornament. Indeed, in those cases where

he has introduced borders to frame his pictures, he does not seem to me

to be so successful as an ornamentist pure and simple, though in his

latest work, the illustrations to Mr. Lane's edition of Isaac Walton's

"Compleat Angler," there are pretty headings and tasteful title scrolls,

as well as good drawings of places.

[Illustration: INIGO THOMAS.

FROM "THE FORMAL GARDEN." (MACMILLAN, 1892.)]

The question of border is, however, always a most difficult one. One

might compare the illustrative drawings of architecture and gardens of

Mr. Inigo Thomas in Mr. Reginald Blomfield's work on gardens, with Mr.

New, as showing, with considerable decorative feeling, and feeling for

the subject, a very different method of drawing, one might say more

pictorial in a sense, the line being much thinner and closer, and in

effect greyer and darker. The introduction of the titles helps the

ornamental effect.

[Illustration: INIGO THOMAS.

FROM "THE FORMAL GARDEN." (MACMILLAN, 1892.)]

Among the leading artists of the Birmingham School must be mentioned Mr.

H. Payne, Mr. Bernard Sleigh and Mr. Mason for their romantic feeling in

story illustrations; Miss Bradley for her inventive treatment of crowds

and groups of children; Miss Winifred Smith for her groups of children

and quaint feeling; Mrs. Arthur Gaskin also for her pretty quaint fancies

in child-life; Miss Mary Newill for her ornamental rendering of natural

landscape, as in the charming drawing of Porlock; and Miss Celia Levetus

for her decorative feeling. It may, at any rate, I think be claimed for

it, that both in method, sentiment, and subject, it is peculiarly

English, and represents a sincere attempt to apply what may be called

traditional principles in decoration to book illustration.

Among the recent influences tending to foster the feeling for the

treatment of black and white design and book illustrations, _primarily

from the decorative point of view_, the Arts and Crafts Exhibition

Society may claim to have had some share, and they have endeavoured, by

the tendency of the work selected for exhibition as well as by papers and

lectures by various members on this point, to emphasize its importance

and to spread clear principles, even at the risk of appearing partial

and biased in one direction, and leaving many clever artists in black and

white unrepresented.

[Sidenote: ILLUSTRATION AND DECORATION.]

Now for graphic ability, originality, and variety, there can be no doubt

of the vigour of our modern black and white artists. It is the most vital

and really popular form of art at the present day, and it, far more than

painting, deals with the actual life of the people; it is, too,

thoroughly democratic in its appeal, and, associated with the newspaper

and magazine, goes everywhere--at least, as far as there are shillings

and pence--and where often no other form of art is accessible.

But graphic power and original point of view is not always associated

with the decorous ornamental sense. It is, in fact, often its very

antithesis, although, on the other hand, good graphic drawing, governed

by a sense of style to which economy or simplicity of line often leads,

has ornamental quality.

I should say at once that sincere graphic or naturalistic drawing, with

individual character and style, is always preferable to merely lifeless,

purely imitative, and tame repetition in so-called decorative work.

[Illustration: HENRY PAYNE.

FROM "A BOOK OF CAROLS." (ALLEN, 1893.)]

[Illustration: F. MASON.

FROM "HUON OF BORDEAUX." (ALLEN, 1895.)]

[Illustration: GERTRUDE M. BRADLEY.

THE CHERRY FESTIVAL. (FROM A PEN DRAWING.)]

[Illustration: MARY NEWILL.

PORLOCK. (FROM A PEN DRAWING.)]

[Sidenote: DECORATIVE PRINCIPLES.]

While I claim that certain decorative considerations such as plan, scale

balance, proportion, quantity, relation to type, are essential to really

beautiful book illustration, I do not in the least wish to ignore the

clever work of many contemporary illustrators because they only care to

be illustrators pure and simple, and prefer to consider a page of paper,

or any part of it unoccupied by type, as a fair field for a

graphic sketch, with no more consideration for its relation to the page

itself or the rest of the book, than an artist usually feels when he jots

down something from life in his sketch-book.

[Illustration: CELIA LEVETUS.

A BOOKPLATE.]

I think that book illustration should be something more than a collection

of accidental sketches. Since one cannot ignore the constructive organic

element in the formation--the idea of the book itself--it is so far

inartistic to leave it out of account in designing work intended to form

an essential or integral part of that book.

I do not, however, venture to assert that decorative illustration can

only be done in _one_ way--if so, there would be an end in that direction

to originality or individual feeling. There is nothing absolute in art,

and one cannot dogmatize, but it seems to me that in all designs certain

conditions must be acknowledged, and not only acknowledged but accepted

freely, just as one would accept the rules of a game before attempting to

play it.

The rules, the conditions of a sport or game, give it its own peculiar

character and charm, and by means of them the greatest amount of pleasure

and keenest excitement is obtained in the long run, just as by observing

the conditions, the limitations of an art or handicraft, we shall extract

the greatest amount of pleasure for the worker and beauty for the

beholder.

[Sidenote: THE DIAL.]

Many remarkable designers in black and white of individuality and

distinction, and with more or less strong feeling for decorative

treatment, have arisen during the last few years. Among these ought to be

named Messrs. Ricketts and Shannon, whose joint work upon "The Dial" is

sufficiently well known. They, too, have taken up printing as an art, Mr.

Ricketts having designed his own type and engraved his own drawings on

wood. They are excellent craftsmen as well as inventive and original

artists of remarkable cultivation, imaginative feeling and taste. There

is a certain suggestion of inspiration from William Blake in Mr. Shannon

sometimes, and of German or Italian fifteenth century woodcuts in the

work of Mr. Ricketts. The weird designs of Mr. Reginald Savage should

also be noted, as well as the charming woodcuts of Mr. Sturge Moore.

[Illustration: C S. RICKETTS.

FROM "HERO AND LEANDER." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

Another very remarkable designer in black and white is Mr. Aubrey

Beardsley. His work shows a delicate sense of line, and a bold decorative

use of solid blacks, as well as an extraordinarily weird fancy and

grotesque imagination, which seems occasionally inclined to run in a

morbid direction. Although, as in the case of most artists, one can trace

certain influences which have helped in the formation of their style,

there can be no doubt of his individuality and power. The designs for the

work by which Mr. Beardsley became first known, I believe, the "Morte

d'Arthur," alone are sufficient to show this. There appears to be a

strong mediæval decorative feeling, mixed with a curious weird

Japanese-like spirit of _diablerie_ and grotesque, as of the opium-dream,

about his work; but considered as book-decoration, though it is

effective, the general abstract treatment of line, and the use of large

masses of black and white, rather suggest designs intended to be carried

out in some other material, such as inlay or enamel, for instance, in

which they would gain the charm of beautiful surface and material, and

doubtless look very well. Mr. Beardsley shows different influences in his

later work in the "Savoy," some of which suggests a study of eighteenth

century designers, such as Callot or Hogarth, and old English mezzotints.

[Sidenote: THE STUDIO.]

[Sidenote: CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATORS.]

"The Studio," which, while under the able and sympathetic editorship of

Mr. Gleeson White, first called attention (by the medium of Mr. Pennell's

pen) to Mr. Beardsley's work, has done good service in illustrating the

progress of decorative art, both at home and abroad, and has from time to

time introduced several young artists whose designs have thus become

known to the public for the first time, such as Mr. Patten Wilson, Mr.

Laurence Housman, Mr. Fairfax Muckley, and Mr. Charles Robinson, who all

have their own distinctive feeling: the first for bold line drawings

after the old German method with an abundance of detail; the second for

remarkable taste in ornament, and a humorous and poetic fancy; the third

for a very graceful feeling for line and the decorative use of black and

white--especially in the treatment of trees and branch work, leaves and

flowers associated with figures.

Mr. J. D. Batten has distinguished himself for some years past as an

inventive illustrator of Fairy Tales. In his designs, perhaps, he shows

more of the feeling of the story-teller than the decorator in line, on

the whole; his feeling as a painter, perhaps, not making him quite

content with simple black and white; and, certainly, his charming tempera

picture of the sleeping maid and the dwarfs, and his excellent printed

picture of Eve and the serpent, printed by Mr. Fletcher in the Japanese

method, might well excuse him if that is the case.

Mr. Henry Ford is another artist who has devoted himself with much

success to Fairy Tale pictures in black and white, being associated with

the fairy books of many different colours issued under the fairy

godfather's wand (or pen) of Mr. Andrew Lang. He, too, I think perhaps,

cares more for the "epic" than the "ornamental" side of illustration; he

generally shows a pretty poetical fancy.

At the head, perhaps, of the newer school of decorative illustrators

ought to be named Mr. Robert Anning Bell, whose taste and feeling for

style alone gives him a distinctive place. He has evidently studied the

early printers and book-decorators in outline of Venice and Florence to

some purpose; by no means merely imitatively, but with his own type of

figure and face, and fresh natural impressions, observes with much taste

and feeling for beauty the limitations and decorative suggestions in the

relations of line-drawing and typography. Many of his designs to "The

Midsummer Night's Dream" are delightful both as drawings and as

decorative illustrations.

[Illustration: CHARLES RICKETTS.

FROM "DAPHNIS AND CHLOE." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

The newest book illustrator is perhaps Mr. Charles Robinson, whose work

appears to be full of invention, though I have not yet had sufficient

opportunities of doing it justice. He shows quaint and sometimes weird

fancy, a love of fantastic architecture, and is not afraid of outline and

large white spaces.

[Illustration: C. H. SHANNON.

FROM "DAPHNIS AND CHLOE." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

Mr. R. Spence shows considerable vigour and originality. He distinguished

himself first by some pen drawings which won the gold medal at the

National Competitions at South Kensington, in which a romantic feeling

and dramatic force was shown in designs of mediæval battles, expressed in

forcible way, consistent with good line and effect in black and white.

His design of the Legend of St. Cuthbert in "The Quarto" is perhaps the

most striking thing he has done. I am enabled to print one of his

characteristic designs of battles.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

Mr. A. Jones also distinguished himself about the same time as Mr. Spence

in the National Competition, and showed some dramatic and romantic

feeling. The design given shows a more ornamental side.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (DENT.)]

Mr. William Strang, who has made his mark in etching as a medium for

designs full of strong character and weird imagination, also shows in his

processed pen drawings vigorous line and perception of decorative value,

as in the designs to "Munchausen," two of which are here reproduced.

[Sidenote: THE EVERGREEN.]

The publication of "The Evergreen" by Patrick Geddes and his colleagues

at Edinburgh has introduced several black and white designers of force

and character--Mr. Robert Burns and Mr. John Duncan, for instance, more

particularly distinguishing themselves for decorative treatment in which

one may see the influences of much fresh inspiration from Nature.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (DENT.)]

[Sidenote: CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATORS.]

Miss Mary Sargant Florence shows power and decorative feeling in her

outline designs to "The Crystal Ball." Mr. Granville Fell must be named

among the newer school of decorative illustrators; and Mr. Paul

Woodroffe, who also shows much facility of design and feeling for old

English life in his books of Nursery Rhymes; his recent work shows much

refinement of drawing and feeling.

Miss Alice B. Woodward ought also to be named for her clever treatment of

mediæval life in black and white.

More recently, perhaps the most remarkable work in book illustration has

been that of Mr. E. J. Sullivan, whose powerful designs to Carlyle's

"Sartor Resartus" are full of vigour and character.

Force and character, again, seem the leading qualities in the striking

work of another of our recent designers in black and white, Mr.

Nicholson, who also engraves his own work.

[Illustration: EDMUND J. SULLIVAN.

FROM "SARTOR RESARTUS." (BELL.)]

Mr. Gordon Craig adds printing to the crafts of black and white design

and engraving, and has a distinctive feeling of his own.

The revival in England of decorative art of all kinds during the

last five and twenty years, culminating as it appears to be doing in

book-design, has not escaped the eyes of observant and sympathetic

artists and writers upon the Continent. The work of English artists

of this kind has been exhibited in Germany, in Holland, in Belgium

and France, and has met with remarkable appreciation and sympathy.

[Illustration: PATTEN WILSON.

FROM THE PEN DRAWING.]

[Illustration: LAURENCE HOUSMAN.

TITLE-PAGE OF "THE HOUSE OF JOY." (KEGAN PAUL, 1895.)]

[Illustration: L. FAIRFAX MUCKLEY.

FROM "FRANGILLA." (ELKIN MATHEWS.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM A "CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: BELGIUM.]

In Belgium, particularly, where there appears to be a somewhat similar

movement in art, the work of the newer school of English designers has

awakened the greatest interest. The fact that M. Oliver Georges Destrée

has made sympathetic literary studies of the English pre-Raphaelites and

their successors, is an indication of this. The exhibitions of the "XX^e

Siècle," "La libre Æsthetique," at Brussels and Liège, are also evidence

of the repute in which English designers are held.

[Illustration: J. D. BATTEN.

FROM "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

[Sidenote: THE CONTINENT.]

In Holland, too, a special collection of the designs of English book

illustrators has been exhibited at the Hague and other towns under the

auspices of M. Loffelt.

[Illustration: J. D. BATTEN.

FROM "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

At Paris, also, the critics and writers on art have been busy in the

various journals giving an account of the Arts and Crafts movement, the

Kelmscott Press, and the school of English book-decorators in black and

white, and the recent exhibitions of "L'Art Nouveau" and "Le

Livre Moderne" at Paris are further evidence of the interest

taken there in English art.

[Illustration: R. ANNING BELL.

FROM "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM."

(J. M. DENT AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: R. ANNING BELL.

FROM "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST."

(J. M. DENT AND CO., 1894.)]

[Illustration: R. SPENCE.

FROM A PEN DRAWING.]

[Illustration: ALFRED JONES.

A TITLE-PAGE.]

[Illustration: WILLIAM STRANG.

FROM "BARON MUNCHAUSEN." (LAWRENCE AND BULLEN.)]

[Illustration: WILLIAM STRANG.

FROM "MUNCHAUSEN" (LAWRENCE AND BULLEN).]

Without any vain boasting, it is interesting to note that whereas most

artistic movements affecting England are commonly supposed to have been

imported from the Continent, we are credited at last with a genuine home

growth in artistic development. Although, regarded in the large sense,

country or nationality is nothing to art (being at its best always

cosmopolitan and international) yet in the history of design, national

and local varieties, racial characteristics and local developments must

always have their value and historic interest.

[Illustration: H. GRANVILLE FELL.

FROM "CINDERELLA." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

[Sidenote: BELGIUM.]

We may, perhaps, take it as a sympathetic response to English feeling,

the appearance of such books as M. Rijsselberghe's Almanack, with its

charming designs in line, from the house of Dietrich at Brussels. M.

Fernand Knopff's work, original as it is, shows sympathy with the later

English school of poetic and decorative design of which D. G. Rossetti

may be said to have been the father, though in book-illustration proper I

am not aware that he has done much. In Holland in black and

white design there is M. G. W. Dijsselhof and M. R. N. Roland Holst.

[Illustration: JOHN DUNCAN.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: JOHN DUNCAN.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: ROBERT BURNS.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: MARY SARGANT FLORENCE.

FROM "THE CRYSTAL BALL." (BELL, 1894.)]

[Illustration: PAUL WOODROFFE.

FROM "SECOND BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES." (GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Illustration: PAUL WOODROFFE.

FROM "NURSERY RHYMES." (BELL, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: GERMANY.]

In Germany, such original and powerful artists as Josef Sattler and Franz

Stück; the former seemingly inheriting much of the grim and stern humour

of the old German masters, as well as their feeling for character and

treatment of line, while his own personality is quite distinct. While

Sattler is distinctly Gothic in sympathy, Stück seems more to lean to the

pagan or classical side, and his centaurs and graces are drawn with much

feeling and character. We have already mentioned the "Munich Calendar,"

designed by Otto Hupp, which is well known for the vigour and spirit with

which the artist has worked after the old German manner, with bold

treatment of heraldic devices, and has effectively used colour with line

work. The name of Seitz appears upon some effectively designed

allegorical figures, one of Gutenberg at his press.

[Sidenote: "JUGEND."]

"Jugend," a copiously illustrated journal published at Munich by Dr.

Hirth, shows that there are many clever artists with a more or less

decorative aim in illustration, which in others seems rather overgrown

with grotesque feeling and morbid extravagance, but there is an abundance

of exuberant life, humour, whimsical fancy and spirit characteristic of

South Germany.

[Illustration: M. RIJSSELBERGHE.]

"Ver Sacrum," the journal of the group of the "Secession" artists of

Vienna, gives evidence of considerable daring and resource in black and

white drawing, though mainly of an impressionistic or pictorial aim.

M. Larisch, of Vienna, has distinguished himself by his works upon the

artistic treatment and spacing of letters which contain examples of the

work of different artists both continental and English.

French artists in decoration of all kinds have been so largely influenced

or affected by the Japanese, and have so generally approached design from

the impressionistic, dramatic, or accidental-individualist point of view,

that the somewhat severe limits imposed by a careful taste in all art

with an ornamental purpose, does not appear to have greatly attracted

them. At all times it would seem that the dramatic element is the

dominant one in French art, and this, though of course quite reconcilable

with the ornament instinct, is seldom found perfectly united with it,

and, where present, generally gets the upper hand. The older classical or

Renaissance ornamental feeling of designers like Galland and Puvis de

Chavannes seems to be dying out, and the modern _chic_ and daring of a

Cheret seems to be more characteristic of the moment.

[Sidenote: GRASSET.]

Yet, on the other hand, among the newer French School, we find an artist

of such careful methods and of such strong decorative instinct as

Grasset, on what I should call the architectural side in

contradistinction to the impressionistic. His work, though quite

characteristically French in spirit and sentiment, is much more akin in

method to our English decorative school. In fact, many of Grasset's

designs suggest that he has done what our men have done, studied the art

of the middle ages from the remains in his own country, and grafted upon

this stock the equipment and sentiment of a modern.

[Sidenote: LETTERING.]

In his book illustrations he seems, however, so far as I know, to lean

rather towards illustrations pure and simple, rather than decoration, and

exhibits great archæological resource as well as romantic feeling in

such designs as those to "Les Cinq Fils d'Aymon." The absence of book

decoration in the English sense, in France, however, may be due to the

want of beauty or artistic feeling in the typographer's part of the work.

Modern French type has generally assumed elongated and meagre forms which

are not suggestive of rich decorative effect, and do not combine with

design: nor, so far as I have been able to observe, does there seem to be

any feeling amongst the designers for the artistic value of lettering, or

any serious attempt to cultivate better forms. The poster-artist, to whom

one would think, being essential to his work, the value of lettering in

good forms would appeal, generally tears the roman alphabet to tatters,

or uses extremely debased and ugly varieties.

More recently, however, French designers and printers appear to be giving

attention to the subject, and newly designed types are appearing; one

firm at Paris having issued a fount designed by Eugene Grasset.

The charming designs of Boutet de Monvel should be named as among the

most distinctive of modern French book illustrations, for their careful

drawing and decorative effect, although, being in colours, they hardly

belong to the same category as the works we have been considering, and

the relation of type to pictures leaves something to be desired.

A respect for form and style in lettering, is, I take it, one of the most

unmistakable indications of a good decorative sense. A true ornamental

instinct can produce a fine ornamental effect by means of a mass of good

type or MS. lettering alone: and considered as accompaniments or

accessories to design they are invaluable, as presenting opportunities of

contrast or recurrence in mass or line to other elements in the

composition. To the decorative illustrator of books they are the unit or

primal element from which he starts.

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM SPENSER'S "FAERIE QUEENE."

(GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Sidenote: ITALY.]

The publication at Venice of "L'Arte della stampa nel Renascimento

Italiano Venezia," by Ferd. Ongania--a series of reproductions of

woodcuts, ornaments, initials, title-pages, etc., from some of the

choicest of the books of the early Venetian and Florentine printers, may

perhaps be taken as a sign of the growth of a similar interest in book

decoration in that country, unless, like other works, it is intended

chiefly for the foreign visitor.

A sumptuously printed quarterly on Art, which has of late made its

appearance at Rome, "Il Convito," seems to show an interest in the

decorative side, and does not confine its note on illustrations to

Italian work, but gives reproductions from the works of D. G. Rossetti,

and from Elihu Vedder's designs to "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam."

Certainly if the possession of untold treasures of endlessly beautiful

invention in decorative art, and the tradition of ancient schools tend to

foster and to stimulate original effort, one would think that it should

be easier for Italian artists than those of other countries to revive

something of the former decorative beauty of the work of her printers and

designers in the days of Aldus and Ratdolt, of the Bellini and

Botticelli.

It does not appear to be enough, however, to possess the seed merely; or

else one might say that where a museum is, there will the creative art

spring also; it is necessary to have the soil also; to plough and sow,

and then to possess our souls in patience a long while ere the new crop

appears, and ere it ripens and falls to our sickle. It is only another

way of saying, that art is the outcome of life, not of death.

Artists may take motives or inspiration from the past, or from the

present, it matters not, so long as their work has life and beauty--so

long as it is organic, in short.

[Illustration: HOWARD PYLE.

FROM "OTTO OF THE SILVER HAND." (SCRIBNER.)]

[Sidenote: HOWARD PYLE.]

I have already alluded to the movement in Boston among a group of

cultured young men--Mr. Lee the printer and his colleagues--more or less

inspired by "The Hobby Horse" and the Kelmscott Press, which resulted in

the printing of "The Knight Errant."

[Illustration: HOWARD PYLE.

FROM "OTTO OF THE SILVER HAND." (SCRIBNER.)]

Some years before, however, Mr. Howard Pyle distinguished himself as a

decorative artist in book designs, which showed, among other more modern

influences, a considerable study of the method of Albert Dürer. I give a

reproduction which suggests somewhat the effect of the famous copperplate

of Erasmus. He sometimes uses a lighter method, such as is shown in the

drawings to "The One Horse Shay."

Of late in his drawings in the magazines, Mr. Pyle has adopted the modern

wash method, or painting in black and white, in which, however able in

its own way, it is distinctly at a considerable loss of individuality

and decorative interest.[9]

[9] I am informed that the adoption of the wash method is not

recent with Mr. Pyle, but that he adapts his method to his matter.

This does not, however, affect the opinion expressed as to the

relative artistic value of wash and line work.

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

A COVER DESIGN. (CHICAGO, 1894.)]

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

PROSPECTUS OF "BRADLEY HIS BOOK."

(SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 1896.)]

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

DESIGN FOR "THE CHAP-BOOK." (CHICAGO, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: "THE INLAND PRINTER."]

[Sidenote: AMERICAN ARTISTS.]

Another artist of considerable invention and decorative ability has

recently appeared in America, Mr. Will. H. Bradley, whose designs for

"The Inland Printer" of Chicago are remarkable for careful and delicate

line-work, and effective treatment of black and white, and showing the

influence of the newer English school with a Japanese blend.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V. OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN DESIGNING BOOK ORNAMENTS AND

ILLUSTRATIONS: CONSIDERATIONS OF ARRANGEMENT, SPACING, AND TREATMENT.

It may not be amiss to add a few words as a kind of summary of general

principles to which we seem to be naturally led by the line of thought I

have been pursuing on this subject of book decoration.

As I have said, there is nothing final or absolute in Design. It is a

matter of continual re-arrangement, re-adjustment, and modification or

even transformation of certain elements. A kind of imaginative chemistry

of forms, masses, lines, and quantities, continually evolving new

combinations. But each artistic problem must be solved on its merits, and

as each one varies and presents fresh questions, it follows that no

absolute rules or principles can be laid down to fit particular cases,

although as the result of, and evolved out of, practice, certain general

guiding principles are valuable, as charts and compasses by which the

designer can to a certain extent direct his course.

To begin with, the enormous variety in style, aim, and size of books,

makes the application of definite principles difficult. One must narrow

the problem down to a particular book, of a given character and size.

Apart from the necessarily entirely personal and individual questions of

selection of subject, motive, feeling or sentiment, consider the

conditions of the book-page. Take an octavo page--such as one of those

of this volume.

Although we may take the open book with the double-columns as the page

proper, in treating a book for illustration, we shall be called upon

sometimes to treat them as single pages. But whether single or double,

each has its limits in the mass of type forming the full page or column

which gives the dimensions of the designer's panel. The whole or any part

of this panel may be occupied by design, and one principle of procedure

in the ornamental treatment of a book is to consider any of the territory

not occupied by the type as a fair field for accompanying or terminating

design--as, for instance, at the ends of chapters, where more or less of

the type page is left blank.

Unless we are designing our own type, or drawing our lettering as a part

of the design, the character and form of the type will give us a sort of

gauge of degree, or key, to start with, as to the force of the black and

white effect of our accompanying designs and ornaments. For instance, one

would generally avoid using heavy blacks and thick lines with a light

open kind of type, or light open work with very heavy type. (Even here

one must qualify, however, since light open pen-work has a fine and rich

effect with black letters sometimes.)

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM SPENSER'S "FAERIE QUEENE." (GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM SPENSER'S "FAERIE QUEENE." (GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM SPENSER'S "FAERIE QUEENE." (GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

My own feeling--and designing must always finally be a question of

individual feeling--is rather to acknowledge the rectangular character of

the type page in the shape of the design; even in a vignette, by making

certain lines extend to the limits, so as to convey a feeling of

rectangular control and compactness, as in the tail-piece given

here from "The Faerie Queene."

[Sidenote: OF END PAPERS.]

But first, if one may, paradoxically, begin with "end paper" as it is

curiously called, there is the lining of the book. Here the problem is to

cover two leaves entirely in a suggestive and agreeable, but not

obtrusive way. One way is to design a repeating pattern much on the

principle of a small printed textile, or miniature wall-paper, in one or

more colours. Something delicately suggestive of the character and

contents of the book is in place here, but nothing that competes with the

illustrations proper. It may be considered as a kind of quadrangle,

forecourt, or even a garden or grass plot before the door.

We are not intended to linger long here, but ought to get some hint or

encouragement to go on into the book. The arms of the owner (if he is

fond of heraldry, and wants to remind the potential book borrower to

piously return) may appear hereon--the book-plate.

If we are to be playful and lavish, if the book is for Christmastide or

for children, we may catch a sort of fleeting butterfly idea on the

fly-leaves before we are brought with becoming, though dignified

curiosity, to a short pause at the half-title. Having read this, we are

supposed to pass on with somewhat bated breath until we come to the

double doors, and the front and full title are disclosed in all their

splendour.

[Sidenote: OF FRONTISPIECES AND TITLE PAGES.]

Even here, though, the whole secret of the book should not be let out,

but rather played with or suggested in a symbolic way, especially in any

ornament on the title-page, in which the lettering should be the chief

ornamental feature. A frontispiece may be more pictorial in treatment if

desired, and it is reasonable to occupy the whole of the type page both

for the lettering of title and the picture in the front; then, if

richness of effect is desired, the margin may be covered also almost to

the edge of the paper by inclosing borders, the width of these borders

varying according to the varying width of the paper margin, and in the

same proportions, _recto_ and _verso_ as the case may be, the broad side

turning outwards to the edge of the book each way.

This is a plan adopted in the opening of the Kelmscott books, of which

that of "The Glittering Plain," given here, may be taken as a type.

Though Mr. Morris places his title page on the left to face the opening

of first chapter, and does not use a frontispiece, he obtains a

remarkably rich and varied effect of black and white in his larger title

pages by placing in his centre panel strong black Gothic letters; or, as

in the case of the Kelmscott Chaucer, letters in white relief upon a

floral arabesque adapted to the space, and filling the field with a

lighter floral network in open line, and enclosing this again with the

rich black and white marginal border.

[Illustration: FROM "THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN."]

[Illustration: WILLIAM MORRIS AND WALTER CRANE.

(KELMSCOTT PRESS, 1894.)]

If I may refer again to my own work, in the designs to "The Faerie

Queene" the full-page designs are all treated as panels of figure design,

or pictures, and are enclosed in fanciful borders, in which subsidiary

incidents of characters of the poem are introduced or suggested, somewhat

on the plan of mediæval tapestries. A reduction of one of these is given

above.

[Sidenote: OF OUTLINE AND BORDERS.]

A full-page design may, thus inclosed and separated from the type pages,

bear carrying considerably further, and be more realized and stronger in

effect than the ornaments of the type page, just as in the illuminated

MSS. highly wrought miniatures were worked into inclosing borders on the

centres of large initial letters, which formed a broad framework,

branching into light floral scroll or leaves upon the margin and uniting

with the lettering.

Much depends upon the decorative scheme. With appropriate type, a

charming, simple, and broad effect can be obtained by using outline

alone, both for the figure designs or pictures, and the ornament proper.

The famous designs of the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," 1499, may be taken

as an instance of this treatment; also the "Fasciculus Medicinæ," 1495,

"Æsop's Fables," 1493, and other books of the Venetian printers of about

this date or earlier, which are generally remarkable for fine quality of

their outline and the refinement and grace of their ornaments.

One of the most effective black and white page borders of a purely

ornamental kind is one dated 1478, inclosing a page of Roman type, (_see_

illustration, Venice, 1478, Pomponius Mela). A meandering arabesque of a

rose-stem leaf and flower, white on a black ground, springing from a

circle in the broad margin at the bottom, in which are two shields of

arms. A tolerably well known but most valuable example.

[Sidenote: OF DESIGNING TYPE.]

The opening chapter of a book affords an opportunity to the designer of

producing a decorative effect by uniting ornament with type. He can

place figure design in a frieze-shaped panel (say of about a fourth of

the page) for the heading, and weight it by a bold initial letter

designed in a square, from which may spring the stem and leaves of an

arabesque throwing the letter into relief, and perhaps climbing up and

down the margin, and connecting the heading with the initial. The

initialed page from "The Faerie Queene" is given as an example of such

treatment. The title, or any chapter inscription, if embodied in the

design of the heading, has a good effect.

Harmony between type and illustration and ornament can never, of course,

be quite so complete as when the lettering is designed and drawn as a

part of the whole, unless the type is designed by the artist. It entails

an amount of careful and patient labour (unless the inscriptions are very

brief) few would be prepared to face, and would mean, practically, a

return to the principle of the block book.

[Illustration: ITALIAN SCHOOL. XVTH CENTURY.

KETHAM'S "FASCICULUS MEDICINÆ." (VENICE, DE GREGORIIS, 1493.)]

[Illustration: ITALIAN SCHOOL. XVTH CENTURY.

POMPONIUS MELA. (VENICE, RATDOLT, 1478.)]

Even in these days, however, books have been entirely produced by hand,

and, for that matter, if beauty were the sole object, we could not do

better than follow the methods of the scribe, illuminator, and

miniaturist of the Middle Ages. But the world clamours for many copies

(at least in some cases), and the artist must make terms with the

printing press if he desires to live. It would be a delightful thing if

every book were different--a millennium for collectors! Perhaps, too, it

might be a wholesome regulation at this stage if authors were to qualify

as scribes (in the old sense) and write out their own works in

beautiful letters! How it would purify literary style!

There is no doubt that great attention has been given to the formation of

letters by designers in the past.

[Sidenote: THE DÜRER ALPHABETS.]

Albrecht Dürer, in his "Geometrica," for instance, gives an elaborate

system for drawing the Roman capitals, and certainly produces by its

means a fine alphabet in that type of letter, apparently copied from

ancient Roman inscriptions. He does the same for the black letters

also.[10]

[10] Reproduced in "Alphabets," by E. F. Strange (pp. 244-250),

Ex-Libris Series. Bell.

For the Roman capitals he takes a square, and divides it into four equal

parts for the A. The horizontal line across the centre gives the

crossbar. The sides of the square are divided into eighths, and one

eighth is measured at the top of vertical dividing line, one eighth again

from each bottom corner of the square to these points, the limbs of the

A, are drawn; the up stroke and cross-bar being one-sixteenth, the down

stroke being one-eighth of the square in thickness. Circles of one-fourth

of the square in diameter are struck at the top of the A where the limbs

meet, and at lower corners, to form the outside serifs of the feet, the

inside serifs being formed by circles of one-sixteenth diameter; and so

the A is complete. Various sub-divisions of the square are given as

guides in the formation of the other letters less symmetrical, and two or

three forms are given of some, such as the O, and the R, Q, and S; but

the same proportions of thick and thin strokes are adhered to, and the

same method of forming the serifs.

For the black letter (lower case German) text the proportions are five

squares for the short letters i, n, m, u, the space between the strokes

of a letter like u being one-third the thickness of the stroke, the top

and bottom one being covered with one square, set diamond-wise. Eight

squares for the long letters l, h, b; the tops cut off diagonally, the

feet turned diamond-wise.

This is interesting as showing the care and sense of proportion which may

be expended upon the formation of lettering. It also gives a definite

standard. The division of eighths and fourths in the Roman capital is

noteworthy, too, in connection with the eight-heads standard of

proportion for the human body; and the square basis reminds one of

Vitruvius, and demonstration of the inclosure of the human figure with

limbs in extension by the square and the circle.

Those interested in the history of the form of lettering cannot do better

than consult Mr. Strange's book on "Alphabets" in this series.

It might be possible to construct an actual theory of the geometric

relation of figure design, ornamental forms, and the forms of lettering,

text, or type upon them, but we are more concerned with the free artistic

invention for the absence of which no geometric rules can compensate. The

invention, the design, comes first in order, the rules and principles are

discovered afterwards, to confirm and establish their truth--would that

they did not also sometimes crystallize their vitality!

I have spoken of the treatment of headings and initials at the opening of

a chapter. In deciding upon such an arrangement the designer is more or

less committed to carrying it out throughout the book, and would do well

to make his ornamental spaces, and the character, treatment, and size of

his initials agree in the corresponding places. This would still leave

plenty of room for variety of invention in the details.

The next variety of shape in which he might indulge would be the

half-page, generally an attractive proportion for a figure design, and if

repeated on the opposite page or column, the effect of a continuous

frieze can be given, which is very useful where a procession of figures

is concerned, and the slight break made by the centre margin is not

objectionable.

The same plan may be adopted when it is desired to carry a full-page

design across, or meet it by a corresponding design opposite.

[Sidenote: OF HEAD AND TAIL-PIECES.]

Then we come to the space at the end of the chapter. For my part, I can

never resist the opportunity for a tailpiece if it is to be a fully

illustrated work, though some would let it severely alone, or be glad of

the blank space to rest a bit. I think this lets one down at the end of

the chapter too suddenly. The blank, the silence, seems too dead; one

would be glad of some lingering echo, some recurring thought suggested by

the text; and here is the designer's opportunity. It is a tight place,

like the person who is expected to say the exactly fit thing at the right

moment. Neither too much, or too little. A quick wit and a light hand

will serve the artist in good stead here.

[Sidenote: OF TAIL-PIECES.]

Page-terminations or tailpieces may of course be very various in plan,

and their style correspond with or be a variant of the style of the rest

of the decorations of the book. Certain types are apt to recur, but while

the bases may be similar, the superstructure of fancy may vary as much as

we like. There is what I should call the mouse-tail termination, formed

on a gradually diminishing line, starting the width of the type, and

ending in a point. Printers have done it with dwindling lines of type,

finishing with a single word or an aldine leaf.

Then there is the plan of boldly shutting the gate, so to speak, by

carrying a panel of design right across, or filling the whole of the

remaining page. This is more in the nature of additional illustration to

carry on the story, and might either be a narrow frieze-like strip, or a

half, or three-quarter page design as the space would suggest.

There is the inverted triangular plan, and the shield or hatchment form.

The garland or the spray, sprig, leaf, or spot, or the pen flourish

glorified into an arabesque.

The medallion form, or seal shape, too, often lends itself appropriately

to end a chapter with, where an inclosed figure or symbol is wanted. One

principle in designing isolated ornaments is useful: to arrange the

subject so that its edges shall touch a graceful boundary, or inclosing

shape, whether the boundary is actually defined by inclosing lines or

frame-work or not. Floral, leaf, and escutcheon shapes are generally the

best, but free, not rigidly geometrical. The value of a certain economy

of line can hardly be too much appreciated, and the perception of the

necessity of recurrence of line, and a re-echoing in the details of

leading motives in line and mass. It is largely upon such small threads

that decorative success and harmonious effect depend, and they are

particularly closely connected with the harmonious disposition of type

and ornamental illustration which we have been considering.

[Sidenote: THE END.]

It would be easy to fill volumes with elaborate analysis of existing

designs from this point of view, but designs, to those who feel them,

ought to speak in their own tongue for themselves more forcibly than any

written explanation or commentary; and, though of making of many books

there is no end, every book must have its end, even though that end to

the writer, at least, may seem to leave one but at the beginning.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: ARTHUR HUGHES.

FROM "GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG." (STRAHAN, 1871.)]

[Sidenote: NOTES FOR NEW EDITION.]

Chap. IV. Of the Recent Development, etc., p. 189. In addition to the

names of the modern printers and presses mentioned in this chapter must

now be added those of several workers in the field of artistic printing

who have distinguished themselves since the Kelmscott Press.

Mr. Cobden Sanderson has turned from the outside adornment of the book to

the inside, and, in association with Mr. Emery Walker, whose technical

knowledge and taste was so valuable on the Kelmscott Press, has founded

"The Doves Press" at Hammersmith, and has issued books remarkable for the

pure severity of their typography, founded mainly upon Jenson.

Mr. St. John Hornby also must be named, more particularly for his revival

of a very beautiful Italian type founded upon the type of Sweynheim and

Pannartz, the first printers in Italy. The Greek type designed by the

late Robert Proctor, based on the Alcala fount used in the New Testament

of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible of 1514, should be mentioned as the

only modern attempt to improve the printing of Greek, with the exception

of Mr. Selwyn Image's, which perhaps suffered by being cut very small to

suit commercial exigences.

Mr. C. R. Ashbee, too, has established a very extensive printery, "The

Essex House Press," which he has since transplanted to Chipping Camden.

He had the assistance of several of the workers from the Kelmscott Press,

and has produced many excellently printed books of late years, such as

the Benvenuto Cellini, and including such elaborate productions as Edward

VI.'s Prayer Book, with wood-engravings and initials and ornaments as

well as the type of his own design.

An interesting series of the English poets, also, with frontispieces by

various artists, has been issued from this press.

P. 218. The death of Aubrey Beardsley since the notice of his work was

written must be recorded, and it would seem as if the loss of this

extraordinary artist marked the decadence of our modern decadents.

A perhaps equally remarkable designer, however, whose work has a certain

kinship in some features with Beardsley's, is Mr. James Syme, whose work

has not before been noticed in this book. He has a powerful and weird

imagination associated with grotesque and satirical design, and

considerable skill in the use of line and black and white effect.

P. 267. In writing of book illustrators in France, a leading place should

be given to M. Boutet de Monvel, whose delicate drawing, tasteful

colouring, and sense of decorative effect, combined with abundant

resource in variety of costume, and skilful treatment of crowds, mediæval

battle scenes, and ceremonial groups are seen to full advantage in his

recent "Ste. Jean d'Arc," although no particular relationship between

illustration and type is attempted.

P. 268. A recent proof of the revival of taste in book-decoration and

artistic printing in Italy may be referred to here as showing the

influence of the English movement. I mean the edition of Gabriele

d'Annunzio's "Francesca da Rimini" with illustrations or rather

decorations by Adolphus de Karolis, printed by the Fratelli Treves in

1902. This book shows unmistakable signs of study of recent English

work, as well as of the early printers of Venice, and it is strange to

think how sometimes artists of one country may come back to an

appreciation of a particular period of their own historic art by the aid

of foreign spectacles. Among the original designers of modern Italy may

be mentioned G. M. Mataloni, who shows remarkable powers of

draughtsmanship and invention, largely spent upon posters and ex-libris.

Italy, too, has an able critic and chronicler of the work of

book-designers of all countries in Sig. Vittorio Pica of Naples, whose

"Attraverso gli Albi e le Cartelle" (Istituto Italiano d'arti grafiche

editore Bergamo) is very comprehensive.

In Vienna Prof. Larisch recently published a book of Alphabets designed

by various artists of Europe; Germany, France, Italy, and England being

represented. The group of Viennese artists known as the "Secession" have

issued "Ver Sacrum," a monthly journal, or magazine, giving original

designs of various artists more or less in the direction of

book-decoration. Latterly the designs offered seemed to lose themselves

either in an affectation of primitiveness and almost infantine

simplicity, or the wildest grotesqueness and eccentricity.

APPENDIX.

[Illustration: HEADPIECE BY ALAN WRIGHT.]

[Illustration: I. IRISH. VITH Century.

BOOK OF KELLS. [_See page 13._]

[Illustration: II. ENGLISH. XIVTH CENTURY.

ARUNDEL PSALTER, 1339. [_See page 16._]

[Illustration: III. ENGLISH. XIVTH CENTURY.

ARUNDEL PSALTER, 1339. [_See page 16._]

[Illustration: IV. ENGLISH. XIVTH CENTURY.

ARUNDEL PSALTER, 1339. [_See page 16._]

[Illustration: V. FRENCH. XIVTH CENTURY.

EPISTLE OF PHILIPPE DE COMINES TO RICHARD II. [_See page 23._]

[Illustration: VI. FRENCH. XVTH CENTURY.

BEDFORD HOURS, PAGE OF CALENDAR, A.D. 1422.

[_See page 23._]

[Illustration: VII. FRENCH. XVTH CENTURY.

BEDFORD HOURS, A.D. 1422. [_See page 23._]

[Illustration: VIII. ENGLISH. LATE XVTH CENTURY.

ROMANCE OF THE ROSE. [_See page 29._]

[Illustration: IX. ITALIAN. XVTH CENTURY.

INITIAL LETTER, CHOIR BOOK, SIENA (1468----1472-3). [_See page 30._]

[Illustration: X. JAPANESE. XIXTH CENTURY.

HOKUSAI. [_See page 163._]

[Illustration: XI. JAPANESE. XIXTH CENTURY.

HOKUSAI. [_See page 163._]

INDEX.

ABBEY, Edwin, 166.

_Æsop's Fables_ (Venice, 1493), 293.

---- (Ulm, 1498), 53.

---- (Naples, 1485), 55.

"Aglaia," cover for, 154, 157.

Alciati's Emblems, 109.

Aldus, 62, 63, 65, 108.

Alphabet (Dürer's), 299.

_Alphabets_ (Bell, 1894), 299, 300.

Amman, Jost, 96.

American Wood-engraving, 148, 164.

_Andersen's Fairy Tales_ (Allen, 1893), 199.

Anglo-Saxon MSS., 14, _et seq._

Apocalypse, MS., 14th Cent., 19.

_Arabian Nights_ (Dent, 1893), 241, 242.

Arndes, Steffen, 47.

_Art in the House_ (Macmillan, 1876), 160, 162-165.

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, 207.

Arundel Psalter, MS., 16.

Aulus, Gellius (Venice, 1509), 73.

Bämler, 15.

Bateman, Robert, 160, 162-165.

Batten, J. D., 222, 241, 242.

Beardsley, Aubrey, 218, 221, 225, 226, 227.

_Beauty and the Beast_ (Dent, 1894), 245.

_Bedford Hours_, MS., 23, 24, 38.

Beham, Hans Sebald, 96, 113.

Bell, R. A., 222, 243, 245.

Bellini, Giovanni, 62, 69.

Bernard, Solomon, 110.

Bewick, Thomas, 140, 145.

Bible (Cologne, 1480), 21.

---- (Lübeck, 1494), 47.

---- (Mainz, 1455), 49.

---- (Frankfort, 1563), 53, 131.

Bible Cuts (Holbein), 92, 95, 96.

Birmingham School, 203, 204, 207.

Blake, William, 136-139.

Block Books, 46.

Blomfield, Reginald, 207.

Boccaccio's _De Claris Mulieribus_ (Ulm, 1473), 7, 11;

(Ferrara, 1497), 54.

Bonhomme, 110.

_Book of Carols_ (Allen, 1893), 209.

Books of Hours, 23, 24, 38, 54, 107.

Borders, 204, 293.

_Bracebridge Hall_ (Macmillan, 1877), 158.

Bradley, Gertrude M., 207, 213.

---- Will. H., 274, 275, 277, 278.

Brown, Ford Madox, 154.

_Buch von den Sieben Todsünden_ (Augsburg, 1474), 15.

Burgmair, Hans, 92, 95, 99, 101, 103, 105.

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 193.

Burns, Robert, 226, 259.

Caesenas, Stephanus, 59.

Caldecott, Randolph, 158.

Calepinus, Ambrosius, 121.

Calvert, Edward, 139-143.

"Card-Basket Style," The, 165.

Carroll, Lewis, 154.

Castle, Egerton, _English Book-plates_, 185.

Caxton, William, 49, 80.

_Chaucer_ (Kelmscott Press, 1896), 193, 288.

Cheret, M., 267.

_Child's Garden of Verse_ (Lane, 1895), 235, 237, 239.

Children's Books, 154, 156.

China, Early Printing in, 164.

Chiswick Press, The, 186.

Chodowiecki, D., 136.

_Christ, Life of_ (Antwerp, 1487), 31.

_Chroneken der Sassen_ (Mainz, 1492), 41.

_Chronica Hungariæ_ (Augsburg, 1488), 35.

_Cinderella_ (Dent, 1894), 254.

_Cinq Fils d'Aymon, Les_, 268.

Clark, R. and R., 186.

Columna, Francisco, 79.

Constable, T. and A., 186.

_Contes Drolatiques_, 150.

"Convito," Il, 270.

Copper-plate Engraving, 116, 129, 130.

"Cornhill," The, 172.

Cousin, Jean, 79.

Craig, Gordon, 228.

Cranach, Lucas, 95.

Crane, Walter, 174, 179, 181, 183, 191, 269, 281, 283, 285, 288, 290,

291.

Cremonese, P., 56.

_Crystal Ball, The_ (Bell, 1894), 227, 261.

"Daily Chronicle," Illustrations in the, 165.

Dalziel Brothers, The, 150.

Dalziel's _Bible Gallery_, 152.

_Dance of Death_ (Holbein's, 1538), 91, 92, 115.

Daniel, Rev. H., of Oxford, 189.

Dante, _Divina Commedia_ MS., 10.

Dante (Venice, 1491), 56.

_Daphnis and Chloe_ (Vale Press, 1893), 223, 224.

Davis, Louis, 170, 171.

Day, Lewis, 166.

_De Claris Mulieribus_ (Ulm, 1473), 7, 11;

(Ferrara, 1497), 54.

De Colines, Simon, 127.

De Gregoriis, 59, 295.

_De Historia Stirpium_ (Basel, 1542), 119, 123.

_Descent of Minerva, The_ (1508), 71.

Destrée, Oliver Georges, 241.

De Vinne Press, The, 189.

"Dial," The, 218.

_Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers_ (1477), 80.

Dijsselhof, G. W., 265.

Dinckmut, Conrad, 27.

_Discovery of the Indies, The_ (Florence, 1493), 57.

Doré, Gustave, 149.

Duff, Gordon, _Early Printed Books_, 185.

Duncan, John, 226, 255, 257.

Du Pré, 54.

Dürer, Albrecht, 49, 80, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 95;

his _Geometrica_, 294.

_Early Italian Poets_ (Smith, Elder, 1861), 152.

Edgar, King, Newminster Charter, 14.

Emblem Books, 109, 110, 115, 116.

End-Papers, 285.

"English Illustrated Magazine," The, 170, 171, 173, 195.

Evans, Edmund, 156.

"Evergreen," The, 226, 255, 257, 259.

"Ex-Libris Series," The, 185.

Finé, Oronce, 91, 126, 127.

_Fasciculus Medicinæ_ (Venice, 1495), 293.

Fell, H. Granville, 227, 254.

Feyrabend, Sigm., 131.

_Fior di Virtù_ (Florence, 1493?), 58.

Flach, Martin, 108.

Flaxman, 136.

Flemish School, XVth Cent., 31.

Florence, Mary Sargant, 227, 261.

Ford, Henry, 222.

_Formal Garden, The_ (Macmillan, 1892), 204, 205.

Foster, Birket, 150.

France, Modern Illustration in, 267.

_Frangilla_ (Elkin Mathews, 1895), 233.

French MSS., 19, 37.

French School, XVth Cent., 37, 51, 126, 127.

Frontispieces, 286.

Froschover, 120.

Fuchsius, _De Historia Stirpium_ (Basel, 1542), 119, 123.

Gaskin, Arthur, 199, 203.

---- Mrs., 203, 207.

Georgius de Rusconibus, 69, 75.

Gerard's Herbal, 120.

Gere, C. M., 195, 197, 203.

German School, XVth Cent., 3, 7, 11, 15, 17, 21, 25, 27, 35, 39, 41,

47, 53.

---- XVIth Cent., 81-117, 119, 131, 147.

Germany, Early Printing in, 46, 49.

---- Modern Illustration in, 172, 265.

Gesner, Conrad, 120.

Gilbert, John, 150.

Giolito, G., 133.

Giovio's Emblems, 116.

Girolamo da Cremona, 30.

_Glittering Plain, The_ (Kelmscott Press, 1894), 191, 288, 289.

_Goblin Market_ (Macmillan, 1862), 152.

"Good Words for the Young," 304.

Gospels, The, in Latin, MS., 14.

Grasset, M., 267, 268.

Greenaway, Kate, 158, 159.

Grimani Breviary, The, 29, 43, 45.

_Grimm's Household Stories_ (Macmillan, 1882), 174, 179.

Grün, Hans Baldung, 96, 107, 108, 109, 110.

Halberstadt Bible, The, 49, 117.

Hardouyn, Gillet, 54, 107.

Harvey, William, 145.

Herbals, 16, 119, 120.

_Hero and Leander_ (Vale Press, 1894), 219.

"Hobby Horse," The, 186, 270.

Hogarth, 135.

Hokusai, 163.

Holbein, Hans, 49, 80, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 115.

---- Ambrose, 92, 97.

Holiday, Henry, 154, 157.

Holland, Illustration in, 242, 265.

Holst, R. N. Roland, 265.

Horne, H. P., 186.

_Hortulus Animæ_(Strassburg, 1511), 107, 108, 109, 110.

_Hortus Sanitatis_ (Mainz, 1491), 39.

_House of Joy, The_ (Kegan Paul, 1895), 231.

Housman, Laurence, 222, 231.

Hughes, Arthur, 159-161, 304.

Hunt, Holman, 150.

_Hunting of the Snark, The_, (Macmillan, 1876), 154.

_Huon of Bordeaux_ (Allen, 1895), 211.

Hupp, Otto, 174, 263.

Illuminated MSS., 5-10 _et seq._

Image, Selwyn, 187, 189.

_Indulgences_ (Mainz, 1454), 49.

"Inland Printer," The, 278.

Isingrin, Palma, 108, 119, 123.

Italian MSS., 10, 30.

Italian School, XVth Cent., 54-65.

---- ---- XVIth Cent., 67-78, 121, 133.

Italy, Modern Illustration in, 268, 269.

Japan, Early Printing in, 163, 164.

Japanese Illustration, 156-164.

Jones, A. Garth, 226, 249.

"Jugend," 266.

Keene, Charles, 169, 172.

_Kells, The Book of_, 10, 13.

Kelmscott Press, The, 189, 190, 193, 194, 288, 290, 291.

Kerver, Thielman, 54, 79, 107.

_King Wenceslas_, 203.

_Kleine Passion, Die_ (1512), 80, 81, 83, 85.

"Knight Errant," The (Boston), 189, 273.

Knopff, Fernand, 254.

Kreuterbuch (Strasburg, 1551), 120.

Larisch, M., 266.

Lawless, M. J., 172, 177.

Leeu, Gheraert, 31.

_Leiden Christi_ (Bamberg, 1470), 3, 53.

Leighton, Sir Frederic, 152.

Lettering, 268.

Levetus, Celia, 207, 217.

Liberale da Verona, 30.

Linnell, John, 140.

Linton, W. J., 146-149, 151.

Lübeck Bible, The, 47.

Macdonald's _At the Back of the North Wind_ (Strahan, 1871), 159-161.

Mainz, Early Printing at, 49.

---- Indulgences, The, 49.

---- Psalter, The, 50, 51.

Margins, 194.

Marks, H. S., 156.

Mason, F., 207, 211.

Matthiolus, 120.

Mazarine Bible, The, 49.

_Meerfahrt zu Viln Onerkannten Inseln_ (Augsburg, 1509), 105.

Meidenbach, Jacob, 39.

Menzel, Adolf, 172.

_Mer des Histoires, La_, MS., 37.

_Midsummer Night's Dream, A_ (Dent, 1895), 223, 243.

Millais, Sir J. E., 150.

_Milton's Ode on Christ's Nativity_ (Nisbet, 1867), 155.

Minuziano, Alessandro, 67.

Missals, 29.

_Monte Santo di Dio, El_ (Florence, 1477), 119.

Monvel, Boutet de, 268.

Moore, Albert, 154, 155.

Moore, Sturge, 218.

Morris, William, 189, 191, 193, 194, 288, 290, 291.

_Morte D'Arthur_ (Dent, 1893), 221, 225, 227, 228.

_Mother Goose_ (Routledge), 159.

Muckley, L. Fairfax, 222, 233.

_Munchausen, Baron_ (Lawrence and Bullen, 1894), 226, 251, 253.

Neues Testament (Basel, 1523), 97.

New, Edmund H., 201, 203, 207.

Newill, Mary, 207, 215.

_Newminster, Charter of Foundation of_, MS., 14.

Niccolo di Lorenzo, 119.

Nicholson, W., 228.

Northcote's _Fables_, 145.

_Nursery Rhymes_ (Bell, 1894; Allen, 1896), 227, 263, 265.

Omar Khayyam, 166.

"Once a Week," 169, 172, 175, 177.

Ongania, Ferd., 269.

Otmar, Johann, 145, 147.

Ottaviano dei Petrucci, 77.

Paganini, Alex., 121.

Palmer, Samuel, 140.

_Papstthum mit sienen Gliedern_ (Nuremberg, 1526), 113.

_Paris et Vienne_, 1495, 51.

Parsons, Alfred, 166.

Payne, Henry, 207, 209.

Peard's _Stories for Children_ (Allen, 1896), 167, 170.

Pennell, Joseph, 165, 185, 221.

Petri, Adam, 91, 107.

Pfister, Albrecht, 3, 53.

Philip le Noir, 108.

_Philippe de Comines, Epistle of_, MS., 23.

Photography, influence of, 174, 178.

Pierre le Rouge, 37.

Pigouchet, 54.

Pletsch, Oscar, 174.

Pliny's _Natural History_ (Frankfort, 1582), 103.

Plutarchus Chæroneus (1513), 87;

(1523), 89.

_Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_ (1499), 62, 63, 65, 293.

----, French Edition, 79.

Pollard, A. W., _Early Illustrated Books_, 185.

_Pomerium de Tempore_ (Augsburg, 1502), 147.

Pomponius Mela, 293, 297.

Poynter, E. J., 152.

Pre-Raphaelites, The, 150.

_Princess Fiorimonde, Necklace of_ (Macmillan, 1880), 174, 181.

Printers' Marks, 96.

Psalters, MSS., 16, 20, 24.

Psalter (Mainz, 1457), 50, 51.

"Punch," 170, 172.

Pyle, Howard, 271, 273, 274.

_Quadrupeds, History of_ (Zurich, 1554), 120.

Quarles' Emblems, 115, 116.

"Quarto," The, 226.

Quatriregio, 71.

Queen Mary's Psalter, MS., 20.

Quentel, Heinrich, 21.

"Quest," The, 203.

Quintilian (Venice, 1512), 75.

Ratdolt, Erhardt, 35, 297.

_Reformation der bayrischen Landrecht_ (_Munich_, 1518), 116.

Renaissance, The, 61.

René of Anjou, Book of Hours of, 38.

Rethel, Alfred, 172.

Ricketts, C. S., 218, 219, 223.

Rijsselberghe, M., 254, 266.

Robinson, Charles, 222, 224, 235, 237, 239.

Rogers' _Poems_, 136, 146.

---- _Italy_, 136, 146.

_Romance of the Rose_, MS., 29, 43.

Rossetti, Christina, 152.

Rossetti, D. G., 150, 153.

Rylands, Henry, 173.

Sambourne, Linley, 170.

Sandys, Frederick, 172, 175.

_Sartor Resartus_ (Bell, 1898), 228.

Sattler, Josef, 265.

Savage, Reginald, 218.

"Savoy," The, 221.

Schöffer, P., 41, 49, 50.

Schürer, Mathias, 111.

Schwind, M., 172.

"Scottish Art Review," The, 187.

Seitz, Professor A., 265.

Shannon, C. H., 218, 224.

Siena, Choir Books of, 30, 43, 45.

_Sirens Three, The_ (Macmillan, 1886), 183.

Sleigh, Bernard, 207.

Smith, Winifred, 207.

_Songs of Innocence_ (1789), 137.

_Speculum Humanæ Vitæ_ (Augsburg, 1475), 17.

Spence, R., 224, 247.

_Spenser's Faerie Queene_ (Allen, 1896), 269, 281, 283, 285, 288, 294.

_Spiegel onser Behoudenisse_ (Kuilenburg, 1483), 25.

Steyner, Heinrich, 87.

Stothard, Thomas, 136, 146.

Strang, William, 226, 251, 253.

Strange, E. F., _Alphabets_, 185, 300.

Stück, Franz, 265.

"Studio," The, 221.

Sullivan, E. J., 227, 228.

Sumner, Heywood, 166, 167, 171.

Tacuino, Giov., 73.

Tail-pieces, 301.

Talbot Prayer-book, The, 26.

Tenison Psalter, The, MS., 16, 38.

Tenniel, Sir John, 150.

Tennyson's _Poems_ (Moxon, 1857), 150, 151.

Terence, _Eunuchus_, German translation (Ulm, 1486), 27.

Thomas, F. Inigo, 204, 205, 207.

Title Page, development of the, 80.

Tory, Geoffroy, 126.

_Tournament of Love, The_ (Paris, 1894), 249.

Treperel, Jehan, 51.

_Triumphs of Maximilian, The_, 95.

Tuppo's Æsop, 1485, 55.

Turner, J. M. W., 146.

Type as affecting design, 267, 280, 294.

Vedder, Elihu, 166.

Veldener, Jan, 25.

Ver Sacrum, 266.

Vérard, 54.

Virgil Solis, 131.

Wächtlin, Hans, 96, 111.

_Walton's "Angler"_ (Lane, 1896), 204.

Wandereisen, Hans, 113.

_Weiss König, Der_ (1512-14), 95, 99.

White, Gleeson, 221.

Wilson, Patten, 221, 229.

Witney's Emblems, 116.

_Wood-Engraving, Masters of_ (1889), 149.

Woodroffe, Paul, 227, 263, 265.

Woodward, Alice B., 227.

Zainer, Johann, 7, 11.

---- Günther, 17.

[Illustration: HEADPIECE BY ALAN WRIGHT.]

[Illustration]

Transcriber's Note

Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text.

I have used "=" to denote bolded text.

[:Y] is used in the text to represent Y with an umlaut above it.

Page headers varied depending on the subjects under discussion. Where

the headers did not match the chapter title, I have treated the headers

as sidenotes.

Inconsistencies have been retained in formatting, spelling, hyphenation,

punctuation, and grammar, except where indicated in the list below:

- Right bracket added before "Augsburg" on Page x

- "Lubeck" changed to "Lübeck" on Page x

- Single quote changed to double quote before"Morte" on Page xiii

- Page number changed from "233" to "283" on Page xiii

- Page number changed from "305" and "335" to "309" and "341" on

Page xiv

- "Liege" changed to "Liège" on Page 19

- "chiaro-oscuro" changed to "chiaroscuro" on Page 30

- Period added after "SCHOOL" on Page 71

- Period added after "1508" on Page 71

- Period added after "CENTURY" on Page 73

- Period added after "CENTURY" on Page 87

- "Fusch" changed to "Fuchs" on Page 119

- "fuschia" changed to "fuchsia" on Page 119

- "Wood-cuts" changed to "Woodcuts" on Page 130

- "caligrapher" changed to "calligrapher" on Page 138

- Period added after "1827-8-9" on Page 143

- Period added after "HOLIDAY" on Page 157

- "HEAD-PIECE" changed to "HEADPIECE" to match Table of Contents on

Page 158

- "see" italicized on Page 163

- Double quotes changed to single quotes around "Epitome of the

Eighteen Historical Records of China." followed by a double quote

on Page 164

- "occured" changed to "occurred" on Page 164

- Period added after "STRANG" on Page 251

- "opportunites" changed to "opportunities" on Page 269

- "see" italicized on Page 293

- "mediaeval" changed to "mediæval" on Page 306

- "R.A" changed to "R. A." on Page 335

- Comma added after "MS." on Page 339

- "Lorenza" changed to "Lorenzo" on Page 339

- Colon changed to semicolon after "1894" on Page 339

- "Pomponious" changed to "Pomponius" on Page 340

- Repeated line deleted on Page 341

- "Vèrard" changed to "Vérard" on Page 341