Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering

This summary, while not presuming to define the Virtues, or achieve Beauty by a formula, does indicate some guiding principles for the letter-maker, and does suggest a definite meaning which may be given to the terms “Right Form,” “Right Arrangement,” and “Right Expression” in a particular craft.

It is true that “Readableness” and “Character” are comprised in Beauty, in the widest sense; but it is useful here to distinguish them: Readableness as the only sound basis for a practical theory of lettering, and Character as the product of a particular hand & tool at work in a particular craft.

The above table, therefore, may be used as a test of the qualities of any piece of lettering—whether Manuscript, Printing, or Engraving—provided that the significations of those qualities on which “Character” depends be modified and adapted to each particular instance. It is however a test for general qualities only—such as may help us in choosing a model: for as to its particular virtue each work stands alone—judged by its merits—in spite of all rules.

SIMPLICITY
(As having no unnecessary parts)

Essential Forms and their Characterisation.—The “Essential Forms” may be defined briefly as the necessary parts (see p. 275). They constitute the skeleton or structural plan of an alphabet; and One of the finest things the letter-craftsman can do, is to make the Essential Forms of letters beautiful in themselves, giving them the character and finish which come naturally from a rightly handled tool. [p241]

If we take the “Roman” types—the letters with which we are most familiar—and draw them in single pencil strokes (as a child does when it “learns its letters”), we get a rough representation of their Essential Forms (see diagram, fig. 142).

Such letters might be scratched with a point in wax or clay, and if so used in practice would give rise to fresh and characteristic developments,53 but if we take a “square cut” pen which will give a thin horizontal stroke and a thick vertical stroke (figs. 10 and 40), it will give us the “straight-pen,” or simple written, essential forms of these letters (fig. 143).

These essential forms of straight-pen letters when compared with the plain line forms show a remarkable degree of interest, brought about by the introduction of the thin and thick strokes and gradated curves, characteristic of pen work.

Certain letters (A, K, M, N, V, W, X, Y, and k, v, w, x, y) in fig. 143 being composed chiefly of oblique strokes, appear rather heavy. They are lightened by using a naturally “slanted” pen which produces thin as well as thick oblique strokes. And the verticals in M and N are made thin by further slanting the pen (fig. 144).

To our eyes, accustomed to a traditional finish, all these forms—in figs. 143 and 144, but particularly the slanted pen forms—look incomplete and unfinished; and it is obvious that the thin strokes, at least, require marked terminals or serifs. [p242]

Finishing-Strokes.—The pen naturally produces a variety of finishing-strokes—“heads,” “feet,” serifs, &c.—each type of which strongly characterises the alphabet in which it is employed.

The main types (fig. 145) are—

• (a) Hooks or beaks.
• (b) Straight (or curved) strokes, thick or thin according to the direction of the pen.
• (c) Triangular “heads” (and “feet”), straight or slanted, and more or less curved and sharpened.
• (d) Thin finishing-curves, horizontal or oblique.

To give uniformity to the various letters of an alphabet it is necessary to treat similar parts as consistently as possible throughout (see No. 5, p. 239). And the remarkable way in which “heads” impart a “family likeness” to letters closely resembles the same phenomenon among human beings (see pp. 324, 254).

If we consider the four types of serif, as applicable to straight-pen writing, we find— [p245]

For a formal, straight-pen writing, therefore, we may assume that a form of triangular head is, on the whole, the most suitable, while some of the letters may be allowed to end naturally in finishing hooks and curves. [p246]

Heads are easily built up at the ends of thick strokes, but some practice is required to enable a penman to make them on the thin strokes properly and skilfully. On the thin horizontals they are made with an almost continuous movement of the point of the nib from the thin stroke itself (see (a) to (h) fig. 146) closely resembling the termination of some of the thin strokes in the Irish half-uncial (Plate VI.). On the thin oblique or vertical stems a thin crossing stroke is first made, and then shaped [p247] with the pen point to meet the stem (see (i) and (k) fig. 146).

We may write out the letters now with their suitable serifs, and we see that the Pen character and finish, given to the “Essential, or Skeleton, Forms” (fig. 142) result in a very formal and highly finished alphabet (fig. 147).

The alphabets (fig. 148), produced from the skeleton forms (fig. 142) by the slanted pen, while not having such a conscious air of finish as the straight-pen letters, are much easier to write, and have in a greater degree the virtues of strong,54 legible, natural penmanship.

They are eminently suitable for general MS. work (see p. 305) when the beginner has mastered an early form of round-hand (see pp. 70, 304).

DISTINCTIVENESS
(As having the distinguishing characteristics of each letter strongly marked)

The “Characteristic Parts” are those parts which most particularly serve to distinguish one letter from [p250] another (fig. 149). We should therefore, when constructing letters, give special attention to their preservation, and sometimes they may even be accentuated with advantage—always with an eye to the life-history, or evolution, of the letter in question, and allowing for the influence of the special tool with which it is to be made (see Proportion, below).

PROPORTION
(As having no part of a letter wrongly exaggerated or dwarfed—see pp. 274, 277–78)

The right proportioning of letters entails the preservation of their Essential Forms and their Characteristic Parts, and, provided these are not [p252] seriously interfered with, a certain amount of exaggeration (and dwarfing)55 is allowable in special cases; particularly in ornamental writings, and Pen-flourished capitals or terminal letters (see figs. 79 and 125).

Rational exaggeration usually amounts to the drawing out or flourishing of tails or free stems, or branches—very often to the magnifying of a characteristic part (see fig. 150, & pp. 250, 331). It is a special form of decoration, and very effective if used discriminately.

BEAUTY OF FORM (As having beautiful shapes and constructions, so that each letter is an individual and living whole (not a mere collection of parts) fitted for the position, office, and material of the object bearing the inscription)

To choose or construct beautiful forms requires good taste, and that in its turn requires cultivation, which comes from the observation of beautiful forms. Those who are not accustomed to seeing beautiful things are, in consequence, often uncertain whether they think a thing beautiful or not. Some—perhaps all of us—have an intuition for what is beautiful; but most of us have to achieve beauty by taking pains.

At the least we are apt to be misled if we label abstract forms as essentially beautiful or essentially ugly—as by a mistaken recipe for beauty. For us as craftsmen “achieving beauty by taking pains,” means acquiring skill in a special craft and [p253] adapting that skill to a special piece of work. And perhaps the surest way to learn, is to let our tools and materials teach us and, as it were, make beautiful shapes for us.

“Inside Shapes.”—The beauty of a letter depends very much on its inside shape—i.e. the shape of the space enclosed by the letter form. As this is often overlooked, it may be briefly referred to. Frequently when it seems difficult to say what is wrong with a piece of bad lettering, a glance at the inside shapes will reveal the fault. In simple writing, if the pen be properly cut and properly held, these shapes will generally take care of themselves, and internal angles or asymmetrical lines which occur are characteristic of that particular form of penmanship, and not accidental (b, fig. 151).

In making Built-up letters—which have both outer and inner strokes—the inner strokes should generally be made first (see p. 121).

Plain and Ornamental Forms.—Not only for the sake of readableness, but to promote a beautiful and dignified effect, the forms of letters are kept simple when the text is long. And, generally, the less frequent the type, the more ornamental may be its form (see pp. 126, 210, 298, 330).

BEAUTY OF UNIFORMITY (As the assimilation of the corresponding parts—“bodies,” “limbs,” “heads”—and as the “family likeness,” of the different letters, so that they go well together)

Right uniformity makes for readableness and beauty, and is the result of good craftsmanship.

Readableness.—Where the text letters are uniform, the reader is free to give his attention to the sense of the words, whereas the variations in an irregular or changing text are distracting.56

Beauty.—The abstract beauty-of-uniformity may be said to lie in this, that the different letters, or individual elements, “go well together.” The beautiful effect of uniform lettering is thus caused by the united forces, as it were, of all the letters.

Good Craftsmanship.—A pen, or other letter-making tool, being handled freely and regularly, the uniform movements of the tool in similar cases will produce uniform strokes, &c. (On the other hand, the interruption and loss of freedom to the [p255] writer who is irregular, or who forces an unnatural variety,57 results in inferior work.)

RIGHT ARRANGEMENT

The particular fitness of a given inscription depends upon considerations of its particular office, position, material, &c. (see pp. 100, 351). For general use, however, the craftsman has certain regular modes of disposing and spacing the lettering, and proportioning the whole. And, as in constructing individual letters, so in treating lettering as a whole, he endeavours to give his work the qualities that make for readableness: viz. simplicity, distinctiveness, and proportion.

Simplicity in the Disposal of the Lettering.—For convenience of construction, reading, or handling, the simple, traditional arrangement of lettering is generally followed in dealing with flat surfaces (paper, vellum, &c.):58—

Distinctiveness in the Spacing of the Lettering necessitates sufficient interspaces: the following common spacing of Letters, Words, Lines, &c., may be modified to suit special circumstances.

Proportion in the Treatment of the Whole Inscription.—The spacing-proportions referred to above apply to lettering generally, but the proportions of an inscription as a whole involve the consideration of a special case. Example:—