New-York tribune., 1900-09-29

| angles and
or compression. Not only must each letter nut
the effect Of all the letters in combination, De
studied for a letter that may seem correct by
itself may have an awkward effect in the midst
of other letters. Apart from the aesthetic quail
ties of the design. practical questions must be
considered; type with too feeble or sharp hair
lines or too long projections on the ascending
and descending letters. will break and wear out
quickly; heavy face requires stronger impress
sion than a light face with such thin lines, but
may wear as poorly, for it requires stronger inn
preston and more ink, whereby the slender
portions are broken and the blank spaces
clogged
A vast deal of thought and ingenuity has been
expended on the designing of faces for use In
books Roman letter has been an object of
experiment with typefounders for nearly four
centuries" Fashions have changed repeatedly
in this period. on both aesthetic and practical
grounds but legibity and durability, both de-
termined in some degree by changing methods
of printing. have been the two factors exercis-
ing the largest influence designers. AS every
body knows there has been a recurrence In lat
ter years to old designs Mr.. De Winnie gives the
reason for it thus
The old punch cutter and the modern punch
cutter worked to reach different ends The old
cutter put reliability first; he would make his
types graceful if he could, but he must hrst or
all make them distinct and readable in mass
The modern punch cutter thinks it his first duty
to make every letter of graceful shape; but his
notion of grace is largely mechanical; the hair
line must be sharp and tend to iuvisibility; the
curving stem must dwnde to it's haiTline with
faultless taper. But the general effect
of type so made when put in a mass is that of
extreme delicacy and of the corresponding weak
ness of oVerwrought decacy. To use a
painters phrase, the work is niggled. or over
done.
Even the non-technical reader cannot fail to
be interested in the numerous examples that
Mr.. De Vinne gives of the changing styles of
roman type faces. Everybody who reads doubt
less has observed the difference in form of type
in old books and new; but few perhaps, realize
the gradual processes of evolution that have
wrought the change. and what striking results
are yielded by the apparently minute differences
of design that possible within the limita-
tions of the roman letter. Mr.. De Vinne shows
many specimens taken all from actual printing
fonts; there are also number Of foreign found
ers represented whose products are not for sale
and have a special interest of their own. Such
is a letter used in the National Printing Office
of Portugal, cut in 1904 and never used any
where else in Europe, and some French faces
used in the official school books and other pub
lcatons of the Municipal Council of Paris, also
not obtainable in the market
Here. too are specimens of William Morris's
types. He, in his attempt to restore the artistic
qualities of the old letter selected. first. the
roman style of Nicholas Jenson the fifteenth
century Venetian, and by making it bolder and
backer produced his Golden Type" From
the beautiful full page of it that Mr.. De Vinne
reproduces composed in the printing room Of
the Kelmscott Press a contribution to this
book may be seen the qualities that called forth
the appreciation that bbOphiles have given 1t
as "a pleasing return to the simplicity of the
early printers and a vindicatiOn Of the
Of Old
printing" If, however. publishers did not
tirely approve this moderate departure in book
printing still less did they favor Morriss more
radical innovation in adopting modification Of
the broad faced round gothic Of the early print
ers of Germany for his Troy and "Chaucer"
styles. He went too far thinks Mr. De Vinne,
in the exposition Of his theories. but the reading
world is indebted to him for his demonstration
of the merit of a really vigorous style.