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3600
NK
D27





NK
3600
,D29
LETTERING
IN
ORNAMENT


COMPANION VOLUME TO THIS
ALPHABETS
OLD AND NEW
WITH OVER 150 COMPLETE
ALPHABETS, 30 SERIES OF
NUMERALS, AND MANY FAC-
SIMILES OF ANCIENT DATES.
OTHER WORKS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF EVERY-DAY
ART.
Second Edition
THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN.
Fourth Edition.
THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT.
Third Edition.
NATURE IN ORNAMENT.
Third Edition.
WINDOWS; A BOOK ABOUT STAINED
AND PAINTED GLASS.
Second Edition.
ART IN NEEDLEWORK; A BOOK
ABOUT EMBROIDERY.
Second Edition.


LETTERING
ORNAMENT
IN
1:
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE
DECORATIVE USE OF
LETTERING, PAST, PRE-
SENT, AND POSSIBLE
BY
LEWIS F. DAY
AUTHOR OF 'ALPHABETS OLD AND
NEW,' 'ART IN NEEDLEWORK,' ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, OLD AND NEW
LONDON:
B. T. BATSFORD 94 HIGH HOLBORN
1902











NK
3600
Dag
LETTERING
IN
ORNAMENT


COMPANION VOLUME TO THIS
ALPHABETS
OLD AND NEW
WITH OVER 150 COMPLETE
ALPHABETS, 30 SERIES OF
NUMERALS, AND MANY FAC-
SIMILES OF ANCIENT DATES.
OTHER WORKS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF EVERY-DAY
ART.
Second Edition
THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN.
Fourth Edition.
THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT.
Third Edition.
NATURE IN ORNAMENT.
Third Edition.
WINDOWS; A BOOK ABOUT STAINED
AND PAINTED GLASS.
Second Edition.
ART IN NEEDLEWORK; A BOOK
ABOUT EMBROIDERY.
Second Edition.


LETTERING
IN
ORNAMENT
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE
DECORATIVE USE OF
LETTERING, PAST, PRE-
SENT, AND POSSIBLE
BY
LEWIS F. DAY
AUTHOR OF 'ALPHABETS OLD AND
NEW,' 'ART IN NEEDLEWORK,' ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, OLD AND NEW
LONDON:
B. T. BATSFORD 94 HIGH HOLBORN
1902


BRADBURY, AGNEW, & co. LD., PRINTERS,
LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.


seed 2-21-20 ELH
PREFACE.
This is not so much a sequel to “ Alphabets
Old and New” as that is preliminary to this.
The earlier volume dealt with the alphabet only,
the forms of letters: the consideration is here
their use in ornament, the way they have been
and are to be employed in decoration.
The illustrations (of which a descriptive list is
given) are chosen strictly with a view to illustrate,
which will account for the introduction of my own
designs : it was not possible always to find the
fitting instance, and an obvious way out of the
dilemma was to make a drawing.
Incidentally, however, the examples of old work
here brought together show how universal was
the use of Lettering in Ornament, how varied,
how ingenious, and at times how beautiful.
Haply they may serve as incentives to fresh
invention; in any case they are valuable object-
lessons in decorative treatment.
My point of view, it is hardly necessary to say,
is that of the workman-who, if he is a good
workman, is something of an artist too; and


NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
I am indebted in many quarters: to Mr. R. Anning
Bell, Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. Raffles Davidson,
Mr. Harry Soane and Miss B. A. Waldram, for
the use of their designs or drawings; to Herren
Gerlach and Schenk, the Imprimeries Réunies,
Herr von Larisch, Mr. Harry Soane and Messrs.
H. Virtue & Co., Ltd., for allowing reproductions
from their publications ; to Miss Gimingham, for the
loan of photographs; to the Rector of Stonyhurst
College, for sanctioning the illustration of Queen
Mary's prayer-book ; to the authorities of the British
and Victoria & Albert Museums, and especially to
Mr. A. B. Skinner and Mr. G. F. Hill, for valuable
assistance in the production of this book.


,
)
۔


CONTENTS.
CHAP.
PAGE
.
.
.
.
1. INTRODUCTORY .
11. THE PRINTED PAGE
.
II. THE PRINTED PAGE
.
.
. .
.
I
18
III.
THE WRITTEN PAGE.
7. MONUMENTAL INSCRI PTIONS
V. DECORATIVE LETTERING .
.
.
. .
vi. INSCRIBED LABELS OR SCROLLS .
.
..
VII. HIDDEN MEANINGS
VIII. CONJOINED LETTERS
.
.
.
.
.
1. MONOGRAMS
X. CYPHERS
.
.
.
.
.
XI. ORNAMENTAL LETTERING .
XII. INITIAL LETTERS .
.
.
.
. .
165
XIII. ORNAMENTAL INITIALS
xiv. PICTORIAL INITIALS . .
XV. LETTERING AND ORNAMENT
.
·
. . 181
· 193
·





DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. FRAME OF A PURSE OR BAG, with the lilies of France and
inscription incised. Found in England. 15th century.
(B. M.)
2. RUSSIAN MS.
3. PALI BUDDHIST MS.
4. ICELANDIC INSCRIPTION, carved in wood.
5. ARABIC INSCRIPTION, from a stone slab in the Mosque at
Cordova
6. LEAF OF A DIPTYCH, carved in ivory, with subjects relating
to the Nativity, etc. Rhenish. 10th century. (B. M.)
7. CARVED DRAWER FRONTS, from a Gothic cabinet. The letter
A in the word FATA deliberately bisected by the framing.
French. (Cluny Museum.)
8. TRACERY WINDOW, from the refectory of the Hospital of
S. Cross, with quarries bearing the motto of Cardinal
Beaufort, whose arms occupy the centre of the light.
English Perpendicular Gothic. About the middle of the
15th century. (Winston.)
9. BRONZE Medal of the Italian Renaissance. (V. & A. M.)
10. DECORATIVE PANEL—Perseus and the Graeæ-in gesso upon
oak, the inscription in raised gilt letters-by Sir E. Burne-
Jones.
II. PART OF AN EMBROIDERED STOLE. The inscription, worked into
the gold background, so far lost in it as merely to break
the basket-stitch diaper. Roumanian,


xii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
12. WOODCUT INITIALS, from a book printed at Bâle in the
16th century.
13. METAL COVER OF A CRYSTAL CUP, in the Uffizi at Florence,
pierced and enamelled with the cypher of Henri Deux.
French. 16th century. (H. Havard's “ Dictionnaire de
l'Ameublement.” Quantin.)
14. GLAZED ENCAUSTIC TILE, with part of a Latin inscription
from the Book of Job, xix. 21. Found in Sussex. Dated
1456. (B. M.)
15. FROM A JEWELLERY DESIGN, by H. Holbein. (Print-room,
B. M.)
16. MARKS OF THE PRINTERS, Jaques Huguetan and Mathew
Huz, Lyons. 1494, 1493.
17. ROUGH SKETCH FOR A NEWSPAPER HEADING. (L. F. D.)
18. POSTER, by R. Anning Bell..
19. PARCHMENT GRANT to a Hospital in Burgos, by Alfonso the
Wise, surrounded by inscription, SIGNO DEL REY DON
ALFONSO, and confirmation of Juan Garcia, in concentric
circles. Spain, 1254. (B. M.)
20. INSCRIPTION by Joseph Plénick, of Vienna.. (Beispiele
Rünstlerischer Schrift. Herr von Larisch.)
21. INSCRIPTION by Otto Hupp, of Munich. (Beispiele Rünst-
lerischer Schrift. Herr von Larisch.)
22. Diagram, to show letter-spacing.
23. DIAGRAM, to show construction of Roman letters.
24. TITLE-PAGE to W. Eden Nesfield's “Specimens of Mediæval
Architecture." 1862.
25. BRONZE PLATE, from the grave of Veit Stoss, the
sculptor. Nuremberg. German, 1591. (“Die Bronce-
Epitaphien der Friedhöfe zu Nürnberg." Gerlach a
Schenk, Vienna.)


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii
26. BACK OF A PINEWOOD STALL, from the Church of S. Valen-
tine, Kiedrich. Carved by Erhart Falkener, of Abensperk.
Flat lettering grounded out, the words separated by inter-
mediate ornament. German, 1510. (** Monumental-Schrif-
ten vergangener Jahrhunderte.” Gerlach & Schenk,
Vienna.)
27. INSCRIBED PANEL under the pulpit in the Cathedral at Siena.
Marble, the letters in relief. Italian. 1543.
28. INSCRIPTION PANEL, from the tomb of Mary of Burgundy, in
the Church of Notre Dame at Bruges. 1495--1502.
29. INSCRIPTION on the tomb of Benozzo Federighi, in the Church
of S. Trinità, Florence, by Luca della Robbia, the letters
incised in marble. 1450.
30. INSCRIBED Panel, from the shrine of S. Simeon, at Zara
in Dalmatia. Silver, embossed and gilt. The work of
Francesco di Antonio, of Sesto. 1380.
31. CAST-IRON GRAVE SLAB, from the Church of S. Jacobi,
Lübeck. 1599. (“Monumental-Schriften vergangener
Jahrhunderte.” Gerlach & Schenk, Vienni.)
32. LATIN INSCRIPTION, in ribbon-like Gothic character, from a
mural brass at S. Peter's Church, Cologne. 1506. (From
a rubbing by W. H. James Weale in the Library at
V. & A. M.)
33. DIAGRAM to show the fitting together of letters so as to avoid
as much as possible open spaces of ground between.
34. SLAB outside the Church of S. Emmeran, Regensburg, cut
in sandstone. (“Monumental-Schriften vergangener Jahr-
hunderte.” Gerlach & Schenk, Vienna.)
35. BRONZE GRAVE PLATE. (“: Die Bronce-Epitaphien der Fried-
höfe zu Nürnberg." Gerlach & Schenk, Vienna.)
36. CARVED PEW-END. English. 16th century. From a sketch
by Raffles Davison.
37. PART OF A BELT–Iron inlaid with silver. Byzantine. (B. M.)


xiv DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
38. LEAF OF A DIPTYCH, carved in ivory. 10th century. (B. M.)
39. PART OF A WOODEN door at the Cathedral of Le Puy. Flat
carving grounded out. Inscribed on the upright post is
the name of the artist. (Compare with 81.) French.
12th century.
40. COVER OF THE GOSPELS, with Slavonic inscriptions, repoussé,
silver gilt. 1519.
41. ENLARGEMENT OF AN ENGRAVING on copper, by Hans Sebald
Beham. German. 1542. (B. M.)
42. GRAVE STONE, with incised inscription, from the Island of
Gotland. 1316.
43. GLAZED EARTHENWARE LOVING CUP, decorated in clay of
different colours. Staffordshire. 17th century. (B. M.)
44. PART OF A CARVED WOODEN DOOR, with Moresque ornament
and inscription in Gothic character by way of border.
Spanish. 15th century. (Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Paris.)
45. PART OF AN IRON DOOR, diapered with the arms of Leon and
Castille. Inscription, by way of border, beaten up. In the
Cathedral at Toledo.
46. SILVER TETRADRACHMS.
A. Reverse, with crab and bow in case, and the inscrip-
tion, KQION MOEXIN. Cos, island off Asia Minor.
3rd century B.C.
B. Obverse, with a Bee (symbol of Artemis) and the letters,
E = Ephesus. 4th century B.c.
C. Reverse, with vine and the inscription, ENI MHTPO.
AOTO. Maronea, a city of Thrace. 5th century B.C.
(All in the B. M.)
47. SILVER TETRADRACHMS.'
D. Reverse, with the figure of Zeus and the word
ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ; coin of the types of Alexander the
Great, probably issued after his death. B.C. 316–
297.
.


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV
E. Reverse, with figure of Athene and inscription, BAZI.
AENE ANTIFONOY. Antigonus, King of Macedon.
B.C. 277–239.
F. Reverse, with figure of Zeus, and the inscription
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ, “in the
reign of Agathocles the Just." Bactria. 2nd century
B.C.
G. Reverse, with figure of Zeus, and the inscription
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥΣ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ
AIKAIOT ENIMANOYE MIAEAAHNOZ. Parthia. B.C.
57—37.
H. Reverse, owl in a wreath of olive, with inscription
NPIANZI. NYPTIAŁ. KA. Priansus, a city of Crete.
2nd century B.C.
48.)
49.)
BRONZE MEDALS. Italian. 16th century.
50. BRONZE MEDAL, with two inscriptions, the one raised, the
other sunk, Italian. 16th century.
51. INSCRIBED LABEL, from a Gothic stained-glass window. The
letters picked, with a pointed stick, out of solid paint.
English. 14th century.
52. PANEL, from the choir of Albi Cathedral. The name of the
prophet (or as much of it as the artist thought necessary
to identification) incised upon the background, the quota-
tion on a label.
53. PART OF A READING DESK, with the arms of France and Savoy,
letters L, and scrolls inscribed SPERANDUM AC FEREN-
DUM; carved in ivory and painted. French. 16th century.
(In the possession of Mr. Salting.)
54. GOTHIC TAPESTRY, with figures and inscribed scrolls. French.
15th century. (Cluny Museum.)
55. ) PLAQUES OF FAÏENCE. Inscribed labels used to occupy the
56.) background. Gubbio. 16th century.
57. ENLARGED BOOKPLATE. Inscription not following the con-
volutions of the label. Engraved on copper by Hans
Sebald Beham. German. 1543. (B. M.)


xvi DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
58. ENGRAVING ON COPPER. The alphabet inscribed on a scroll
H. S. Beham. (B. M.)
59. PART OF A SQUARE CARPET. The ornament consists almost
entirely of inscribed scrolls. German. (V. & A. M.)
60. CYPHER AND INSCRIBED LABELS, designed for the “ Art
Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of 1851,"
by W. Harry Rogers. (H. Virtue & Co.)
61. The words SECUNDUM LUCAM, from a manuscript of the
Gospels. German. 15th century.
62. Two names, charles and Maud, intermingled with symbolic
and decorative intent. (L. F. D.)
63. GOTHIC PEW-END, with letter g used decoratively. From a
Church in Somersetshire. 14th century.
64. IRON BOLT-PLATes in the form of a letter F. French. Period
of François Ier.
65. BORDER OF A PAGE from “The Book of Wedding Days."
Branches of the brier rose, appropriate to the month,
spell JUNE. Designed by Walter Crane.
66. ENGRAVED PANEL, in which florid Gothic foliage resolves
itself, upon examination, into the at first unsuspected word
ISRAEL, and (sideways) the letter m. Subsidiary labels
bear mottoes “ Da gloriam Deo," etc. From a print (in
which, however, the design is reversed), engraved by
Israel van Meckenen. German. 15th century. (B. M.)
67. The letters R.L.L.S.V, coloured, with so little regard to shape
as further to disguise already florid forms. Embroidered,
border-wise, on linen. German Gothic. (V. & A. M.)
68. GOLDEN VOTIVE CROWN, found near Toledo. Suspended from
it in the form of a fringe are the letters RECCESSVINTHUS,
in cloisonned mosaic of coloured stones. Visigothic
workmanship of the 7th century. (Cluny Museum.)
69. MERCHANT'S mark, in relief upon a bronze memorial tablet
at Nuremberg. 1616.


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii
70. MERCHANT'S MARK, C.E.G., from a seal or stamp. (Barclay's
“Monograms.")
71. MANGLING APPARATUS, with decorative inscriptions. Carved
in wood. Icelandic.
72. ORNAMENTAL LETTERING, painted on a picture frame by
Victor Vasnetzoff. Russian. (“The Studio.")
73. SLAVONIC INSCRIPTION of the 16th century.
74. BACK OF MIRROR FRAME, carved in low relief and enriched
with gold and colour. Inscription, o THOU SATISFIER
OF WANTS, Persian. 17th or 18th century. (India
Museum.)
75. The word Allah, in letters designed to form an ornamental
device. (L. F. D.)
76. The word PROPHET, in cursive ornamental letters. (L.F. D.)
77. The word Allah, in fret-like letters, after the manner of a
Chinese seal. Compare also with Cufic'lettering. (L. F. D.)
78. The word PROPHET, in strap-like letters elaborately inter-
laced. (L. F. D.)
79. STAMP OF DOMITIAN, with raised letters AOMITIANOT. Iron.
Byzantine. (B. M.)
80. BRONZE PENDANT, enamelled in black and white. Spanish.
17th century.
81. DETAILS from the doors at Le Puy (comp. 39), showing the
point to which the conjoining of letters was carried in the
12th century.
82. PART OF AN INSCRIPTION, with conjoint Gothic lettering,
from a mural brass at Termonde. Flemish. 1575. (From
a rubbing by W. H. James Weale, in the Library at
V. & A. M.)
83. CONJOINT LETTERS of various periods.
84. DIAGRAM.
L.O.


xviii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
85. CONJOINT LETTERING, forming the central device, in gold
with black (niello) outline, upon some silver dishes found
at Rome. 4th or 5th century of our era. (B. M.)
86. MONOGRAM, E, M.S., falling short of being a cypher only
because of its continuous line (comp. 90, 91, 92, 93).
(Barclay.)
87. SUNDRY MONOGRAMS--The component letters are written at
the side of each. (L. F. D.)
88. Solidus (58 grain weight), with monogram inlaid in white
metal (silver or lead). Roman. (B. M.)
89. THE ALPHABET IN MONOGRAMS OF THREE LETTERS. (L. F. D.)
90. CONTINUOUS MONOGRAM, F.L. Reversible, i.e., reads the
same upside down (comp. 86, 92, 93), by J. Bonella.
(Barclay.)
91.) CONTINUOUS MONOGRAMS, S.P. L. and G.P.L. (comp. 86, 90,
92.) 93), by W. H. Rogers. (Barclay.)
93. CONTINUOUS MONOGRAM, R.E.D. (comp. 86, 90, 91, 92).
(L, F. D.)
94. MONOGRAMS from jewellery designs by Holbein. (Print-
95.) room, B. M.)
96. Diagram, indicating the variety of letter-shapes available
for the monogrammist.
97. MONOGRAMS AND CYPHER—T. H. E.
98.)
99. / MONOGRAMS—T. H. E. (L. F. D.)
100.)
101. STENCILLED MONOGRAM, with frame. (L. F. D.)
102. STENCILLED MONOGRAM, with symbolic background. (L. F. D.)
103. STENCILLED MONOGRAM, W.T. (L. F. D.)
104. MONOGRAM from a coin of QUEEN ELIZABETH.


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xix
105. REVERSED CYPHER PANEL of a carved walnut coffer. French.
1650. (V. & A. M.)
106. MONOGRAMS AND CYPHERS, painted upon quarries of old glass.
English. (V. & A. M.)
107.) IRON KEY Bows, with reversed cyphers. 17th or 18th
108.) century. (B. M.)
109. REVERSED CYPHER, from a wrought-iron fanlight. French.
18th century.
110. PAINTED TILES, with reversed cypher, ci. French. Period
of Henri Deux.
III. BOOKBINDING, tooled with the reversed cypher of Julie
d'Angennes, Duchesse de Montausier. One of several of
the same design by Le Gascon. French. 1651. (“ Les
Femmes Bibliophiles.” Quentin-Beauchart.)
112. CARVED AND FRETTED CYPHERS-L.E.W.1.s—D. A. Y.
113. T.G.,
114. P. G., J by J. Fowler.
(Barclay.)
115. G R S., by F. Montague. (Soane.)
116. B.E., by W. H. Rogers. (Barclay.)
117. W s., by F. Montague. (Soane.)
118. GOTHIC CYPHERS, A.M., 1.H.S., (from old embroidery)
A.n. (L. F. D.)
119. FOLIATED CYPHER, 1. H.C. (Adapted from H. Rogers.)
120. CYPHER, A.M. Cutwork. (L. F. D.)
121. CYPHERS, T. H. E. (L. F. D.)
122. CYPHER AND MASONIC DEVICE. (Harry Soane.)
123. MANUSCRIPT. Italian. 1439.
124. STAMP FOR PRINTING ON LINEN.—Metal tape driven into a
block of deal, roughly sawn across the grain.


XX DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
125. INITIALS. Woodcut. German.
126. INITIAL, engraved on copper.
127. PORTION OF A MURAL BRASS at Hal in Belgium. From a
rubbing by W. H. J. Weale. (V. & A. M.)
128. PORTION OF A FLEMISH MURAL TABLET in the Church of
S. James, Tournay. 1579. From a rubbing by W. H. J.
Weale. (V. & A. M.)
129. BRONZE MEMORIAL TABLET. Nuremberg. 1544. (“ Die
Bronce-Epitaphien der Friedhöfe zu Nürnberg." Gerlach
& Schenk.)
130. ICELANDIC MATCHBOX, carved in wood.
131. The words audEO, SPERO. Plaques of fretted ivory, applied
to a Portuguese cabinet. (Cluny Museum.)
132. The name DE-BOEN, chased in leather. From an Italian
comb case. 15th century. (V. & A. M.).
133. IRON LOCK, with chiselled inscription, o. MARIA [F] los
[VIRGINUM AVE REGINA SELORUM . MATER REGINA
ANGELORUM , AVE MARIA GRACIA (PLENA, DO]Mi[N]us
TECUM BENE(DICTA]. French. 15th century. (V. &
A. M.)
134. STENCIL PLATE. The extended limbs of the letters designed
to strengthen it. (L. F. D.)
135. VARIETIES OF THE LETTER A, from early printed books.
136. MARY_The letters breaking out into scrollery, which forms
a background to them, and holds the design together.
137. F, from a grotesque woodcut alphabet. 1464. (In the
Library at the B. M.)
138. A. Woodcarving. French. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)
139. PRAYER BOOK of Mary Tudor, Queen of England. Crimson
velvet, with silver gilt mounts spelling the word REGINA.
16th century. (Preserved at Stonyhurst College.)


DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxi
140. FRIVOLITY IN LETTERING.
141. WOODCUT INITIALS Florid Gothic. By Israel van Meckenen.
1489.
142. ILLUMINATED INITIAL, from a choir book in the Sala Pico-
lomini, adjoining the Cathedral at Siena. 16th century.
143. WOODCUT INITIALS, by Rob. Stephanus. Paris. 1532.
144.
|WOODCUT INITIALS. French.
145.)
146. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. Italian.
147. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. German.
148. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. French.
149. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS, by G. Tory. French.
150.
151.)
EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. Italian,
152.
153. LEARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. French.
154.)
155. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.
156. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS, by Lucas Cranach. Bâle.
157. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.
158. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. German.
159. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.
160. WOODCUT INITIALS, attributed to Holbein. German. 1532.
161. WOODCUT INITIALS. Holbein.
162.)
163. LEARLY WOODCUT INITIALS. German.
164.


xxii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
165. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.
166. s., in glazed earthenware. Designed by Godfrey Sykes.
(V. & A. M.)
167. ALPhabet. Designed by Godfrey Sykes. (V. & A. M.)
168. WOODCUT INITIALS, by Matthias Gereon. 1555.
169. EARLY WOODCUT INITIAL. (Same series as 164.) Bâle.
170. WOODCARVING, by François Siebecq, from the bedchamber
of Henri II. in the Louvre.
171. WOODEN Ceiling in the Salle de Diane, Château de Fon-
tainebleau. -
172. PAVING TILES, from Harpesden Church, Oxon. Early 14th
century. (B. M.)
"73. GOTHIC PEW-ENDS, from a church in Somersetshire.
174. S
175. EARTHENWARE DISH, painted in blue and lustre on a white
ground. Spanish. 15th or 16th century. (V. & A. M.)
176. cloth, embroidered with the collar of the Saint Esprit, and
devices from it. (Cluny Museum.)
177. GLAZED TILE, from the ancient Château de Beauty.
(Havard's “ Dictionnaire de l'Ameublement.")
(From stalls, carved in pinewood, in the Church of S.
178.
Valentine, Kiedrich. German. 1510. (“Monumental
19. | Schriften." Gerlach & Schenk.)
180. MONOGRAMMIC DEVICE, A n and cross, in couched gold thread,
by Beatrice Waldram.
181. CYPHER DECORATION, painted in red and green on a whitish
ground, from the roof of Sall Church, Norfolk.
182. MONOGRAM, the background inlaid in flint upon a pier in
Wymondham Church, Norfolk.





MUISTMARIA (2) SILRLALO
Mommons
Will
1. IRON PURSE MOUNT.
1. INTRODUCTORY.
.
Lettering has, over and above its practical use,
and apart from any ornamental treatment of its
forms, a decorative value of its own; and until
recent times craftsmen of all kinds turned it
habitually to account in their designs. More than
that, lettering is (or was, so long as any care for it
existed) in itself ornamental. A page consistently
set up in good type-of one character throughout,
after the manner of days when there was life in
lettering, and not “displayed” after the distract-
ing fashion of the modern printer—a merely well
planned page is in its degree a thing of beauty.
To that end, of course, the letters must be
well shaped and well spaced; but, given the
artist equal to the not very tremendous task of
shaping them, or it may be of choosing them only
and putting them together, mere type is in itself
something upon which the eye can rest with
L.O.


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2. RUSSIAN MANUSCRIPT.
satisfaction. To handle a printed book of the
days when the printer cared for his art is a
pleasure second only to that of turning over the
pages of a fine manuscript.
And this is no mere prejudice of the biblio-
maniac, who, indeed, values books for reasons not
intimately connected with the love of beauty.
Decorative artists have in all times felt the charm
of lettering, and owned it in their work; they
have gone even to the length of inventing mock
writing, when they had nothing to say by it except
how thoroughly they appreciated the use of any-
thing like an inscription in design.
Artists as remote from decorative tendencies
in their own work as the painter of “ The
Angelus ” have been deeply interested in letter-
ing. It is told of J. F. Millet * that as a
boy he used to write verses of the Bible
on the wooden gates in the fields, choosing his
text to fit the bars. Each letter, he held, had an
intrinsic decorative value of its own; and its form
meant something to him. He would describe to
his son, in teaching him, how the top of the big G
stooped over as if to drink out of the little goblet
below; and he had a liking for the combination of
* H. Naegely. “ J. F. Millet and Rustic Art.”


3
letters in certain words, even in foreign words
which he did not understand. WEYMOUTH,
for example, struck him as a fine combination of
letters to express a poor thin-sounding word.
Another artist who would have repudiated any
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3. PALI BUDDHIST MANUSCRIPT.
particular leaning towards the ornamental side of
art, and who yet saw decorative value in lettering,
was Robert Louis Stevenson, who, a year before
his death, was bent on decorating the ruddy
wooden walls of his house at Samoa with letter-
ing. His idea was, to have made for him some
R 2



4. ICELANDIC INSCRIPTION.
hundreds of gilt letters on the model of “really
exquisitely fine clear type from some Roman
monument” mounted on spikes like drawing-pins.
“You see,” he wrote to Mr. St. Gaudens,
“ suppose you entertain an honoured guest, when
he goes he leaves his name in gilt letters on your
walls; an infinity of fun and decoration can be got
out of hospitable and festive mottoes; and the
doors of every room can be beautified by the
legend of their names. I really think there is
something in the idea.” It was with reluctance
he abandoned it. “I had a strong conviction,"
he wrote later, “ in that I was a great hand at
writing inscriptions, and meant to exhibit and
test my genius on the walls of my house; and
now I see I can't. It is generally thus. The
Battle of the Golden Letters will never be
delivered. On making preparation to open the
campaign, the King found himself face to face
with invincible difficulties, in which the rapacity
of a mercenary soldiery and the complaints of an
impoverished treasury played an equal part."
It is no mere fancy, then, of the book-lover or of
the decorator, that lettering is worthy of its place



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5. ARABIC INSCRIPTION.


in ornament. Lines of well formed lettering,
whether on the page of a book or on the panel of
a wall, break its surface pleasantly. It has only
to be proportioned and set out with judgment to
decorate the one or the other-modestly it is true,
but the best of decoration is modest; and it is not
the least of the ornamental qualities belonging to
lettering that it does not clamour for attention, but
will occupy a given space without asserting itself.
It gives at first sight not much more than texture
or variety of surface; yet, when you come to look
closely at it, it tells you what could in no other
way be so clearly conveyed. Symbols may be
misinterpreted, pictures may not convey all that
is meant, the written or the graven word tells
what they cannot : there is no mistaking it.
At the same time, penned, painted, carved, or
anywise adequately rendered, it is in itself
decorative. This seems to apply to the script of
no matter what race; Egyptian hieroglyphic,
Assyrian cuneiform imprint, Greek or Roman
chiselling, Gothic penmanship, are all alike pleasant
to see, quite apart from the meaning of the words,
which may, as likely as not, be past our understand-
ing. So too the writing of strange peoples every-
where, the Hebrew character, the Slavonic (2),
the Pali of the Buddhists (3), the Runic of the
Icelanders (4), the Cufic and the Neshki of the
Arabs (5), and all manner of to us mystifying
script, conveying to the unlearned absolutely



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6. BYZANTINE IVORY CARVING.


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7. GOTHIC FURNITURE.
nothing of the meaning of the words, tell us
one and all of the decorative value of mere
lettering.
There is perhaps no more absolutely satisfactory
simple way of breaking a surface than by means of
well formed, well spaced lettering. In combination
with ornament it has from the first been used by
the decorator, and always with effect. On painted
mummy cases from Egypt, in carved reliefs from
Nineveh, and ivories from Byzantium (6), on
coins from Greece and Syracuse, on Persian tiles
and lustred pottery, on Gothic glass (8) and
tapestry, on church embroidery (11) and furni-
ture (7), on leather bindings, in locksmith's and
goldsmith's work (1 and 15) and all manner of
craftsmanship, in the decoration of the manu-
scripts and books of all times (12), and on the
seals and signet rings of all peoples, lettering in
some form, often a very emphatic one, plays a
decorative part.
In modern days we seem to have lost sight of
its artistic possibilities. Only here and there an
artist appears to perceive the opportunities it
offers. William Morris himself did not, except in
his printed books, turn it to appreciable account ;


though once at least Sir E. Burne-Jones in his
panel of Perseus and the Graeæ (10) bound his
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8. STAINED GLASS TRACERY LIGHT.
composition together by a broad overhanging belt
of beautiful lettering across the vacant background


IO
of the panel—very much as the medallist of the
Renaissance before him clouded as it were the sky
of his medallion (9) with inscription.
The use, however, of lettering in ornament does
FORTITVDON
EST. MICHI IN SALVTEA
19
Halus
OPVS PISANI-PICTO
9. RENAISSANCE BRONZE MEDAL.
not depend upon its association with picture. It is
itself the graphic art. It takes the place of picture,
and conveys in the surest way what might possibly
have been conveyed by carved groups or painted


II
figure subjects, but not so precisely; and all this
without calling attention to itself. There are
abundant occasions when decoration ought not
to attract too much notice, apart from those other

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10. PERSEUS AND THE GRAEÆ, BY SIR E. BURNE. JONES.
occasions when adequate figure design is out of the
question. It must be remembered (though it may
sometimes suit us to forget it) that the moderate
degree of artistic accomplishment which contents
us in old work will not do for us in the produc-
tions of our own day. We have passed the period



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II. PART OF AN EMBROIDERED STOLE.


14
by it in their design, and perhaps led into a form
of expression which conveys their meaning only
to the smallest circle of admirers. The possi-
bilities of symbolism stop suddenly short. The
designer is faced by two alternatives. Either the
symbols at his service are familiar, so familiar as
to be hackneyed and commonplace, or, if they are
of his own imagining, the interpretation of them


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12. INITIALS FROM EARLY PRINTED BOOKS.
makes demands upon our sympathetic recognition
to which only here and there an appreciative soul
respcnds. It has continually been found necessary
to explain the significance of symbols, and even to
call in for that purpose the aid of lettering, which of
itself would have sufficed without them. It is not
as though symbols were of themselves invariably
ornamental. The sign which best conveys the
meaning of the artist may not, and in practice
often does not, readily conform to the conditions


15
of design, and its forcible introduction into the
scheme of decoration has consequently always
an air of intrusion.
Lettering, on the other hand, is by nature most

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13. CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL. HENRI DEUX.
amenable to treatment; there are so many varieties
of lettering, so many ways of introducing it; and,
given the artist accustomed to its manipulation,
it can so readily be made to take its place in such
a way as certainly not to mar the decorative effect,
and most likely to enhance it.


16
A picture itself, or a piece of sculpture, con-
ceived in the spirit of decoration, may gain no less
in decorative value than in significance by the
introduction into it of lettering in one form or
EMRES TO
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14. GOTHIC ENCAUSTIC TILE.
another. This lettering may fill, or just suffi-
ciently occupy, a panel or a tablet; it may be
introduced into the nimbus of a saint or on a
label encompassing him ; it may be as it were
embroidered on the hem of his garmentor


17
written across the folds of it, as was done in
mediæval times—whilst the Assyrian of old boldly
cut his cuneiform inscriptions right across his pic-
tures in relief; it may be-diaper the ground (11),
or otherwise enter into its decoration (6); the
devices of the designer are more than it is here
possible to number. In certain initials from early
printed books (12) lettering at once decorative
and explanatory is introduced into the subsidiary
decoration of the capital letters.
Ornament, apart from picture, may gain still
more from lettering, which takes, in turn, the
place of figured story. It may form itself the
staple of all decorative device, as in many an
instance here given ; it may be cunningly inter-
woven with ornament (13) ; it may be plentifully
employed (14) or sparingly (170); it is equally
ready to fill the most conspicuous place or to
retire discreetly into obscurity; it is the most
obedient servant of the ornamentist.

15. JEWELLERY, BY H. HOLBEIN.
1..0.


II. THE PRINTED PAGE.
The idea of lettering is so closely bound up with
that of printed type that the book, from title
page to printer's mark, naturally comes into
consideration.
Due consideration of it from the printer's point
of view would, however, lead us astray from the
present purpose; it would demand quite a volume
to itself. The very extent of the subject compels
its compression within strict limits. It will be
impossible here to do more than consider the
page, printed or written, as a comparatively com-
pact mass of lettering, the main business of which
is to tell us something, but to tell it with decent
regard for appearances : it would not otherwise
come within our scope at all. The assumption
that the appearance of the page is to be improved
only at the cost of legibility, may have some
grounds in the vagaries of artists wanting in
respect for the art in which they dabble, but it is
not founded upon any inherent incompatibility
between what is beautiful and what can easily be
read. Lettering may very well answer both con-
ditions, and should do so. Is our newspaper type
more legible than a fine Roman inscription ? Any


19
advantage print may have lies entirely in the
fact that the man in the street is more familiar
with it. Modern improvements (?) in type have
unfortunately been in the one direction of plain
printing, leaving aside the question of beauty, with
the result that the immediate effect of any artistic
improvement in letter-shapes must be a degree
of strangeness which, however slight, will strike
people as less readable—not that it is really so.
Only in so far is it true, that more beautiful
lettering means lettering more difficult to read.
Many a beautiful script which asks of us rather
more attention than modern type, would be at
least as plain to us if it were our ordinary reading.
There is not the slightest doubt that twentieth
century type might well be made more beautiful
than it is. The obstacles in the way of doing it are,
not that such type would be less readable, but that
“ practical” people have made up their minds that
it would be, and vast commercial interests are
engaged on the side of letting things be. The
best we can hope for is gradual improvement, and
that such slight changes as occur in the fashions
of print may be for the better. It is well that
artistic attention should be called to it, for some-
thing of all artistic doing trickles through into
trade. The effort of William Morris has not been
without effect. Printers who would most emphati-
cally deny that they are converted to his opinions
have plainly been influenced by his work.
C2


20
In the case of the written page, as of the graven
slab, the painted tablet, and other hand lettering,
(to all of which much that is here said equally
applies) the artist is untrammelled except by public
prejudice, which, if he deserves the name, he will
to some extent ignore. It is the bounden duty of
the caligrapher to obey the principle of beauty, to
shape his letters as perfectly, and to space them as
pleasantly, as conditions will allow.
The conditions of execution with pen, brush,
graver or other tool will affect in most cases the
shape of the letters. With regard to their distri-
bution and arrangement, the conditions apply
equally to page, panel, tablet, or any solid block
of writing such as the rectangular patch of com-
pact inscription adopted by Greek or Roman
carvers when they did not frame it in mouldings
or design a tablet for its reception.
Let us take the printed page as typical of the
area on which a patch of lettering is to be spread.
Experience proves that the eye is best satisfied
by a tolerably uniform distribution of the letters,
Roman, Gothic, or whatever their character, over
it, so that they give at first sight the impression
of a fairly even surface, distinguished from the
surrounding surface (that is, the margin) more by
a difference of tint than by any appreciable letter-
forms within the mass.
The tint of print is, however, only relatively
even : words are of uneven length; and there may


21
be other breaks in its continuity, occurring as the
sense of the words determines, and just not as the
compositor would have them. Nevertheless he is
bound to accept them, not merely to take them
into account, but to make the best of them, un-
happily as they may come for him. He cannot,
without forfeiting all claim to artistic feeling,
shirk the difficulty of so scheming his lines that
they are of equal length, that the words are as
little broken as possible and never awkwardly,
and that the spaces between them do not run into
little rivulets of white wandering irregularly down
the page, to its extreme disfigurement. Broad
spaces of white between the lines of print inter-
cept such ugly streams, at the same time that they
make reading easier; but the comparatively even
tint given by closely compact lines of type is more
restful to the eye than distinctly marked bars of
print. Here is, for once, a point of divergence
between the most useful and the most beautiful
way of doing it. It applies, however, more to
printed books than to carved, graven or written
inscription.
In books, where easy reading counts for much
and symmetry for little, it would be absurd to
sacrifice convenience to effect, and to abandon
any division or distribution of the text upon the
page enabling us to grasp the meaning readily.
We want our reading made easy: and there is
not the least doubt that breaks in the type which


22
correspond to breaks in the sense do make it
easier. The division of the text into words,
sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, is a foregone
conclusion, with which it is futile to quarrel.
The remedy for the undue preponderance of
white, where a paragraph breaks the uniformity of
the printed page, is, not to do away with para-
graphs, but to break up the page into a number
of them. That also makes it livelier and easier
to read; and if to some extent it takes away from
the importance attaching to a less frequent pause,
the balance of emphasis can be restored by a dis-
tinctive form of letter at the beginning of the
dominant paragraph, denoting a fresh start-
which of itself may be made to add to the interest
and beauty of the page. But the consideration
of the initial letter belongs to another chapter.
An alternative to leaving a blank space at the
end of a sentence, is to mark the pause by a printed
sign, much heavier than the type of course (or it
would not equally arrest the attention) and there-
fore no less objectionable than the plain paper :
the recurrence of relatively solid black ornaments
amidst the grey tint given by the type, is even
more irritating than gaps of white in it. The sign,
of something like equal weight with the text, by
which the Greek scribe, say of the eighth century,
marks a pause in the sense, is proportionately
happier in effect, but does not meet the modern
need for a signal which there can be no mistaking


23
even from a long way off. In fact, the demand for
something more like “stops " is as old as the tenth
century.
The proportion of the patch of print to the page
of the book, the amount, that is to say, of margin
leſt round the text, and the position of the patch
upon the page, have very much to do with its


16. PRINTERS' MARKS.
appearance, and are very serious considerations
with the artist. It has been attempted to define
precisely how to place the print upon the page ;
but it is one thing to say this or that system
answers well, and another to insist that only upon
one system are good results to be got. The pro-
portion of print to plain paper is just one of those
points upon which an artist follows his instinct,
and is not to be bound by rule : he works out
rules for himself.


24
The double column owes its origin presumably
to practical convenience. When the page was
broad, and the type employed was not very large,
the lines of print ran to such a length of words
that it was not easy to carry back the eye and
take up the next line with certainty. The obvious
remedy for this was to have two shorter lines of
print, with a sufficiently broad interval between
them to divide the print into clearly marked
columns. And the effect of this in early printed
books was most satisfactory. In modern printing,
where the space between the columns is reduced to
a minimum (when will some really practical news-
paper printer give us once more columns sufficiently
wide apart ?), the effect is not merely unpleasing
but perplexing, the eye being continually caught by
something in the adjoining column and led astray.
Except, however, in very wide pages, excusable
mainly on the grounds that they may be necessary
to adequate illustration, the double column is no
longer wanted, and is in fact so nearly obsolete that,
where it survives, it has a distinctly old-fashioned
look.
Itis, nevertheless, no less effective than it is logical,
to consider the two pages of the open book as one
area on which to plant, as it were, two columns of
print. A very considerable reduction of the inner
margins, as compared with the outer and the
upper and lower, has this effect; and it is perhaps
the most satisfactory way of composing the page


25

AN ILLUSTRATED NEWS PAPER
AND WEEKLY REVIEW
17. ROUGH SKETCH-DESIGN FOR NEWSPAPER HEADING.
-if only the binder were to be depended upon.
Unless the folding of the sheets is perfect, the two
patches of print do not range, and the closer they
come together the more obtrusive is the fault : it
is not so easily detected when there is a broad
space of white between.
The ornamentation of the page, beyond the
mere setting out of type upon it, is a subject
apart. The only opportunity of the compositor
for anything like free and fanciful composition is
in the title page, where, again, he does wisely in
curbing his fancy. Plain print in the body of the
book seems to demand corresponding severity in
the treatment of the title page, in any case the
most difficult page in the book to set out.
Our type is a carrying on of the character which
came originally from the use of the pen. It will
always probably, perhaps it always should, bear
traces of its origin : we do not want to wipe out
the landmarks of its history. But there seems no


26
reason why this carrying on should not be also
a carrying further, and in the direction, not of
writing, but of printing, and even of type-founding.
Why should not type bear on its face the evidence
of that also ?
As in the title page of a book, so in a newspaper
heading (17), or the cover of a magazine, there is
possible scope for design, more especially as they
are not ordinarily printed from type, but from a
block. Unfortunately, however, the publisher's
idea of lettering is usually type, to which he
would have the artist conform most strictly. The
demand of trade is, further, for something which
shall advertise itself on the railway bookstalls,
which shall be unmistakably readable as the
flurried passenger hurries past to catch his train,
and at the same time fresh and unexpected. The
dictates of art, on the other hand, suggest some-
thing which shall not shout itself hoarse.
It is difficult under such conditions to do more
than design bold, þroad and effective lettering,
and to go as far towards mitigating its obtrusive-
ness as the publisher will permit; but one cannot
help doubting whether the clever people whose
business it is to gauge the public taste do not
over-estimate its vulgarity.
Advertisement, into which lettering enters,
and must always enter, largely, affords but little
scope for art—it is a game of brag; but publishers
and others who have an interest in announcing not


28
merely what they have to sell, but the beauty and
refinement of the things, might well trust some-
thing to the efficacy of tasteful announcement.
Where, by chance, the responsibility for an ad-
vertisement sheet is in the hands of people not so
much concerned about trade as about art, and
they entrust its design to a competent artist, as in
the case of Mr. Anning Bell's announcement of
the Liverpool School of Art, the result, though by
no means legible at a glance, is something which,
by its very distinction from the common run of
flaring posters, attracts attention and holds it.
For the rest, the only chance of the decorative
artist in the direction of advertisement rests with
the poster-humorist, who has found his oppor-
tunity, and makes good use of it—if not of lettering
always.
To return, however, to the wider subject of the
printed page, all that is here claimed on behalf
of art is, due regard to its appearance. In the
printing of books the ruling consideration is not
beauty, but the sense of the author's words. The
only question open to serious dispute is, how best,
to make that clear and easy reading, with least
violence, if any, to the sense of proportion and
beauty.



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19. ALFONSO THE WISE, HIS MARK. A.D. 1254.
III. THE WRITTEN PAGE.
The written page is naturally set out very much
on the lines of print-itself, of course, originally
modelled upon manuscript. In so far as type
and manuscript seek the same end, they are
subject to the same laws; but only to that extent;
and the aim of the two is not identical.
The scribe of old was not so bent upon rapid
writing that he had no time to consider its form,
nor so intent upon ready reading that he dared not
make the slightest demand upon the attention of


30
the reader. You may see that in Don Alfonso his
mark (19). And to-day also when a page is penned
it is not with a view to conveying the author's mean-
ing in the plainest and most unmistakable way.
The craft of the scribe (as distinguished from
the fluent correspondent) is not so utilitarian as
that of the printer. The writer is free to indulge in
luxuries of art which the printer cannot afford, at
times even to sacrifice something of plain speech
to what might be called rhetoric; he has, by
right of his pen, a faculty of taking liberties with
the set form and mechanical order of letters,
which the man of print has not, a power which
insensibility only would neglect to exercise.
When, as in the present day, caligraphy is
employed no longer in writing books upon
parchment but in penning the text to accompany
some form of illustration (eventually to be incor-
porated in the printer's process-block), the free
exercise of his power is the very occasion and
excuse of the artist for venturing into penmanship.
He is in a sort compelled to make the venture; for
the decoration of the page implies the sympathetic
rendering of accompanying text.
The art of lettering is one which the decorative
artist cannot afford to neglect; not necessarily
ornamental script, but plain, simple lettering-
something which, when he is decorating a book, he
may use in his designs, or with his designs, in place
of type. Type is only too ready to his hand; but


31
CARITAS GOTT GESANG IVLI .
QVARZ FACVLTÆT ENTVORF.
PALMETTE BVKOVINA DAGO
BERT FVX SCHRIFT PSYCHE
20. INSCRIPTION BY JOSEPH PLECNIK, VIENNA.
when it comes to finding a fount which will go well
with pen or brush drawing, the choice is well nigh
hopeless. Nothing seems to be quite right. If he
wants something which shall not jar with his work,
he must do it himself; and to do it satisfactorily he
must be master of at least one form of lettering.
It is true that many an artist who has felt the
incongruity of type, and therefore penned his own
page, hasonly escaped from one trouble into another.
“I hope,” writes a distinguished author, apropos
of the publication of his own poems, “it isn't
necessary to put the verse into that rustic print-
ing. I am Philistine enough to prefer clean
printer's type; indeed, I can form no idea of the
verses thus transcribed by the incult and totter-
ing hand of the draughtsman, nor gather any
impression beyond one of weariness to the eyes.”
Who does not sympathise with this protest against
the bad work of perhaps a good artist ? A man
may be an excellent draughtsman, and yet in the
direction of caligraphy no more expert than a
child. But the choice is not between the bad


32
writing of the artist and the hard and fast type of
the founder--of which two evils type may be the
lesser; there are at least two other alternatives—
that the artist should learn to write, or that he
should get a sympathetic scribe to write for him.
Caligraphy is a term we use in speaking of the
ancient or mediæval scribe, because he it was who
wrote beautifully. The scribe who cultivates the art
of writing is to-day rare, but the species is happily
not extinct; and there is, at all events in some
quarters, a rather general desire to master script,
consequent upon the realisation of its use in design.
An artist may have no desire to deviate into
ornament, and yet appreciate the advantages of
penning his own lettering, or seeing it written
under his own eye. It gives him, even if he
accepts the alphabet as it is, in all its severe
simplicity, the opportunity, not only of shaping it
to suit himself, but of placing the letters where and
as he likes; and, if he should want an even effect,
of spacing them more perfectly than print allows.
He can put letters just as close together or just as
far apart as may seem fit to him, can spread,
contract, persuade them even, by some slightest
modification of the letter-shapes, to accommodate
themselves one to another as ready-cast type can-
not possibly do. He can give to capitals their
relative importance, and emphasise his words in
other ways than by the use of italics. In short,
he can have his own way instead of going the way


33
BAYERN:ZAUBERTRANK
SCHUTZERUPPE:QVELLE
ZEUS:PSYCHETAUWERR
WALD:NATADE:RUBENS:
PARADIS:XENOPHANES
DRUDENFUSS:QVARK

21. INSCRIPTION BY OTTO HUPP, MUNICH.
of the machine-only he must have command of
his implement, pen or brush or whatever it be:
his writing must be adequate.
The writer does wrong to form himself, as he
often does, upon printed type (his obvious model is
manuscript, upon which that itself is formed), and
especially wrong to emulate the regularity of print.
He can get with the pen or brush qualities of more
account than mechanical precision (in aiming at
which he is at a disadvantage as compared with the
machine), qualities beyond the scope of printing,
and of a kind which differentiate his work from it.
It may be as well to exemplify the sort of even-
ness of distribution to be obtained in penmanship
and not in printing. The writer has only to pro-
long a stroke to occupy the gap of white which
occurs between two such letters as RT, or EV.
L.0.


34
Or the gap may be avoided by the choice of a
different type of letter; it will be seen (diagram 22)
how the choice of the straddling M fills up the
space left at the foot of the letter F, and how it
widens the breach after the letter A.
Writers of old never seem to have been bound
hard and fast to one type of letter. Even in the
same phrase various forms of the same letter occur,
as if it happened so, much to the enlivenment of
the page. And such variation shows regard (con-
scious or unconscious) to the way the various shapes
compose. The playful variety of old lettering is
one of the charms we find in it. How pleasant
the surprise of the rectangular C occurring once
only in the word ECCE, as we find it on the
doors at Le Puy (diagram 22). One has less
sympathy nowadays with the turning about of
a letter to make it fit a space. That was all very
well when writers were not particular as to whether
the bar of the N slanted this way or that. We
are no longer at liberty to make a P or S face back-
wards; it is a device belonging to a stage of letter-
ing more elementary than the one we have reached.
The same objection does not apply to the liberty
taken on occasion with the size of individual letters;
but there should be occasion for it. It should be
done with deliberate purpose—for the sake of
compression, composition, emphasis, not out of
mere wilfulness. It is reasonable enough to reduce
the size of a letter in order to bring it into the desired


compass, to make it, for example, occupy the blank
space which always follows the letter L-observe
the compactness of the letters LOD and the want
of it in LOI (diagram 22)—but to reduce an unfor-
tunate vowel always to proportions at which it
looks more like a stop than a letter, does not seem
to justify itself on any ground of taste or expe-
FM FM DⓇ5
AMAM ECCE
LODLOI MARY
22. DIAGRAM.
diency, except that it enables the writer to shirk
the difficulty of penning a bold round 0–a paltry
excuse for pretended artistry.
One is apt to resent mere wilfulness on the part of
the scribe—variations, that is to say, not suggested
by conditions of the case. We accept them readily
when there is reason for them, and all the more
readily when the writer consistently carries through
the idea of compression, or whatever his motive
may be. Old writers often saved space by
enclosing one letter within another, as in the
combinations DI, ON, VS (diagram 22).
D 2


36
Once in a while we are able to express by the
proportions of a letter something not otherwise
easily to be conveyed-as, for example, by reducing
the size of a letter in the word MARY to indicate
a pet name in which the R is familiarly dropped.
Auseful rule of writing has been laid down by Herr
v. Larisch, from whose “ Beispiele Künstlerischer
Schrift ” two very different instances are given
(20 and 21), to the effect that the letters of a word
should be so contrived that the ground-space
between them is always equal (not the distance
between their extremities); but that is possible
only on condition of taking occasional liberties of
the kind already mentioned. The Viennese artist,
it will be seen (20), adopts the old German
device of writing the double T in GOTT as one
letter, and the Bavarian (21) dwarfs a Z when his
composition requires it.
When it comes to the modification of the letter-
shape, in what is ostensibly plain lettering, the
penman is on rather dangerous ground; but he
may safely lengthen the limbs of letters, or other-
wise extend or compress them, so long as no im-
pression is conveyed of torturing them, or of trifling
with a script which has serious business to do.
The impression of affectation is easily produced
by undue liberties with the proportion of letters.
The bar of the A or of the H is not once and for
all fixed; it may be shifted a trifle higher or lower
without hurt; but the fashion, not merely of high-


37
waisted letters, but of waists gradually rising almost
to their necks, becomes absurd. It is one thing to
depart from orthodoxy, another to go beyond the
bounds of all moderation. It is only in modera-
tion that freedom of hand is here claimed, and
only on this ground: that the proportion of the
S 30D
23. DIAGRAM TO SHOW CONSTRUCTION OF LETTERS.
letter itself is of less moment than the aspect of
the word, the line, the page, in favour of which
the letteſ must be sacrificed.
The variety which is the charm of handwork
comes naturally to the writer who is ready with
his pen or brush; and, if for its sake only, it is
incumbent upon the decorator, and especially upon
the ornamentist, to master the art of lettering.
He need not be adept in lettering of all kinds, but
at least he should take some one character, Roman,


Gothic, or whatever may best suit his style of work
(of course, a fine type of letter, not common
newspaper print), and master that, make it his,
get as expert in it as in writing a running hand.
Let him acquire, in short, a hand of his own;
it need be no more like print than his epistolary
hand is like a writing master's; it should be in
every sense his own handwriting.
Elaborate diagrams (23) have been devised to
show the geometric plan on which letters are sup-
posed to be built. These are of some use in helping
to explain the exact proportion of their parts; but
a draughtsman should be able to draw without all
that amount of compass-work. The construction of
the alphabet appears to have been first worked out
in the fifteenth century by an Italian, one Felice
Feliciano; after him followed Fra Luca Paccioli ;
but the best known diagrams are those of Dürer,
who in his book on proportion (1525) gave twenty-
two pages to them, and yet the types of letter he
adopted are by no means unimpeachable.
The fact is, all this mathematical jugglery is
beside the question of art, and especially of design.
It is not so that letters are designed, nor anything
else. The artist must learn to write-painfully if
he should have no turn that way; but when it
comes to lettering, he must do it straight off ;
that is necessary to spontaneity, without which
it will never be anything but cramped. There are
occasions when exceptional care is necessary, and



WARENCIA
TPECIMENSI
LAMINIT
INTIMA
PIR
OF:MEDIÆVAL
ARCHITECTURE
OCHIEFLY SELECTED
TO FROM:EXAMPLES
SOF:The:12 ANO:13:
CENTURIES:IN:|
FRANCE:X:ITALY
ANO:ORAWN:BY|
W:EOEN:NESFIELO
ARCHITECT:LONOON
BE
PIPER
SUVAWW
PUBLISHED:BY.DAYANO:SONAT
DATE:STREET:NEAR LINCOLN'S
INN: FIELOS JANUARYAO:1862 m
24. TITLE PAGE BY W. EDEN NESFIELD.
a high degree of finish and exactness; but there
is no middle course between direct penmanship
or brushwork and most carefully drawn lettering.
There is not much to be done in the way of touch-
ing-up letters which have been freely put in. It
must be one thing or the other.
Spontaneity, it should be explained, does not
imply rashness in setting out writing, or careless-
ness in penning it. The lines should be straight,
of equal length, and at equal distances. The soul
of the scribe must not be beyond measurement or
calculation. It is not till he has taken the neces-
sary precautions, mechanical and other, that he
can safely go ahead and write freely.


41
is unmistakably very much what he would have
designed for a brass. There is a dignified austerity
about it not usually to be found either in the
printing or the penmanship of his day.
Of such importance may be the dignity of letter
design, that some facility in reading is readily to
be sacrificed to it. It is not imperative that an

MINSGLEITS BLOS
OKVARTESGROSSA
OKWONDINSDLESS
OSIVTES SCRWETSA
XDIESESBITTERBEIT
ÖGOCIISBRUIRZIKIT
26. BACK OF CARVED PINE CH. STALL, 1510.
inscription should be read as you run; enough if
it is apparent that there is an inscription which,
if you care to pause and study it, you may read.
Accordingly, the rules which apply to print or
inanuscript may in monumental inscription be re-
laxed. It is no longer necessary to keep the lines of
lettering wide apart so as to form horizontal bars of
text; they may follow closely one upon the other,
and the words themselves may be closed up to form
a compact mass. In place of orthodox punctuation,


42
and of the ordinary division into sentences, the artist
may mark the pauses in his own way. Should it be
by the interpolation of flowers, badges, or other
ornaments, these may now be, and usually will be,
of equal weight with the lettering, it being no longer
so necessary to make reading easy as to present a
dignified inscription. The utmost the reader has a
right to ask of him is that there shall be no possible
mistake about it when he comes to study it.
Architectural dignity is best preserved by the
adoption of the simplest and severest character,
and by distributing the lettering in the evenest and
most formal way. The style of it must depend upon
that of the architecture; but straight-lined charac-
ters, Roman or Gothic (27, 28), seem always to
take their place in a building more as if they
belonged to it than any florid writing; and this is
especially the case with carving in stone or engraving
in metal ; anything in the nature of a flourish is
more appropriate to the pen or brush. There is no
possible rule, however; an artist is guided by his
feeling in such matters, and if he has taste it will
guide him aright. The beautiful panel of lettering,
well deserving its place of honour in the tomb of
Mary of Burgundy, at Bruges (28), shows that it
only needs the competent artist, and he can, with-
out offence, give play to his fancy even in serious
monumental design. It will be seen that he
reserves in this instance the more fantastic flourish-
ing of the letters for the base of the panel, where
their work is over and they may safely be playful.


43

FRANCIS
PTOLEMAEVS
AEDITVVS
HOCPVLPITVM
INSTAVRAVIT
EXORNAVIT
ETAVXIT
AN:D MD
XLIII
27. RAISED LETTERS IN MARBLE.
Inscriptions are written by common consent in
horizontal lines. It is not so universally conceded
that the lines should be of equal length, and form


therefore a compact rectangular mass of lettering.
This may not be possible in the case of an ample
inscription within, let us say, a wreath, which was at
one time common enough (29). The lettering must
often in that case perforce follow the lines enclosing
it. But similar or other fanciful distribution of the
words occurs also where there is no such reason
for it, where no framing lines constrain the writer.
In that case he loses something of the dignity and
decorative value of inscription by straying from
the straight line : there is virtue in its verticality.
Even should there be some reason against a simple
four-sided patch of lettering, the lines may with
advantage be grouped so as to give at least a
rectangular figure. An edge meandering in and
out unmeaningly, or following a florid framing
line, is a thing to avoid. And if the frame compels
it, the fault was in designing a frame so ill-adapted
to its purpose. The rectangular space is invariably
satisfactory (30). Given a frame to fill, the
designer of an inscription must do his best; and a
competent artist will make the best of even a very
bad job; but, clearly, the better way to set about
lettering in decoration is, to set out the inscription
before designing a tablet or setting of any kind for
it-to design, in fact, the frame for the lettering,
not adapt the lettering to the frame.
To the inexpert a word or two may be accept-
able as to the setting out of an inscription. There
may be many ways of doing it. Mine is one which
works out satisfactorily. It is this:--


1. Imagine about how you think the inscription
would subdivide-say into so many lines (long or
short according to your scheme of design).

BENOTI I DEFEDE
RIGIS EL FESVLAN.
QVI VIRIN EGERIMEN
VITÆSVMA CVMAVID
VIXIT-ANNO QVE
LiM.CCCCI DEFVNA
CTVS EST
29. INCISED MARBLE, LUCA DELLA ROBBIA.
2. Write one line as it comes.
3. Count the number of letters in the line
(reckoning the space between word and word as
equivalent to one letter).
4. Reckon to how many lines your inscription


+7

TU
BATTEOTOVIC
NL VIGOGT?
STONOSI INSIDE
7310 STATSIVERING
VOROVEIM. VOIROTOT
PUTKISTOAUTINI?
(ORIDOMRU TOTOO GOTIVI
30. EMBOSSED IN SILVER-GILT, DALMATIA.
will run, and how this number of lines will suit
your space.
5. If it does not accommodate itself, you may
have to begin again; but each successive guess is
likely to be nearer the mark than the last.
. 6. Having determined that your inscription
shall be in so many lines, averaging so many
letters, at such or such a distance apart, the next
step is to note (upon the rough copy of the words)
where the lines would end, and how the words
would be broken.
7. You will probably find that, by a little
readjustment, taking a letter or two from one line
and including it in another, you can divide your
inscription into lines containing each a number


49

HERLIOEVVND-VORWÄSEN
S. JACOBI, LÜBECK, 1599.
of making free with the normal letter-shapes is
given above (31).
Apart, of course, from the style of letter deter-
mined by the architecture of a building or monu-
ment, is the character which comes of its execution
in stone (27), or metal (30), and of its standing
up in relief upon a sunken ground (27), or being cut
into the surface (29). The face of the letters may,
indeed, be carved, and sometimes is, especially in
wood; it may be modelled, and sometimes is, in
clay; and there is no precise limit to the relief or
modelling in which the artist may on occasion
indulge; but it is not often that it is desirable to
interfere with the flat surface of lettering ; there is
a danger of frittering away the valuable surface
of the material; and the forms of most letters
express themselves sufficiently by their outline
alone. Even the so-called ribbon letters (32),
in which the turnover of the ribbon needs to be
expressed, want little more than one sharp cut to
express the fold. To insist upon nearer resemblance
to ribbon is to indulge in a florid form of letter-
ing remarkable, not for architectural dignity,
but for a certain playfulness, pleasing indeed, but
ill-suited to very serious and sober decoration : it
L.0.



LITTLuWhiteni ml)
Mlimuinua la FITILI
HITHIIMTINDO ANTIMIT
WHAT
32. RIBBON-LIKE GOTHIC
is not so much lettering in ornament as ornamental
lettering—which is not the subject of this chapter.
There is less occasion, then, in architecture for
actually modelled lettering than for letters cut into
the ground or left in flat relief upon it. Either
expedient is in its place equally perfect. In incised
lettering the surface of the slab is preserved ; but
the simple “grounding out” of the letters, leaving
the metal, stone, or wood intact, to form their face,
is also a sure way of preserving their breadth of
surface. It is quite commonly employed in brass
and bronze, plain strips of metal (measuring perhaps
as much as twice the thickness of the strokes of
the letters) being left between the rows of writing,
broken only by the tops and tails of tall letters
engraved across them, and by an occasional


57

AVO
UMIDO
UM
Muis: Himah12TT HMI
RITTÄITMI AUTTIIMI
WIDIOTIHilirimit
TOTTITT HITSILTUMINE
DODATTIMUM
INSCRIPTION FROM A FLEMISH BRASS.
initial (34). This expedient of the band was, in
fact, almost necessary for the accommodation of
the projecting parts of the minuscule letters ;
certainly it has invariably a good effect.
The grounding-out of letters upon brass was
sometimes done with a view to filling in the space
with black or coloured mastic; but the sunken
parts, being beyond the reach of the polisher,
soon tarnish in any case, and deepen of themselves
in colour, with the result that the letters tell light
and bright upon it.
So in the case of wood or stone, the surface of
the raised letter is apt to get in time a polish
which the ground does not. A sunken ground
is commonly adopted in black letter inscriptions,
in which the upright strokes come close together ;
E 2


52
and there is seldom any broad surface of ground
between. In the case of Roman letters, or Gothic
letters more or less of the Roman type, there are
apt to be gaps in the ground, which give rise to
the occasion, if not the need, for ornament of
some kind, in order to preserve the evenness of
the inscription. The danger may, however, be
evaded by closing the letters up and minimis-
ing the space between them, especially if the
inscription is in channels with plain raised bands
between. A similar plan of crowding out the
background may be employed with good effect
by the penman or painter. By merely draw-
ing his letters in outline as close together as
he can and filling in the background, he gets
a character in his lettering (33) quite different
from that which would result from painting light
letters upon a dark band. In the case of black
letter inscriptions, the engraver of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries often, as before said, made
incisions in them to suggest the turn over of a strap
or ribbon, playing indeed slight variations upon
that simple idea with admirable effect; but he
was happiest when he was content to suggest a
turnover and did not want to imitate it.
BASTITO

33. DIAGRAM.


litsuclnralira

0P:Oluri Hir:
Galimsalim
RTOV05
O
34. SANDSTONE SLAB, REGENSBURG.
The flaw in black letter inscription is the incon-
gruity of the capitals used with it. They break the
line perhaps happily, and relieve the monotony of
an exceptionally rigid form of minuscule; but
they rarely seem to belong to it (35). The
capitals above (34) are much more in keeping


54.

Ruum.s4j, 195rbittiar:uer,
9 Lchil turerbaruudWrijk here?
I watotizdir. Don Sotgawig
Ruumo.jsza.deniz.Ditob:uniſhni
dipürbar undCüzmiliaftSmi
Y Salitaniwleiti etuirthdagufgiteding
35. BRONZE FROM A GRAVE AT NUREMBERG.
with the other letters than those on this page (35);
but really satisfactory capitals to go with black
letter have never been, and are perhaps not to be,
designed. This is a matter of less practical im-
portance to us, seeing that the days of that
particular character are, except for occasional
purposes, already passed.
There is no reason why grounding out should
not more often be employed in stone or marble
when the scale allows it; it is employed to ad-
mirable effect in the wooden pew-end opposite
(36), and in the inscriptions upon the much
earlier doors of the cathedral at Le Puy (39).
Small lettering is more naturally cut into
stone, as the cuneiform and Greek and Roman


WARDEN
in
UCC T2
inscriptions invariably were. In the little Byzan-
tine iron shield at the end of the chapter (37) the
incised lettering is filied in with silver. Between
sunken letters
and letters in re-
lief, the choice
is determined
partly by the
JEST MNIERI
consideration as
MATHEW
to which is the
easier to do,
partly by which
will be the more
secure from in-
jury; when nei-
ther would be
difficult and
either would be
safe, it becomes
a question mere-
ly of effect. The
lasting charac-
ter of lettering 36. OLD ENGLISH . PEW-END.
on a sunken
ground, in metal, is witnessed by numberless
mediæval monumental brasses, in which the
decorative use of lettering is shown trium-
phantly. We have only to compare these with
the tombstones of a later date to see how
monumental lettering may be used to artistic
and to ineffective purpose. Which of the two it

det


56
might be, was in the past very much a question of
period: engravers of the seventeenth and eighteenth
and especially the nineteenth centuries fell on evil
days for design: with us it is a question of taste.
We have lost hold of tradition, but we have freer
choice; and out of our eclecticism, may I call it,
better things should come—if we but take the
pains to inform ourselves. The work of a man
who knows what master workmen before him
have done, must needs be better than he could
spin out of his own ignorant imagining.

SkyPIEG
® BOHO
TI
37. IRON INLAID WITH SILVER. BYZANTINE.



38. IVORY CARVING OF THE TENTH CENTURY.
V. DECORATIVE LETTERING.
Many and various were the methods of intro-
ducing inscription into decorative design. It
found its way even into picture, until the time
when the pictorial ideal ceased to include decora-
tive effect. Long inscriptions claimed for them-
selves, as a rule, a place apart; shorter ones were
used sometimes to frame the picture, sometimes
to form part of it.
In introducing lettering into decoration, people
accustomed to write in horizontal lines from left
to right naturally adopted that direction. They
might occasionally be led by considerations of
design to scheme an inscription otherwise ; but,
in the main, decorative lettering takes the hori.
zontal direction. Such, in fact, is the decorative


58
use of some such horizontal band as lettering
gives, that one is inclined to suspect that in-
scriptions have often been introduced into design
quite as much for the line they gave as for the
information it was desired to convey in them.
About the earliest and most uncompromising use
of inscription that we know of is seen in the well-
known bas-reliefs from Nineveh (eighth and ninth
centuries B.C.), in which broad belts of cuneiform
lettering deliberately cross the picture in a way
which, brutal as in a sense it must be called, is
not sheer brutality, so useful is it in the com-
position, and so little hurt is there to broadly
conventional sculpture of that kind in a treatment
which, applied to more delicate workmanship,
would be downright cruel. We find indeed some-
thing of the same kind in quite late Gothic
tapestry and wall-painting, where the names of
the personages represented are sometimes written
straight across their drapery.
The gentler treatment is to write only upon the
background to the figures, where the horizontal
bands or belts of lettering are of use in crossing
narrow upright spaces between the figures or
between the figure and its frame, and in binding
the parts of the composition into one.
Another use to which bands of inscription are
commonly put is to separate tiers of small picture
panels one from the other, as, for example, in the
narrow lights of tall Gothic windows, which they
hold together in a most satisfactory manner. A



S
RACHT
BERIBILA
RROSSINELE
2117
ПРЕЗ
TZEMDVSME ja
সত্যিটিতে
ESLER
2ГІ ТА
ETKNERICO
PASURESIGARETTE
LORA DIVAGEN SIE
39. PART OF A DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL AT LE PUY.


60
very pronounced use of bands of lettering to sepa-
rate little figure subjects is made in the doors of the
cathedral at Le Puy, of which a portion is illus-
trated (39). The lettering there is on a pro-
portionately very large and important scale ; but
it holds its own perfectly both with the ornamental
borders and with the figure subjects. The carving
is of the simplest kind, mere flat “grounding out,”
but the effect is singularly rich; and certainly not
the least interesting part of the design, when you
examine it in detail, is the lettering. It proves to
be Latin hexameters, explanatory, of course, of the
incidents depicted, running right across the four
divisions of the doors. The upright post between
the two doors (to the right of the illustration),
shows another use of lettering. Clearly, where all
about it was so full of pattern, that called out for
enrichment. Why should not the carver make
use of it to sign his name? And who is not
grateful to Master Godfrey for the way he has
done it? He could hardly have devised ornament
more effective or more fitting.
There is no need to multiply instances of
pictures kept apart by interspaces of lettering.
The mediæval decorator delighted in a multitude
of little figure groups, and he knew no better way
than this of separating them-nor do we for that
matter, though nowadays we are not so fond of
lettering.
It is no uncommon thing to find in one and the
same mediæval composition inscriptions treated



O MANHATYCOMEL DOCTOANTHLY
UOAT
019h
ТАТВОРНАЯ АНТӨМРО Ламет
amNMUWIRE
40. SILVER-GILT COVER TO A COPY OF THE GOSPELS WITH
SLAVONIC INSCRIPTIONS, 1519.
XVIYN YS3'\ 31201301H - 'XSTOSO
****
*
NB
alte come
n
tar
MEINE SOLCETIRI
N
..
iveste


62
in a variety of ways. The designer had the wit
at the same time to diversify his design and to
make his meaning as explicit as might be-after
all, words are the most explicit form in which to
convey it—and he succeeded in making them
subserve an artistic purpose also (40). There
is a Flemish tapestry at the Victoria and Albert
Museum representing the Seven Deadly Sins
(1485–1520), in which the names of Jeremiah,
Justice, Pity, etc., are written across their bodies,
whilst the words of the prophet occupy a scroll.
It is a rather important point in design that in
a single composition different forms of inscription
should be adopted only to convey different kinds
of information; and that, vice versa, different
kinds of information should be conveyed in dif-
ferent ways. What is necessary to intelligibility
may be made so, to contribute to decorative effect.
Of old it did not accur to the writer to intro-
duce all manners of writing into his design ; he
confined himself habitually to one form of letter,
varying perhaps in scale, or in the manner of its
rendering, but in its main lines the same through-
out-for the simple reason, it may be, that no other
was familiar to him. To-day we turn our know-
ledge of many types to the worst possible account
in mixing them together. Our scraps of know-
ledge lead us continually into danger. It is often
desirable, and even necessary, to make some
words stand forth in a design, and others to
shrink back; it is the business of a designer to give


such words as he may introduce their due and
precise value, to make some perhaps larger than
others, some more solid, to reduce certain of them
to relative insignificance; but reason and art alike
demand that all should be in one handwriting.
Natural as it is to write from left to right, and
useful as cross bands of lettering are in counter-
acting the upright lines in figure composition, the

N4
SECHI
vicu
HAR
DIR
41. ENGRAVING ON COPPER BY H. S. BEHAM, 1542.
artist has always felt himself free to depart from
the usual practice when that did not suit his
purpose. If he had no need of any definite line,
he preferred perhaps merely to break the surface
of the background with quite irregular lettering.
He made bold, if need were, to place the letters of
the words in vertical instead of horizontal order, or
to scatter them about the ground more in the form
of a diaper; perhaps he preferred to write them on
a tablet or a scroll (41) designed to receive them,


NADNODOOIL
NO OLHOSPODYBDUESAINEET

20. Cad: VORN ARADIS OBITO
EDES ATC
42. STONE GRAVE SLAB, GOTLAND, 1316.


· 66
emphasising the roundness of a vase, and some-
times in correcting its proportions. Quite rude
instances of this occur in the mugs and other
common earthen pots decorated in “slip” after a
Staffordshire fashion of the end of the seventeenth
century (43). More refined examples occur in old
Greek vases; but there the inscriptions are so deli-
cate that, reduced to the scale of our illustrations,
they would hardly be seen. They are, in fact, so
inconspicuous that, but for the fact (pointed out to
me by Mr. Cecil Smith) that they occupy a position
of honour in the scheme of Greek vase painting,
one might take them to be an afterthought of the
designer.
The lip, the neck, the shoulder of a vase may
each in turn conveniently be decorated in this way,
the words engraved on silver, painted on pottery,
enamelled on glass. Successive rings of letter-
ing, with or without other ornament between,
make excellent decoration, which, as the
wording is never seen all at once, does not
assert its meaning. The Hispano-Moresque
potters frequently introduced bands of mock
Arabic inscription into their lustred earthenware,
preferring, it is said, not to profane the name
of the Prophet by putting it upon the infidel
market. They also hashed up into ornament the
Roman and Gothic character, not perhaps know-
ing the havoc they were working with its sense.
The practice speaks for the value of lettering in
ornament; but it does not justify mock inscrip-



OPICIDETRITE TITULUCE
44. PART OF A MOORISH DOOR, WITH GOTHIC INSCRIPTION.
Է
2


68
tion, for which there is no honest place in decora-
tion. If something like lettering is wanted where
there is a reason why real words should not be
used, it should be within the power of an artist to
design ornament having nearly enough the value
of lettering without ever making any pretence to
be inscription.
Lettering makes a very good border-not merely
in connection with ornament, though there is scope
for that too in very broad borders, but by itself,
as may be seen in many a grave slab (42) and
old brass, where it frames a monumental effigy or
heraldic device as effectively as any pattern would
do. The letters make, in fact, pattern enough,
excellent and appropriate in proportion to its
severity. The formality and rigidity of letters
make for that steadiness which is so desirable
in a border; the parallel upright strokes of
Gothic black-letter, of which an orientalised
version is given (44), fulfil very much the
same purpose as the rectangular lines of a Greek
fret; but it is seldom that lettering comes amiss.
The one objection to a border of lettering is, the
difficulty there is likely to be in reading it from one
position. That, however, does not apply to brasses
and tombstones which you can walk round, or to a
thing like a book cover, which you take in your
hand and turn about. Moreover, the difficulty is in
great measure got over, say in the case of a door,
by making the inscription run uninterruptedly
round only three sides of the thing, and on the



45. PART OF AN IRON DOOR IN TOLEDO CATHEDRAL.


70
fourth (or bottom border) making it read as in the
top one. This is seen in a portion of an iron door
from the cathedral at Toledo (45).
In a circular disc, where the ring of inscrip-
tion is precisely analogous to the rectangular
frame to a slab, the lettering naturally follow's
round, in case the thing is small enough to
be handled. In case it is not, the difficulty of
changing the direction is not always very happily



kn. 1 ON
ON
MOXX1
46. GREEK COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
managed, as may be seen in the mark of Alfonso
the Wise (19) ; nevertheless it is good lettering.
For coins, seals, medals and so forth, lettering
proves to be the absolutely perfect border.
Enclosed within marginal lines or without them,
incised or in relief, singly or in double row, it
frames the portrait or the coat of arms effectively,
giving weight to the design just where it is wanted.
Not the least serviceable use of it is where it
is made to pass, as it were, behind the image,
forming something between a border and a back-
ground to it. Boldly used it never comes amiss.
It is only the mean lettering of an artist who does
not value it, would rather not use it, and is in fact


half afraid of it, that is uninteresting. The great
medallists who have given it the importance it
deserves have never had cause to repent it.
For all the value of the ring of inscription on a

AACHANART
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47. GREEK COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
coin or medal, the scope of the designer does not
end there: that is one way of doing it, but not the
only one. It is the hard and fast rule we have
adopted in modern days; but the Greeks, who
were our masters in art, and the medallists of the
Renaissance, knew better than to act on any one


72
mechanical idea. The Greeks, it will be seen
(46, 47), wrote the inscription across the coin,
or in an upright line, or in two such lines,
GE RAR.
LEONELLVS MARCHIO
DESTEN SIS
D. FERN
SARIE-REGIL-ETY
ⓇET.MVTINE
48. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.
or in one horizontal line (as a base for the
figure), and lines at the two sides of the coin,
and even in four straight lines giving a square
within the circle. Framed in double lines of
inscription (47) the figure is, as it were, set in


73
a diaper of lettering. Other devices are where
the ground between the symbolic creature and its
encircling wreath is diapered with lettering (47),
where the inscription is confined to a rectangular
NISVS-REL
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49. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.
frame within the circle, and where single letters
are used to balance the composition (46)--and all
this during the finest period of design. Another
beautiful use of single letters is seen in the ivory
carving of a later period (38).
The medallists of the Renaissance, as well as


74
the Greeks, often wrote inscriptions across the
background to a portrait head (48, 49). A second
ring of incised lettering, within the outer band in
relief (50), is a convenient means of occupying the
field of a medal without either confusing two
separate inscriptions or calling undue attention
to the less important of them.
Some modern medallists make good and
characteristic use of lettering, but they employ
sometimes too much of it to keep it bold
enough. Its proportion in the design of so
small a thing as a coin or medal is all-important.
The temptation appears to be to make it too
small; but it seems to have been the constant
endeavour of the great medallists to keep it as
large as possible.
GO SIC
EGRESO
SS ALMERIVS FOTO
VIVO
DINE
50. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.


VI. SCROLLS OR LABELS.
PAO
A device from which very happy effects of
decoration have resulted is that of a label, scroll,
or ribbon, to bear an inscription. It is a means
at once of giving dis-
tinction to it and of
introducing into the com-
position lines invariably
useful.
Its origin is not far to
seek. A strip of parch-
ment made a convenient
ticket on which to write
a name or description.
51. GOTHIC
Such labels must often
GLASS : THE
have been attached to
things upon which they SCRATCHED
were more or less a dis-
figurement. The artist
SOLID PAINT.
naturally preferred to
paint, or carve, or weave, his own label; and it
seemed to him to give actuality to the thing if
he represented also the buckling and the curling
over of the ends of parchment, an accident sure
to occur to it in the end. When he found that the
CLEAVIN ESR: DDCFCIOS
LETTERS
OUT OF THE


76
turning over of the ends led to a characteristic
form of ornament, he naturally developed the idea;
and so we get the ornamental label, severe at first,
eventually, as taste became more florid, twisting
about in the most fantastic fashion. It takes,
finally, the fluttering form of ribbon; but the effect
was happier when it was less flimsily conceived, in
the likeness, that is to say, of more robust strapwork.
Labels of the squarer ticket-like shape were often
represented as if attached by pins to the surface of
the thing they adorned. Longer and more strip-
like labels were invariably turned over or curled
up at the ends; sometimes the ends were first split
and then so treated. The twisting and twirling
of the label itself was an affair partly of the reign-
ing fashion of the day (severe in the thirteenth
century, florid in the fifteenth), partly of the
function of the particular label in question : it
might not allow much scope for fancy, or, on the
other hand, it might almost demand to be turned
into ornament.
The label is seen in its simplest form on the drug
vases of the Italian majolica painters, just a band
of bold inscription between two lines which, upon
examination, turn out to be the edges of a simple
label, the indelible, and, at the same time, orna-
mental, substitute for the common parchment
ticket. The broad horizontal bands, also, which
separate the subjects in a fourteenth or fifteenth
century stained glass window, suggest the parch-



SWALAVINI
52. CARVING FROM THE CHOIR OF THE CATHEDRAL AT
ALBI.
ment scroll; and so do the phylacteries in the
hands of prophets and others, though these are



53. PART OF AN IVORY READING DESK.
made also to take a form more deliberately orna-
mental, in order to occupy the background, or
conveniently to cross the body of the figure.
The sculptured figure from the wonderful
church at Albi (52) is one of a series of prophets
holding each his label, which both crosses the
figure and occupies the background. It need
hardly be pointed out how useful the line of the
scroll is in the composition of the panel, and how
well it contrasts with the name of the prophet
horizontally incised in bolder lettering on the flat
background in a line with his head. A commoner
and more conventional form of label is that on
the first page of this chapter (51). Such a label
was planned to occupy the space about the head
of the saint, descending in front of him ; the turn-
over at the end was grasped in his hand. A similar
but more elaborate use of the label occurs in four-
teenth century tapestry, where it is seen curling
about the heads of the personages, making quite a
pattern in the upper part of the picture, or per-
haps (54) all over the background. Labels, together


80
.... where it makes a most appropriate accom-
paniment to the central shield of arms. It is
used also, for the sake of the meandering line
given by its recurring form, in the broad borders
of engraved brasses and appliqué embroidery.
At times, too, other short contrasting scrolls

IERI
55. PLAQUE OF GUBBIO FAÏENCE.
cross it at intervals, at an angle calculated to
steady the flow of the foliage.
The label is employed sometimes in coins,
medals, and the like, but without so much reason.
There is rarely need for it or room for it; the
available space is better given to the lettering
itself. It is happier as the border cf corporation


81
or other important seals, and in medallions of
larger dimensions it forms often a useful feature,
the ends, as they turn about, satisfactorily occupy-
ing the vacant ground. They are made even to fill
it with their flourishing, as in the rather typical

PHL
56. PLAQUE OF GUBBIO FAÏENCE.
examples of Italian majolica illustrated (55 and 56),
in which the twisting of the label is a little
too obviously designed to fill up. It is, no
doubt, one very valuable use of the twisted
scroll, that it does fill up a space; but it ought
not to strike one at a glance as devised merely
with that end. In so doing it confesses itself too
L.O.


82
:
plainly a makeshift. There is less danger of betrayal
when it is cunningly contrived to bear just the
words wanted, and just as they should come ;
which is hardly the case in these Gubbio plaques,
in both of which the label is, in fact, better suited
to the inscription of two words than of one. The
fact is, the label asks rather more conscientious
design than we must expect from the Italians of
the Cinque Cento.
It was said above that enclosing shapes should
be designed with a view to the lettering to be
inscribed upon them; and this applies with
especial force to the label, which should be
schemed to accommodate the words upon it.
In fact, the position of the words needs first
to be planned and the label designed to take
them. Given an existing space, it is the business
of the artist to fit his design to it; but no practical
designer would of his own accord first twist about
a label and then begin to consider how best he
could arrange the words within its lines. As well
choose a canvas irrespective of the picture to be
painted on it. The lettering is here the picture,
so to speak, and the label but the canvas for it ;
and, however fanciful its convolutions, they should
be so contrived as to accommodate, not merely
so much wording, but such and such words in the
order of their reading.
The question occurs as to the way the lettering
ought to run. Should it conscientiously follow



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57. ENLARGEMENT OF A BOOKPLATE BY H. S. BEHAM.
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86
planned the label bearing the words, “ All nations,"
better than that inscribed “in-dus-try.” An in-
genious designer seldom finds himself compelled
to break up his inscription awkwardly; he does
not, for example, introduce a fold in the middle of
a word; rather he reserves the fold to mark a
break in the wording. He is careful to avoid the
impression that his lettering was in any sense an
afterthought. He designs the label for the words;
and design is, literally, forethought.
It is not pretended that labels have always been
scrupulously designed. Artists even who ought to
have known better have before now shirked the
difficulty of design, in so far discounting the merit
of otherwise masterly work. It will be seen
that the robust designs of Hans Sebald Beham
are not in this respect above reproach ; in the
one case (58) the letters flow evenly on, but are
written upon both sides of the label ; in the other
(57) the words do not follow the direction of
the label.
The Germans of the early sixteenth century made
extraordinary use of the label in their design, more
particularly in association with heraldry, and, to a
man almost, designed it, as they did their mantling,
with unfailing vigour and effect. A curious and
perhaps unique instance of the length to which,
already in the fifteenth century, they carried the
device occurs in a carpet in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, a portion of which is illustrated


SENOVASJAO

61. OLD GERMAN LETTERING. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
VII. HIDDEN MEANINGS.
It has been contended in these pages that,
though the first and usual purpose of lettering is
that it shall be read with ease, there are occasions
when easy reading is of secondary consequence (so
long as it is readable enough), and that the more
important consideration is decorative propriety.
It is further maintained that its very legibility
may under certain circumstances be endangered,
and more than endangered, in the cause of
ornament. Plain reading is by no means the
invariable purpose of lettering in ornament, and
it is a mistake to suppose that it ought always to
be read at sight, or readable at all, except to
those whom it may concern. It may be intro-
duced only for the satisfaction of those who have
the key to its meaning-in which case all that the
outside world has a right to ask is that it shall be
ornamental; a sign or symbol which is a blot upon
the design is indefensible from the standpoint
of art.


93

64. IRON BOLT-PLATES. FRANÇOIS JER.
miss the meaning of the words upon the scroll
ingeniously composed to occupy the background to
a picture of the Annunciation ? One reads them
by anticipation, and they may safely therefore be
reduced to a form which in itself would not be
easy to decipher. There is little difficulty in
following even the most intricate of ornamental
lettering when the very position of the words
puts the reader on the track of their meaning.
That, of course, is the justification of inscriptions
such as that at the head of this chapter (61);
elsewhere it might be unreadable, occurring where
it does in the Gospels, it explains itself at a glance,
SECUNDUM LUCAM. The use of the words
is little more than a formality; they might almost
be “taken as read.”
The desirability of not clearly stating a meaning,


94
still less of emphasising it, gives rise to the use of
single letters only hinting at it (63). Even then
the letter need not stand revealed in the naked form
of the familiar alphabet. The florid initials upon
the façade of the château at Blois make more satis-
factory ornament than the bald N which figured
upon the walls of public buildings in Paris in the
time of Napoleon the Third : there was about that
an air of advertisement in harmony only with the
cheapest form of Imperialism. The F of François I er.
was put to all manner of decorative purposes. The
crowned F in the form of a bolt-plate (64) is just
a little too self-assertive. Better for all purposes
than the simple initial was the cypher, commonly
used by Henri II., or the monogram—to which
a chapter by itself is devoted.
Enough has been said to account for the
meaning of lettering being hidden by the artist.
The ways of hiding it are many. The letters
themselves may be so playfully treated as to be
disguised; they may be intricately interlaced,
they may branch out into confusing ornament, or
be half hidden in scrollery intertwined with it.
In the case of the cunningly designed initial
page from Mr. Walter Crane's “ Book of Wedding
Days” (65), the June roses grow from thorny
stems which spell the name of the month, half lost
in leaves and further hidden by the cupid errant
with his shield. A much simpler growth of
ornamental lines is enough to transform words


95

VAN.
into ornament out of which the
meaning emerges as you look.
In the masterly design of Israel
van Meckenen (66), the letters
of his name, Israel M, are delibe-
rately designed to look like scroll-
work merely, in which a casual
observer would not suspect there
lurked a meaning. They form, it
will be seen, a fine panel of florid
ornament, satisfactory decoration
apart from the significance of the
lines on which it grows. The con-
fusion, more or less, that may result
n
from interlacing letters not in them- 65. A PAGE FROM
selves very fantastic, is seen in the THE “BOOK
renderings of the word PROPHET OF WEDDING
DAYS," BY
(76, 78). Where two separate
WALTER CRANE.
words are interlaced (62), the
disguise is naturally more complete, each, as


it were, entangling the sense of the other. By
merely taking liberties with the letters themselves
(to some extent necessitated in order to adapt them
to fretwork in ivory) the Portuguese artist respon-
sible for the cabinet in the Cluny Museum from
which the words AUDEO-SPERO (131) are taken
has brought them to the desired condition of orna-
ment which does not thrust its meaning on you.
A simple means of preventing words from
staring at you is, to break the continuity of the
letters by colouring them arbitrarily, as was done
in early Saxon manuscripts. The obtrusiveness
of individual letters may be guarded against
in a similar way by breaking them into parti-
colour, so that the forms which strike the eye
are only parts of letters, and do not insist upon
the fact that they have a meaning. The particular
character employed in the old German embroidery
from which the letters overleaf (67) are taken,
seems to us at this date hardly to necessitate
further removal from the obvious; but the needle-
woman evidently meant to make sure they should
not be too evident; and so, not merely confused
them with ornamental foliation and tendrils, but
rendered them in colours which may be said to
blur any possible distinctness of statement con-
veyed in them. Severer forms of letters might
with even more reason be treated in the same
way and so reduced to ornament. The sculptor or -
modeller may arrive at a similar result by varying



00
66. ENGRAVING BY ISRAEL VAN MECKENEN.
L.O.


98

67. GERMAN GOTHIC EMBROIDERY.
the relief and the texture of his letters instead of
the colour.
The fringe of cloisoned letters dependant from
the seventh century Visigothic crown (68) is a
singularly happy device; barbaric it may be, but
admirably ornamental. This is a votive crown, it
will be understood, designed to be hung up before
a shrine, not worn on the head. It was dug up in
the neighbourhood of Toledo, and one seems to
trace in it the influence of Moorish ingenuity in
ornamental device. By no possible chance could
the name of the donor, RECCESSVINTHUS,
intrude itself. It is there by way of record ; to
the casual observer it is ornament.
The degree of illegibility permissible in orna-
mental lettering is determined only by the purpose
of it. What is meant to be hidden may well lie hid
from all but those who have the key of the mystery.
Even where the secret is an open one, there may
be a charm in the mystery in which it is wrapped.
If it is a riddle, we have a right to expect it to be
possible of solution. If it is meant to be readable,
it should not puzzle us beyond measure. It is


99
annoying to suspect, as we cannot help suspect-
ing, that the designer meant us to unriddle many

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68. VISIGOTHIC VOTIVE CROWN OF THE 7TH CENTURY.
a seventeenth and eighteenth century cypher,
which after all our pains remains to us a
mystery. The handsome panel from a cabinet in
the Victoria and Albert Museum (105) has all the
H
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air of telling us more than
it does. Was that the
intention of the carver,
or was it not ?
A printer's or a mer-
chant's mark 69, 70) is
often built up of lettering
not easy to read; and it
need not be readable; it
is his sign, known to be
such; and that is enough.
So, too, a stamp, such as
that of Domitian, which
forms the tailpiece to this
69. MERCHANT'S MARK.
1616.
chapter (79), might well be
less easy to read than it
is, and yet perfectly fulfil its function.
It is difficult for us to realize how clearly the
meaning may be expressed
in lettering which we do
not understand. All the
unlearned can say of the
Icelandic (71), the Sla-
vonic (72,73), the Chinese,
the Arab, or other to them
strange character, is that
it is most satisfactory as
ornament; and the fact
that, as such, it interests
70. MERCHANT'S MARK.
them, speaks eloquently for
C.E.G.
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the decorative use made of it. Possibly
it would strike us as less entirely
ornamental if we could read it; we
find it perhaps all the more ornamental
because it cannot possibly intrude
upon our ignorance; but there is no
doubt of its being ornamentally
rendered.
It seems certain, too, that the
Eastern artist was allowed an enviable
liberty of rendering, which enabled
him to reach something like the per-
fection of lettering in ornament. The
short and seemingly simple inscrip-
tion on the Persian mirror back (74)
is not to be read right off. Even an
accomplished Orientalist takes his
time to puzzle out the words,
“O, thou satisfier of wants.” The
writing of the Arabs. is, of itself,
enough to show that they were not
often in a hurry. In the use of it in
ornament they took it for granted
that the reader would be more than
leisurely. Prohibited by the laws of
the Prophet from picturing God's
creatures, and desiring, after the
manner of mankind, to say something 71. ICELANDIC
in their design, they indulged pro- MANGLING IM-
fusely in inscription ; and their natural PLEMENT.

OL
VAN
GIL
VRTE


102

72. RUSSIAN ORNAMENTAL LETTERING BY VICTOR
VASNETZOFF.
ingenuity and ornamental instinct not being
hampered by any popular prejudice against free
and fanciful treatment of the alphabet, they did
marvels in the way of beautiful design, more ela-
borate it is true than is our Western wont, but
undeniably the work of masters in their art (74).
Lettering forms one of the most striking features
in what we call Arab art. We find it in the lustred
tiles, the enamelled glass, the fretted brass of the
Persians; in the plaster-work of the Alhambra
and other buildings of the Moors in Spain ; in the
wood-carving of the Tunisians; in the embroidery
of the Turks; in Saracenic silk-weaving; in
illuminated copies of the Koran; throughout,
in fact, the whole range of Mohammedan design.
The power of the artist is shown in the perfect
WÁKUSTEKTOBECK

73. SLAVONIC INSCRIPTION OF THE 16TH CENTURY.


104
75. THE WORD “ALLAH " FORMING AN ORNAMENTAL DEVICE.
There is clearly not anything like the same
elasticity in Roman or Gothic lettering as in
Arab, nor have we the mastery of those Eastern
ornamentists over the signs and symbols with
which we have to deal; but the lesson of their
work ought not to be entirely lost upon us; and
it would be interesting to see what we could do
in emulation of their manner. The result would
probably not meet with popular approval; but it
might be well worth the pains; and in particular
we might learn the way to hide a meaning in our


105

PROVA
76. THE WORD "PROPHET" IN ITALICS.
ornament, and to hide it just as effectually as
seemed good to us--to
screen it, if need be,
from all but sympathetic
observation. The few
experiments here given
(75, 76, 78) do not, in
the least, pretend to
show what is to be done 77. THE WORD "ALLAH"
in this way: they are AFTER THE MANNER OF
but a beginning, an
A CHINESE SEAL.


78. THE WORD “PROPHET” IN INTERLACING STRAP-LIKE
LETTERS.


106
indication, merely, of the direction in which
experiment might be worth making.
Something, too, is to be learnt from the severely
square-cut Chinese character (77), as well as from
their freer brush-writing (the two styles have
analogies with the Cufic and Neskhi respectively),
and from other script, which, in proportion as
we do not understand a word of it, we can judge
without bias as ornament.
Our Western temperament puts us at some dis-
advantage. We are a matter-of-fact people, and
the practical view we take of lettering hinders us
from making full use of it in ornament. Our
attitude towards the alphabet is somewhat too
respectful. If we could bring ourselves to play
with letters we might easily reduce them to
ornament. The first step is to believe in the
possibilities of lettering: only in that faith is art
possible.
79. IRON STAMP. BYZANTINE.



SIDIC
SIVUS
80. ENAMELLED BRONZE PENDANT.
VIII. CONJOINED LETTERS.
We are to a great extent debarred from the use
of contractions, which, obvious as they must have
been to monkish readers, to whom mediæval
writing was addressed, are enough to scare a
modern one from the very attempt to decipher
old manuscripts abounding with them. But
there is no such undeniable objection to the
mere conjoining of letters in the old way.
A certain amount even of complication might be
excused, where the writer did not wish to be too
plain, or had a right to expect the reader would
anticipate the word. There are cases without
number in which it is clear from the first word or
two of an inscription what is to follow. It may


108
safely be taken for granted that the faithful will
not want to read through the Crede, the Ave, or
the Lord's Prayer. There is no need to spell
out every word of a familiar quotation; and
if there were, there it is, though not as plain as
print. Any hardship the reader might suffer from
the conjunction, here and there, of letters other-
wise awkward to manage, would be as nothing to
the convenience it would be to the designer, who,
as it is, is tied by popular prejudice as never ancient
writer was fettered. But there is not necessarily
any confusion resulting from conjoined letters.
The wording on the doors of Le Puy (81), in
which it is carried to most interesting excess, is,
it is true, only with difficulty to be deciphered-
which may be said also of the Gothic inscription
from a Flemish brass (82); but the compound
letters add no little to its variety, and were pre-
sumably not difficult to read at the time they were
written. It is mainly the misplaced satisfaction of
the Philistine with printed type which inclines him
to resent the liberties a writer is naturally tempted
to take with forms the printer has stereotyped.
Time was when even printers were not averse to
combined letters (accustomed as folk were to them
in MS.), but the diphthong and the ampersand alone
survive, and that mainly in the form of &c. This
particular sign was never at the best of much artistic
use—it does not range with the line for one thing-
but why not simply join the letters? We have only


IIO

dematerik et
Titre ope;
doorwerVITI
K ofte bine
if Azmi vo
82. FROM A
to let the two upright strokes of the N form on
the one side part of the A, and on the other part
of the D (84), and we have a perfect monogram
which, moreover, acknowledges by its contrac-
tion the comparative insignificance of the word.
At all events a writer is free to indulge in any such
monogrammic device which does not interfere with
the legibility at which he aims; whatever helps the
artist in spacing his letters is to the good. There
is no occasion to keep sacred the separate identity


112
I 12
XXQ&AÆ
© © © IEOR
83. DIAGRAM OF CONJOINT LETTERS.
confessed, but turned if possible to characteristic
account. What though the monotony of hard and
fast form is inseparable from a page set up in type ?
The penman, painter, carver, engraver, or other
craftsman claims that he, for his part, shall be
allowed to show, by deviation from the fixed forms
of printed type, he has used his brains about his
work; and his just claim is not invalidated by the
incompetence of this scribe or the affectation of
that. The word engraved within the wreath
overleaf, from a piece of old Roman silversmith's
work (85), was probably meant to tell no more
than it does.
AD ANNO
HERV GOTT
84. DIAGRAM OF CONJOINT LETTERS.



86. EM S, CONTINUOUS.
IX. MONOGRAMS.
The use of conjoined letters and contractions
leads immediately to the design of the Monogram
—which is in fact neither more nor less than a
contraction—two or more letters writ in one.
A monogram is a compound letter, or, as its
name implies, the combination in one sign (simple
or complex) of two or more letters no longer
separate. Whether the letters form, as in the
beginning they apparently did, the first letters
of a word (XP for XPIXTOS), or whether they are
the initials of a man's several names, as is the
more common use nowadays, does not matter,
nor whether they are used as badge, symbol, or
trade-mark; the point is that it is one sign
conveying the significance of several letters.
In a monogram, rightly so called, there is no
letter which does not form part of another (87).
This is not generally understood, or we should not


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87. MONOGRAMS.
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116
commonly hear the interlacing of any two or
three letters described as a monogram. The
interlacing I.H.S., for example, whether we read
the letters to signify Jesus Hominum Salvator
or IHOYE, are not properly called the sacred
monogram, nor the intertwining A and 1, nor the
initial letters of XPIETOS, except when one limb
of the X forms the stroke of the P.
The rule that no one letter in a monogram
shall be independent, but that each letter shall
form part of
another, makes
the design of
monograms no
very easy pas-
time. Much
depends upon
the letters to be
joined in one.
It is not as if,
in naming chil-
dren, sponsors
d the 88. OLD WEIGHT. convenience of
designers ; and 85 GRAINS. they provide
some of their
godchildren
with initials which seem bent upon maintaining
entire independence.
Whether they are absolutely irreconcilable re-
mains in each case to be proved. One may have
spent hours in vainly trying to bring them to-
gether, and all at once they come, as it were, of
their own accord. As an instance of the likelihood
of happy combination, I have taken the letters of
the alphabet and tried what could be done with
them, three by three, as they came, at a short
sitting (89). The monograms are by no means


117
perfect; two or three of them do not read in the
order of the letters in the alphabet; but that is
the best I could do right off, and I give the results
as they came. They come well enough, I think,
BOG
KDO
IWX





. THE ALPHABET IN MONOGRAMS OF THREE LETTERS,
to promise a fair likelihood that letters, take them
as they come, will be amenable to ingenious
treatment.
If they are by no possible means to be reduced
to a single sign, that may be enough reason for


118
90. F L, REVERSIBLE.
91. S P L, CONTINUOUS.
interlacing them, or tying them together, or other-
wise bringing them to the condition of ornament;
but the result, beautiful or otherwise, will not be
a monogram ; and should not be so described.
It causes only confusion to call things by names
to which they are not entitled.
The one case in which there can be a question
as to the title of monogram is, where the letters,
though in a sense independent, are continuous
(86, 93). It is sometimes possible to devise a mono-
gram in which one letter forms part of another and
yet the line is continuous, and the contrivance
adds interest to the design (91, 92, and 100 D);
but any device drawn in one stroke might claim
etymologically to be a monogram, even though
one of the component letters could be removed •
and leave the others complete.
A reversible design, which you may turn upside
down and it reads the same, is a rare possibility (90).


120
LR SUR
94. BY HOLBEIN.
95. BY HOLBEIN.
character render it unfit. It is quite true that
Lombardic capitals, for example, are exceptionally
amenable, all the more so as their shapes are not
so definitely fixed as the Roman, and one may
with less offence take liberty with them ; but,
though there is something final about the form
of Roman lettering, and its lines are straight and
rigid-Holbein himself could not always bend
it to his purpose (94, 95)—it is by no means
always unmanageable, and when it does lend
itself to the combination desired, the resultant
monogram has a sort of dignity all its own.
It is a great convenience to have two or more
forms of a single letter to choose from. The
rounded form may offer possibilities which the
angular does not, and vice versa. It is not,
by the way, always a question of Roman or
Gothic character, as may be seen in the diagram
opposite (96). There is scope for choice within the
range of either Roman or Gothic.
Absolute symmetry is not essential to satis-
factory design, but there must be in it a sense


I 21
of balance; and in pursuit of it the designer is
tempted, not merely to tamper with the shapes
of letters, but to place them out of their order.
It is better that the natural sequence of the letters
should be at once apparent in the monogram ; but
in any case it should not be so flagrantly violated
as to compel one to read them awrong. So also
with regard to the value of the letters, their relative
importance should be maintained. In the letters
AA HE Ά ΜΜ
c d MM © a MM
EE NN EE NN
GG T7 MM WW
96. DIAGRAM INDICATIVE OF VARIETY IN AVAILABLE
LETTER SHAPES.
of a single name the initial would naturally domi-
nate. In the case of initials it might be desirable
to insist either upon the christian or the surname,
or to pronounce the two equally, or to relegate to
insignificance the second of two christian names
habitually dropped.
Only for some good reason should the letters
of a monogram differ widely in size. They need
not be all of a size, but there should be no appear-
ance of any difference in scale. This is the more


124
In order to illustrate in a practical way some of
the points above discussed, I have taken the letters
of the word THE and made monograms of them
(97, 98, 99, 100). It will be seen that they lend
themselves to a variety of combinations, some of
which read in the order of the word, and others
do not—though these last were really written in
the right order. In most the T is made to take
its due prominence; occasionally it is a capital
followed by minuscules. Those of them which
read in the order T E H are, in so far, unsatisfac-
tory. In two instances (h 98 and c 100) it is only
by a slightly fanciful treatment of the termina-
tion of the E that the letters are completely
made out. The kind of balance observed in k 98
is a thing to aim at in monogram design. Of the
minuscule versions (97) a is readable only if we
accept a disconsonant H; b is not a monogram at
all; and c reads ETH.
Supposing the letters TH E stood for the initials
of a man's name, it would be desirable to give
importance to the E of the surname, and the H
might possibly, as
only the second
christian name, take
quite a back place in
the design. The
point is that the letters should retain as nearly as
possible their actual value.
Another condition which enters into the design
MONOGRAMS THE.


B.
c.
100. MONOGRAMS THE.
D.
of a monogram is, the space it has to fill, or,
failing that, the shape it will give. A given space
to occupy may put out of the question an other-
wise possible composition. A given arrangement
of letters may compel a circular, upright, squat,
or irregular shape, as the case may be.
A cartouche or other shape enclosing a mono-
gram (86, 101) may help to bring the compo-
sition together ; but is no part of the mono-
gram. A monogram if well designed should stand
alone. To fall back upon the frame for help is,
in a measure, to confess yourself beaten; but if
the frame exists to begin with, then you have a
right to rely upon its lines; in fact it is one of the
conditions to which you have to conform.
Another confession of weakness is to resort, in
the design of a monogram as such (and not as an
ornamental device for some particular decorative
purpose), to ultra-fantastic treatment of the letter
forms, and a yet more abject one is the introduc-
tion of independent ornament. There would be
less occasion for any such makeshifts, were we
not possessed by a demon of symmetry. We


126

forget that it is not equal-
sidedness but balance that is
essential; and that there is a
compensating charm in cha-
racter.
This is not to say there may
not be good reason for devices
in which for some symbolic or 101. LF D, WITH
other sufficient purpose an em- BORDER, STENCILLED.
blem is included. The excuse
is the more sufficient when the symbolism (as
in the case of the rays in 102, which hold the
stencil plate together) fulfils some practical
purpose.
The component parts of a monogram should be
coherent, consequent, and quite clearly belonging
to the letters they unite to represent; but the
designer need have no
compunction in departing
widely from the normal
proportion and symmetry
observable in the separate
letters. The consideration
is now the shapeliness of
the monogram, not of the
individual letters of which
it is made up. The letters
may be of the artist's own
designing; he is bound to
102. LFD, WITH BACK-
GROUND DEVICE,STENCILLED. no alphabet: but they



105. REVERSED CYPHER, FRENCH WOOD-CARVING.
X. CYPHERS.
Even if it were within the scope of design to
make any given letters into a monogram, the only
possible one would many a time be ugly. In such
case an artist naturally discards the idea and
falls back upon cypher: he may indeed in any
case prefer that device as the more appropriate to
his ornamental purpose ; at all events it is never
the forlorn hope which a monogram may be.
A cypher differs from a monogram in that it is
not a contraction, not a separate sign compounded
of several letters, but a commingling or interlacing
of signs, each of which is in itself a perfect and
independent letter, the one as it were planted in
L.O.


130
front of the other, or, more commonly, entangled
with it. Letters thus interlocked are commonly
accepted as monograms; but, though they pass
current, they are not coin of the realm. For the
rest, however, the rules which govern the com-
position of the cypher are very much the same as
those to which the monogram is subject.
Lettering of all kinds lends itself to this device
of cunning interlacing, but none perhaps so readily
as cursive writing, the flowing forms of which
were so commonly employed by the designers of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to whom the
straight line, ever-recurrent in the upright Roman
letter, was abhorrent. So entirely did they adopt
this one slanting form of letter, that it is some-
times assumed that the term cypher applies only
to letters of the cursive type; but this is not so.
It is further fallaciously assumed that a cypher
must be absolutely symmetrical. There was once
a generation of artists who apparently determined
106. GLASS QUARRIES WITH MONOGRAM AND CYPHERS.


132

Sex
109. WROUGHT-IRON CYPHER, REVERSED.
necessity for reversal was never very great, seeing
that designers were not hampered by any thought
of keeping strictly to the letter, but indulged
quite freely in wreathing lines of ornamental
scrollwork only in so far part of the lettering that
they grew out of it. An inventive mind might


133
readily by means of such extraneous ornament
have made good the balance of design, and so
avoided all occasion for reversing letters; but
the real truth is, that letters sloping all one way.
do not naturally lend themselves to symmetric
design.
The confusion which comes of overturning
letters is worse confounded by the fact that
one letter reversed may in combination with the

110. PAINTED TILES, WITH CYPHER ? I c.



THUTY
.
கல்
ண்
ண்
6
1 CAD QUANO
வ
O
A B
MORIS G
& TA SIS
59' PAAD CASSAS SAMSA
III. BOOKBINDING TOOLED WITH CYPHER DIAPER J L
REVERSED.


135
lines of another letter give a third which is perhaps
not needed. The letter E in the wrought-iron
cypher illustrated (109) might be the accidental
result of inverting the B, or vice versa.
A difficulty with which the designer has to
contend is that (say) of three letters, two perhaps


112. CYPHERS, NOT REVERSED, CARVED.
unite as it were inevitably into a single sign,
whereas the other refuses obstinately to give up
its independence. The result is, properly speaking,
neither a monogram nor a cypher; but something
between the two, and, by reason of its indeter-
minateness, not quite satisfactory, though per-
haps the best possible under the circumstances.


137

reason that it is the best that
could possibly be done with
given letters. That is so in
the case, for instance, of the
familiar combination of a HD
in the monogram of Henri Deux
and Diane, which, frequently
as it occurs in work done for 115. CYPHER G R S.
the king or his mistress, seems
never to come amiss. It has a dignity which the
sloping italics of later date never reach; and
it is difficult to imagine
how it could be bettered.
Again, in the ɔ I C in
painted tile work of the
same period (110) it will
be seen that the beautiful
severity of the letters,
116. CYPHER B E. their proportion, and the
simplicity of their compo-
sition, give an air of distinction to a cypher
which, less perfectly proportioned, might have been
mean or commonplace. Orna-
mental devices of this kind are
so readily resolvable into their
elements that there is no possi-
bility of the confusion always
likely to occur when intricately
interlacing forms are reversed.
For a similar reason one has 117. CYPHER W s.


WANAWA
*


138
nothing to say against the reversal of a single
letter, the double C, for example, of Charles VIII.,
and of our own Charles II. If the artist can make
a satisfactory badge or ornamental device out of
a letter, he is within his province: the condition
is that he shall make ornament of it. Even for
more fanciful reversing, the excuse of ornament
holds good. As a cypher of the letters J L, the
device on page 134 (111) is very much like other
interlacings of the period : as an ornamental
diaper, it makes most excellent decoration in
tooling
The determination to abstain from turning
letters over results in a form of severity (112) of
which lovers of symmetry do not approve.
Bookbinders made admirable use of the simple
initial as a repeat, with or without a surmounting
crown, in binding books for royal patrons such
as Louis XIII. Before that the crowned F of
François ier figured prominently in the details of
his châteaux. As for the H of Henri II., it was
used in such a plain and simple way that one
almost wonders how it is that it does not look
bald. It forms, however, perfectly adequate
decoration, owing to the extremely judicious way
in which it was everywhere introduced.
In the fine ceiling of the Salle de Diane, at
Fontainebleau (171), both the simple H of Henri
and the monogram ( H D are used in a quite
masterly way. One is apt to associate the idea of





o

118. CYPHERS A M, I HS, A n.


140
monograms and cyphers with something small or
finikin ; but the breadth and dignity of decoration
such as that is unsurpassed.
Enough, however, about reversing; let us return
to the cypher. The interlacing of separate letters
does not hinder them from being each of a different
colour (b 97), by aid of which colour (or in the

.
8
...
119. CYPHER I HC.
case of carving it might be texture) letters most
intricately interwoven may be traced and easily
identified. By the same means any one letter
may be emphasised at will. Thanks, therefore,
to colour, or to texture, the artist is enabled safely
to venture upon combinations of letters which,
apart from it, would be inextricably involved. Of
the Gothic minuscule cyphers on page 136 the


144
The tailpiece below is not so much a cypher as
a symbolic device in which a cypher is included-
that being of course quite a right thing to do,
though it is not precisely cypher design.
It is one thing to design a monogram, it is
another to design it for a specific place or purpose,
or to include it in some scheme of decoration.
Here as elsewhere there are few things the artist,
for all that may be said to the contrary, dare not
do with lettering, provided only he is competent,
and that he cares for lettering. If he loves it, he
may safely be trusted with it.

0
122. DEVICE INCLUDING
CYPHER AND MASONIC
SYMBOL.


146
WWW
ENNE
MI
M
whose plain business it is to enlighten us, and that
without great tax upon our attention.
Deviation from accepted form, prompted by the
artistic conscience, may be in one or more of several
directions. The designer is open to suggestions
arising out of his scheme of decoration, out of the
nature of the inscription, out of the position it is
to occupy, out of the material in which and the
implement with which it is to
be written; and, apart from de-
liberate decorative purpose, and
no matter what the general
character of the lettering he
may adopt (that may be deter-
mined for him by architectural
and other considerations) the
implementand methodemployed 124. STAMP. THE.
in rendering it will affect his LETTER IN METAL
rendering, removing the lettering I
somewhat from theoriginal type,
and giving it a character more or less of its own.
We do not want telling whether lettering was
written with a pen, or painted with a brush;
indented with a point in something soft, or cut
with a chisel out of something hard ; we see at
once that it was cut in wood, or stone, or metal,
and whether it was incised or grounded out. The
inevitable character of its execution is seen even in
work which is meant to be graphic and no more,
and it is seen to be so much to the good as art.
TAPE ON ROUGH
DEAL.


150

pour estre celebre po
rriie du mois de Juli
estre distribues iiți
conuertis en pains
aurr celebrant diach
128. PART OF A FLEMISH SLAB
ings, and, almost in spite of himself, gave it
character.
The rudeness of the work enables us in this
instance the better to see how design is influenced
by the conditions under which work is done.
But similar influences may be seen at work in the
letters engraved upon Greek coins, which look
sometimes (47) almost as if the die-sinker had set
about elaborating the Greek character, so curiously
are the letters rounded at the points. Very little
consideration shows us, however, that he had no
such fantastic idea. It simply happened in that
way. There was always a danger, in cutting short
sharp lines with no matter what implement, of
overshooting the mark. A safeguard was, first to
drill holes at the points where the lines met or
ended, and then engrave the lines from hole to


151

r chun an enuiron te
t, auquer a ordonnie
tts de bred froment
Blancg3 de čen la ras
kloubdiacre,parens
CUT IN STONE OR SLATE.
hole. That is what he did with the result that
the drill marks, not being effaced, assert them-
selves sufficiently to give a quite peculiar character
to the writing. In the case of the coins of course
the strokes end in little pearls. A precisely similar
device is adopted in a Greek inscription on a bronze
tablet in the museum at Naples, where the engraver
has evidently begun by boring holes at the points
where the lines of his letters are to end, omitting,
however, to do so where, as in the case of the bar
of an A, the grooved lines already cut were all the
help he wanted—thus clearly showing the practical
purpose of the little cells at the ends of the longer
strokes.
Penmanship is writ large upon the initials of
the Gothic scribes and in many of the engraved
initials founded upon penwork (125). The


153
131. FRETTED IVORY PLAQUES. PORTUGUESE.
out. Letters of about the same period cut in
stone (128) have quite a different look. So also
the white letter upon a black ground, with its
background of thin foliage, etc., in certain wood-
cut initials (149, etc.) is plainly not altogether
unaffected by the fact that the white parts repre-
sent the cutting away of the wood. In like manner
the square-cut characters on the Icelandic match-
box (130) remind one of the knife with which
they were cut; and one can see, in the rendering
of Lombardic capitals in Gothic glass painting
(51), that they were scratched with a point out
of a layer of pigment on the glass. The letters
AUDEO, SPERO (131) have a certain Portu-
guese character, but the character of fretwork is
more emphatically marked in them than that of
nationality; and the cyphers which form so frequent
a feature upon old key-bows (107, 108) are, as
it were, translated into pierced and engraved metal.
The name on the Italian comb-case (132) tells, not
only that it belonged to a de Boen, but that it was
chased on leather.


154

CA
ROSE
132. CUT LEATHER. ITALIAN.
In event of an artist not duly observing the
character proper to material, it has a way of
retaliating. The inscription, for example, on the
beautiful French lock opposite (133), is too
much of a tour-de-force in piercing; the letters
are over frail for chiselled iron, with the result
that the inscription is in a lamentably ruinous
condition. The iron has here its obvious revenge
upon the designer.
Character, then, and it may be ornamental
character, comes of allowing material and the way
it is worked to have a hand in shaping it; and
the ornamentist is not merely safe in following the
lead thus given to his invention, but foolhardy
in not following it. Further, his own personality,
presuming him to have one, will find expression
in his rendering of no matter what alphabet by no
matter what method - it will be just as much his
handwriting as though he had written it with a
fountain pen upon a sheet of cream-laid note.
Furthermore, the exigencies of composition will


155

ERVOMAATATE
IBIDATTI
CTALISCOTSHUI
A
133. GOTHIC IRON LOCK-PLATE.
suggest innumerable modifications of the letters
as they appear in the copy-book, and an artist were
no artist if he did not venture upon them. It would
be absurd for a designer not to prolong the tail of a


156
letter if he wanted it to fill a space, or otherwise
to assert the rights of art, as explained above in
reference to handwriting. In the word STEN-
CILLING (134), the heads of C and G and the
tails of E and L are lengthened with a view, not
only to artistic effect, but to the strengthening of
the stencil plate.
It is when artistic devices make clearly for
workmanlikeness, and workmanlike expedients for
artistic effect, that the design of lettering (as of all
ornament) proves thoroughly satisfactory.
There is, however, scope for ornamental letter-
ing beyond this. The designer is, in strict justice,
at liberty in many cases deliberately to make his
letter-shapes ornamental; though the right is in
these days of matter-of-fact so grudgingly allowed
to the artist that it might almost as well be denied
him. The wider tolerance in this respect in days
before type-printing led to the devising of delightful
lettering (123).
There are two ways of designing ornamental
lettering. The one is to compel the letters into
the shape of ornament. This was the idea of the
Byzantine and other primitive illuminators. But
as early as the sixth or seventh centuries writers
began to be diverted from the path of ornament
pure and simple by the unnatural—or is it only too
natural ?-delight in torturing the forms of birds,
beasts, fishes and imaginary monsters into some-
thing which might do duty for lettering. The


158
ornamental pranks with them, in making, if need
were, letters which were unmistakably ornamental,
ornament which was unmistakably lettering.
With the advent of printing, and the inevitably
fixed type of the founder, a blight of uniformity
spread from the printer to the scribe: the ideal of
freedom declined; but, so long as the Gothic spirit
lingered, designers would still at times sport with
the shape of a letter. What a variety of shapes a
single letter takes (135) in even printed initials of
the days when printing was yet young !
In the case of handwriting the artist was con-
trolled only by his own taste, which, until the
time when late German penmanship went off into
an hysteria of incoherent flourishes, seldom failed
him : there is, we may say, no standard type of
Lombardic lettering; but, with all its variety of
proportion and shape, it seldom goes far astray
from fitness or beauty. This applies to the main
outline of the letter. Lombardic and Gothic
capitals generally allowed of very considerable
variation in the parts of the letter, in the thicken-
ing of the curved lines, in the curving of the
relatively straight-all of which made for orna-
ment. The next step in that direction was to
play with the lines of contour, to fret the
outline as it were, and slightly to foliate it, but
at first only so slightly as barely to interfere
with it. At junctures, too, where two lines met
(159), a loop was often substituted for the point,


159
and this loop developed at times into a very effec-
tive ornamental feature. It had been, it will be
remembered, from the time of the Keltic scribes,
a practice to elaborate the letter by interlacing,
21
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​顯
​




MW
OSO




135. VARIETIES OF THE LETTER A FROM EARLY
PRINTED BOOKS.
and some of the most charming letters of the six-
teenth century depend upon interlacing for their
ornament (144, 145).
The slight foliation of the terminations of the
letters develops finally into free, and it may be
florid, growth, which, according to its degree and


161
1114
EN
W
elt
11
.
1
too much the effect of having been put together.
The ebullition of ornament out of the slender
lines of the italics in illustration 105 is rather
sudden, but it is directed by a sense of grace. In
the letters of the
word REGINA
on the Prayer-
book of Mary
Tudor (139), the
ornament is in
part very ob-
viously added to
the letter; it is
as if the gold
smith had first
made his letters
and then belted
them. Such
added ornament
has generally the
appearance of
137. GROTESQUE WOODCUT. 1464.
an excrescence;
here it is judi-
ciously employed, and results, for once, in adequate
decoration.
The abuse of ornamental lettering is patent to
every one. Marvels of ugliness have been per-
petrated in its name. So little is lettering esteemed
among us nowadays that it is usually left to the
incompetent hands of draughtsmen, who look upon
L.O.

Wurm
M


162
ornament as a convenient means of disguising
faults of penmanship or draughtsmanship.
As to the use of ornamental lettering, there is

138. FRENCH WOOD CARVING. FRANÇOIS 1ER.
plenty of room for divergence of opinion; but,
admitting that in serious inscription ornament
may be for the most part out of place, it has its
place in lettering, and a very useful one. The
artist's calling is not of such a grave and lofty


164
nature that he may never descend from the
heights of academic design and indulge in the
frivolity of ornament—if so it be considered. The
potter plays with his brush, the needlewoman with
her thread; to the worker work becomes play; and
his playfulness touches, if only because it is a sure
sign of enjoyment in the work, a sympathetic chord
in us, and wins our approbation.

140. FRIVOLITY IN
LETTERING.


XII. INITIAL LETTERS.
To many the idea of Lettering in Ornament
will suggest at once the thought of Initial Letters,
for the most part, though not necessarily, dis-
tinguished by ornament-their essential peculiarity
being that they do distinguish themselves, in
whatever way, from the surrounding text.
It is in books, manuscript or printed, that
initials are most useful. There is less occasion for
them in mural and decorative inscriptions, where
even distinctive capitals are not always necessary.
In fact, with the one exception of black-letter,
inscriptions are happiest all in capitals. The
minuscule was not adopted for architectural or
monumental purposes until a period when design
was fast losing its dignity: it belongs to parch-
ment and paper; and with it are associated the
capital and the initial.
The ostensible purpose of an initial letter, it is
a truism to say, is to mark a beginning, the point
at which the reader is to begin, or to begin anew.
The term “versal” is only another name for what
is practically the same thing, the letter, namely,
to which the officiating priest shall turn. The


166
decoration of this letter is by way of signal or
reminder.
The initial heads the chapter as the capital
heads the sentence. It is writ large and beautiful
by way of emphasis, more or less; and by strict
rights the letter should be glorified in proportion
to the importance of its position. Logically, as
well as artistically speaking, there is no reason
why several series of initials should not be used,
with varying emphasis, upon a single page; but
it would not seem to the printer worth his while,
and it would sorely tax the judgment of the
compositor.
An initial, however, is not emphatic according
merely to its size. In common speech a word is
more effectually emphasised by a pause before its
utterance than by shouting it. And the notion
of pause explains and justifies a certain disregard
of immediate legibility in the initial. There, if
anywhere, the artist may give loose to his fancy.
Ornament which elsewhere might be distracting is
- here attractive, literally of use, that is to say, in
calling attention to the letter (141). A pause
before the reader begins or resumes his parable is
not without dramatic effect, and a letter must be
indeed entangled with ornament if during that
respite it has not plainly distinguished itself.
There are occasions, again, where it may be
taken for granted that the reader expects a
certain letter, in which case there is no need to





aos
wi
wpis


HOOD
nh
141. INITIALS BY ISRAEL VAN MECKENEN. 1489.


169

142. FROM AN ILLUMINATED CHOIR BOOK AT SIENA.
making of which there goes a dignity inseparable
from reticence and self-control.
The air of wild gesticulation so characteristic of
a certain class of illuminated initials is enough
of itself to convict them of extravagance. They
presume, too, on the mere grounds that they are
put in by hand, to sprawl over the page as though
it were theirs. It is all of a piece with the incli-
nation of the illuminator to look upon the margin
of a book as a fair field for his exploits. It is not
to be wondered at if, in the scarcity of parchment
and paper, the mediæval artist seized upon the
margins of the books which came within his
grasp. His excuse will serve us, however, no
longer. Let us have initials, by all means, and
borders too, for that matter, but let them be


172
ornamentally rendered. It was not enough for
them that the shape of it was ornamental,
there must needs be ornament or foliage also,
interlacing with it, or forming, it might be, a rich
background to the letter (144, 145). Eventually,
with the Renaissance, when letter shapes became
more definitely fixed, ornament was confined
entirely to the background (146).
Colour is, of course, the exception in printed
books. But even in black and white one gets



144. WOODCUT INITIALS. FRENCH.
as nearly as possible its equivalent by means of
ornament which, according to its density, tells
lighter than a solid black letter or darker than a
letter merely in outline, and gives a patch of com-
paratively solid print, calculated to call more
peremptory attention to it than a naked letter
of the same proportions would do.
This froth of ornament about a letter may
be regarded as a sort of danger signal, no
more to be mistaken than the foam about a rock
not otherwise clearly distinguishable. A haze


173



SR
145. WOODCUT INITIALS. FRENCH.
of ornament, on the other hand, in which the
letter is lost to view, is in itself a danger.
Still, in the case of a letter big and heavy
enough to hold its own, a tint of ornament is
useful, in softening its lines and mitigating what
might, but for it, have been a harsh and brutal
contrast between its blackness and the white
paper (147).
It has the further use of doing away with the
blarik unprinted area about it which otherwise
would tell as a gap in the type; and may readily
be designed to give (and naturally is designed to
give) a compact right-lined device ranging con-
veniently with the lines of the text. Except where
the letter itself takes square lines (which it cannot



OODCUT INITIALS. ITALIAN.


174


A D
147. WOODCUT INITIALS. GERMAN.
always be made to do), something of the kind seems
to be almost necessary. We get by means of such
ornamental framing to the initial a rectangular
patch of print which there is no overlooking; and
within this, attention once called to it, the form
of the letter is promptly perceived. Moreover,
such uniform patches break the page more
pleasantly than initials of varying contour would
be likely to do.
Upon this customary tune of a letter involved
in ornament, or set in a framework or against a
background of ornament, very interesting varia-
tions were played throughout the sixteenth
century. At times such ornament was made to
follow closely the lines of the letter (177), at
times to contrast with them (173, 174), at
times apparently to take little or no account of
them (164); but apparently only; for the very
test of an artist's capacity for such design is that


176


149. WOODCUT INITIALS BY G. TORY.
range from solid black ornament to pattern in
outline only, from mere diaper to vigorous
arabesque or foliage, to say nothing of eventual
picture.
A heavy letter against a lighter background of
ornament was naturally the first to occur to the
artist (147). But he did not stop there. Letters
in outline relieve themselves quite enough against
a more solid scrollwork, as may be seen in a French
alphabet of which two letters are here repro-
duced (148), where the niello-like enrichment gives
importance to otherwise modest initials, even if
if it does not make them easier to read than they
would be without it. This is a case, by the
way (others occur in 147, 149), in which the
rectangular shape is clearly enough marked without
aid of enclosing outline.
The feat of making black letters clear themselves


179


Orbit
DOS
OVA
Show
OUYAA
:
154. WOODCUT INITIALS. FRENCH.
mentists were before him in the field, and had
done good work before he entered it.
The one uniformly unsatisfactory way of relieving
a letter against its background is to shade it, whether
by merely thickening the outline on one side of it,
or by throwing half of it in shadow, as though it
stood up upon the page. Theoretically the shading
makes the letter "stand out”; but it does not
make it more easily readable; it simply vulgarises
it. It looks as if in the initials D. I. (155) the
rather clumsy outline, black against a background
of lines giving a half tint, were meant to suggest
relief.
If it is desirable to reduce the volume of white
in an initial too assertive on its dark ground, a
simple expedient is to introduce into it a central
line of black, as frequently was done (154).
This may suggest perhaps the idea of incising, but
N 2


185



Tolle
re
161. HOLBEIN'S “DANCE OF DEATH."
grows dim. Happily, the modern picture is
independent of lettering; it has been left to the
advertiser (who is not easily put to shame) to print
across it, or on the foreground, or on the sky behind,
his name and the description of the wares he has
to sell. Why not? it may be asked, if Sir E.
Burne-Jones and the old Assyrians are justified.
The answer is simple: it all depends upon the
scheme and treatment of the picture. The letter-
ing, which is an integral part of the composition,
adorns a picture; that which is not, is a blemish
upon it. The picture must be such that without
the lettering it would be incomplete.
The designers even of the sixteenth century
often hesitate between the graphic and the



WESI
MITES
1111131
162. “DANCE OF DEATH " INITIALS. GERMAN.


186
decorative motive, and especially between the use
of arabesque ornament and of figures. They are
most completely happy with ornament, but they
are happy also with “putti,” as the Italians called
them, not children precisely, but robust little
would-be baby forms playing about, and always
playfully presented. Perhaps it is because they
are so entirely the children of the artist's brain


WWWMMTE
WWWWW
WHITH
163. WOODCUT INITIALS. GERMAN.
that he is so fond of them. Some of the best of
these boy figures are attributed to Holbein (160).
They measure only about two inches across, but
it would be difficult to find, except perhaps in
Greek coins of the finest period, larger treatment
of design in little.
Another fine alphabet (163) is ascribed to
Dürer, on what authority I know not, perhaps
because the letters are evidently the work of a
strong man not endowed with any very subtle


187



IMAGE!
iD
COMAR
A
R
mu
164.' WOODCUT INITIALS, WITH MEDALLION HEADS.
appreciation of beauty. It is in the spirit of the
Italian Renaissance that Godfrey Sykes designed
an alphabet (167) not precisely of initials : the
letters are meant to spell inscriptions for the
decoration of the refreshment room at the Victoria
and Albert Museum, and were executed in glazed
majolica—white figures on a yellow ground: the
modelling of the figures can be better appreciated
in the larger version of the letter S (166). The
artist was one who, following in the steps of
Alfred Stevens, went back for inspiration to a
source it is the fashion with us to neglect just
now—by which neglect our modern design is
greatly the sufferer.
In the initials of the elder Cranach (156) one




Italir
-
"
165. WOODCUT INITIALS, WITH ARCHITECTURAL
BACKGROUND.


188
may trace the influence of the goldsmith. They
might almost have been designed to be beaten in
gold. The excess of ornament—the outline of
the letter is well-nigh lost in arabesque-may be
taken -as indication of the lingering spirit of
Gothic art, by this time ultra-florid. It is only
at the beginning of the period that the artists of the
Renaissance elaborated
the simple Roman form
in this way.
The admirable paint-
ing alike of ornament
and figure in certain illu-
minated initials does not
makethem by any means
types of what initials
should be. The choir
books in the Piccolomini
Library at Siena are
justly famous for the
166. MAJOLICA LETTER BY
rare beauty of their illu-
GODFREY SYKES.
mination. The pictures
are perfect miniatures; but, framed in mon-
strously big initials (142) quite out of scale with
the picture, they are miniatures misplaced. The
art of design is in putting things in their places,
and giving them their right value.
The somewhat impractical idea of framing
pictures within enclosing letters has never yet
been satisfactorily carried out; but it appears to


WOOD
ACDONSSY
COOFREY SYKES
AD MDCCCLXIV
VW
REK
SA
SANOTAAN VAN
AKA
XMA 1
AS
167. ALPHABET BY GODFREY SYKES.


190
have haunted the designers of initials. Most
persistent attempts at picture-frame initials were
made in 1555 by Mathias Gereon, who designed
letters and pictures to be framed by them, which,
as may be seen opposite (168), were interchange-
able, the same letter D serving as border to two
separate pictures. The limits of these little picture
blocks, to be inserted in larger blocks, are plainly
pronounced by the square lines the pictures take.
The expedient of designing letters which will
frame any subject, and subjects which will fit
any letter, promises economy, no doubt; but it
does not fulfil all the conditions of composition :
the letter has sometimes to be sacrificed to the
picture. In the case of Gereon's S, for instance, a
most important section of the initial is eliminated
to make room for it. In the series of which
examples are here given the printer, indeed,
appears to have felt that his initials did not speak
for themselves, and has introduced accordingly a
little explanatory letter that there might be no
mistake about it (168). A more practical, but at
the same time quite commonplace, device is that
of American printers, who use sometimes, by way
of cheap initial, a border or frame of ornament
within which movable capitals in large type can
conveniently be adjusted; but this has not even
the merit of novelty; Plantin was guilty of it
before them.
The excessive elaboration of the forms of letters


192
between the difficulty of inventing a form which
shall be at once accepted for the familiar sign and
have at the same time a character of its own, of
designing, in fact, a new letter, and of devising
more or less fitting ornament about an old one.

169. INITIAL.



P
/c/e/e9 9
9 9
170. WOOD-CARVING FROM THE BEDCHAMBER OF
HENRI II. AT THE LOUVRE.
XV. LETTERING AND ORNAMENT.
It is only natural to assume that lettering,
conveying as it necessarily must a meaning, is
introduced into ornament only on that account.
The ornamentist, who has experience of its use in
many an emergency of design, knows better. It
has happened to him so often to find that lettering
just met a want in design (lettering which but for
reasons of composition it would never have
occurred to him to introduce), that he does not
for a moment doubt that, difficult as it may be to
others to believe it, an appreciable amount of the
lettering in ornament is addressed in the first
L.O.


194
place to the artistic sense, and only in the second
to the understanding.
It goes almost without saying, that lettering
introduced for reasons of art must satisfy the
mind, just as lettering introduced for purposes of
explanation must at the same time flatter the eye.
It is the business of the artist, having assured
himself that lettering is what he wants in his
design, to find a good excuse for it; and, with a
little wit, he may alight on words so absolutely
to the point, that it never occurs to those who
have not penetrated the mysteries of the workshop
to doubt that they were part of his original scheme,
if not its starting-point. My own opinion, based
upon personal practice, is, that many a time the
modest lettering which takes a subsidiary but not
unimportant place in design was, I will not say
an afterthought, but a happy thought, which
occurred to the artist in the course of developing
his idea ; and that it was suggested quite as much
by the feeling that it was wanted there for effect
as by the thought that its meaning would give
interest to the design.
And this applies not merely to ornamental
lettering. The very unlikeness of plain letters to
the usual forms of ornament makes them exception-
ally useful in design, as a foil and contrast to it.
Without obtruding themselves, they give point to
pattern. It is a common experience in design to
feel the need of intervals in one's ornament, places



E-
O OVO
171. CEILING OF THE SALLE DE DIANE AT FONTAINEBLEAU.
O 2


196
of rest to the eye, too important to be treated as
background, and in a sense prominent, but not
calling for much enrichment. The cartouche,
which plays such a prominent part in wood-carving
of the period of Henri II., is an outcome of that
need, affording as it does a broad surface of wood
(not on the same plane with the ground, but itself
another ground) which by its position demands
decoration, and even decoration which, though it
must not attract, shall not be insignificant. The
design, in fact, leads up to such points in a way
which would logically almost imply a figure com-
position or some such enrichment; but artistically
that would be too rich; what is wanted is some-
thing simple, which will not disturb the breadth
of surface. Lettering, as may be seen (170,
171), seems just to fill the place. It may be so
sirnple in its lines and so flat in treatment that it
barely disturbs the breadth of surface; and yet,
when attention is attracted to it, as in such a
position it must eventually be, the sense of fitness
is not shocked by any inadequacy of detail. In
the same way the cypher „IC (110) just
sufficiently fills a space which it is absolutely
necessary to keep broad, and yet could not well
be left bare. The fact, of course, that an artist
could rely upon the vanity of his patron to
appreciate the introduction of his cypher, did
not make him the less ready to avail himself of
the device.


197
So with the scroll or label, ostensibly designed
always to accommodate inscription, and actually
shaped for its accommodation, we cannot doubt

2
172. ENGLISH GOTHIC PAVING TILES.
that at times the inscription was first thought of
only as an excuse for the ornamental label : it is
even used at times without the excuse of lettering
(157). A case in point is the elaborate design of
H. S. Beham (41). Again, it would probably not


198
have occurred to the designer to introduce the
royal motto in connection with the cypher at the
end of this chapter (the instinct of the designer is
to make his cypher self-sufficient) had he not felt
the need of the lines of the scroll to help him in the
emergency of combining rather awkward letters.
If, on the one hand, it can seldom be asserted
positively that lettering is introduced for orna-
ment's sake, neither, on the other, can we always
be sure that the most absolutely appropriate
lettering was introduced solely or primarily on
account of what it tells us. It is just as likely
that the letters on the old English encaustic tiles
(172) were thought of as appropriate filling for
the spaces in the band, as that the band was

173. PEW-ENDS FROM A CHURCH IN SOMERSETSHIRE.


200
The problem offered to the artist is, in the one
case, to find words so appropriate, and, in the
other, to reduce them so absolutely to ornament,
that we neither know nor ask how the design
came about, but are content that he has solved
the problem, and, in so doing, given us a thing of
beauty.
It can hardly be said that the use of lettering
in ornament, whether in the form of plain inscrip-
tion, or of pattern built upon the alphabet, is
sufficiently appreciated by modern designers.
Lettering recommends itself to the designer in
that, when it comes to design and not mere
inscription, he can do with it so nearly as he will.
By nature it asserts itself somewhat; its lines,
whatever the character, are inclined to distinguish
themselves plainly enough from foliage or scroll-
work, from animal or human form, with which
they may be associated. But there are number-
less ways of keeping it in its place, indeed in the
precise subordination the artist may desire—ways
of distributing the lettering, of shaping its outline,
of treating its surface, of entangling it with orna-
ment-any one or more of which may safely be
followed.
Allusion has been made already to the breaking
up of words capriciously, and to colouring the
letters at will (67). They may be made to alter-
nate with ornament, as in the Hispano-Moresque
plate opposite (175), a very usual plan; or it


201
may be not words but cyphers in themselves
none too intelligible, which alternate with symbolic
ornament. That occurs in the collar of the Saint

HDC
175. SPANISH EARTHENWARE DISH PAINTED IN BLUE
AND LUSTRE.
Esprit worked into the embroidered cloth of which
a portion is here given (176). The design of the
collar is adapted also to the border of the cloth,
where the larger scale of the design makes it more
easy to appreciate how ingeniously the artist has


202
combined his steady and even rigid cyphers with
the dancing flames which figure again in the diaper
on the field of the cloth. Similar use is made of
the cypher in a delightfully simple piece of actual
goldsmith's work in the Louvre, in which alternate
links are formed of a cypher D E. The distribution
of the separate letters of a word according to the
artist's fancy is another cunning way of sufficiently
removing it from bald announcement. There is
no possible mistaking the meaning of the letters
studding at precise intervals the velvet binding of
Queen Mary's Prayer-book (139); and yet the
word “Regina ” does not shout at you.
Even straightforward lettering, following the
plan, for example, of a Greek fret in the French
encaustic tile (177), and making with the sudden
patch in the centre most excellent ornament, would
never thrust its meaning upon one, even were it
upon examination readable, which, in this par-
ticular instance, it can hardly claim to be; nor yet
the inscription upon the English tile pattern (14).
If it was the intention of the artist to announce
something in his design, the tidings reach but few ;
if it was ornament he meant, there is no mistake
about that.
The disguise of lettering in the form of mono-
grams and cyphers has been alluded to already.
One looks upon the cyphers tooled upon le Gascon's
book cover (111) less as lettering than as diaper.
Even the crowned L sprinkled over the bindings


204
for Louis XIII. asserts itself less emphatically
than it would if it occurred singly, and were not
used as an ornamental repeat.
The form of lettering can, it is evident, be easily
modified to the degree at which it is quite unin-

VIS:26:BLON
ANVRA:LF5
2
BAJUUTAL
HAMIS:H:B]19
177. OLD FRENCH PAVING TILE.
telligible; the main difficulty of the designer is in
making ornamental letters which shall not be
enigmatical. The foliation of the letter-shape is
itself enough to transform it absolutely. But
departure from the normal shape should be in the
direction of beauty. That is hardly the case in
the black letter which grows out into truncated


205

TOTT
178. FROM THE BACK OF AN OLD GERMAN WOODEN SEAT.
branches in the words “ Jesus” and “Maria”
(178, 179), a rustic notion which crops up con-
tinually in late German Gothic, but it is never
happy.
It is seldom very desirable to break the surface of
lettering with enrichment, unless indeed the idea
is to merge it in ornament, to devise a mystery of
richest scrollery out of which, as you dwell upon
it, the words grow gradually into significance.
Van Meckenen did that perfectly in the scroll-
work which (66), as at last it dawns upon you,
spells his name. He designed also some very
elaborate initials (141), in which both the
thickness of the letters and the background

BELLOVA
e
179. FROM THE BACK OF AN OLD GERMAN WOODEN SEAT.



&疏忽索
​SK39
181. OLD PAINTED ROOF DECORATION, NORFOLK.


209
way it is executed. The ground of the building
stone is cut away and broken flints are inlaid. But
though the cement jointing makes a sort of outline

20
LE
183. WOOD-CARVING FROM AN OLD SCOTTISH CASKET.
between the black and the white, it is not con-
tinuous; and where there is no background of
Aint it is left to the eye to make it good.
The confusion of lettering with a background
L.O.



tes
5A
RSM
জীবন তোমার
এ যা
L
S/
এ
184. ALPHABET IN CUTWORK FROM AN OLD SAMPLER.


212
be, to restore the balance of the composition. It
will be seen (185) that the hard effect of flat,
sharp-cut letters may be greatly softened by a
mere filigree of fine, close, evenly distributed
ornament upon the ground, which by its very
busy-ness dazzles the sight and so seems to
blur their outlines.
Countless other ways of bringing lettering into
focus in design will suggest themselves to the
artist. It would be impossible to enumerate them
all; and there is no need to do so; for they are
devices not in the least degree peculiar to
lettering, but in general use among artists for the
purpose of subordinating one feature in ornament
to another. Indeed, very much of what is here
said applies, not exclusively to lettering in orna-
ment, but to the ornamental treatment of all
manner of arbitrary forms. It is one of the
difficulties besetting the discussion of any side
issue of ornament, that it is practically impossible
to refrain from wandering continually off into the
broader question of design, taste, art in short-
so true it is that art is one. In theory. In prac-
tice the arts are many; and what is called general
training in art is at most bare preparation for the
pursuit of the least among them.
Hence the occasion, or at all events the excuse,
for books dealing in detail, as this does, with quite
a subsidiary branch of ornamental design. They
will not teach the artist his trade, nor save him


DOWN00

V
BRAD SA
-
00
185. LETTERING WITH ORNAMENT TO SOFTEN EFFECT.


216
PAGE
DECORATIVE VALUE of let
tering .. .. .. I, 6, 7, 8
DIE-SUNK letters .. .. 150
DIRECTNESS .. .. .. 38
DISTRIBUTION .. 20, 21, 23,
31, 44
DOORS .. .. ..
.. 68
DOUBLE COLUMN .. .. 24
, OUTLINE .. .. 177
DRAPERY .. .. .. 58, 65
Dürer. .. .. .. 38, 186
PAGE
ILLEGIBILITY .. .. .. 98
ILLUMINATORS .. 156, 168, 169
INDEPENDENT ORNAMENT 125
INFLUENCE OF TECHNIQUE
on lettering .. .. .. 49
INITIALS 79, 94, 157, 165 et seq.
(ornamental) .. 171
et seq.
, (pictorial) 181 et seq.
INSCRIPTIONS (monumen-
tal) .. .. .. .. 40 et seq.
INTERLACING .. 94, 95, 116,
118, 129, 137, 159
ITALICS .. .. 89, 137, 161
EMBROIDERY 80, 96, 201, 208
EXACTNESS .. .. .. 39
KNIFE-CUT LETTERS
.. 153
FELICIANO .. .. .. .. 38
FIGURES .. .. .. 160, 182
FINISH .. .. .. .. 39
FLOURISHES .. .. .. 42
FOLIATED LETTERS .. 158, 160
FRAMING PICTURES with
lettering .. .. .. 188, 190
FRETWORK.. .. .. .. 153
GEREON (Mathias) .. .. 190
GERMANS .. .. .. 86, 96
GODFREY (Master) .... 60
GOTHIC CHARACTERS 42, 52,
104, 119, 142, 157
GREEK .. .. .. 54, 150
GREEKS .. .. 71, 72, 74
GROUNDING-OUT 50, 51, 54,
152, 153
GUBBIO PLAQUES .... 82
LABELS .. .. 75 et seq., 197
Larisch (Herr von) .. 36
LEATHER .. .. .. .. 153
LEGIBILITY 18, 19, 28, 41, 82,
90, 110, 127, 145, 168, 182
LE GASCON .. .. .. 202
LE PUY .. 34, 54, 60, 108
LETTERING plus PICTURE 9, 10,
58, 60
LIBERTIES.. 92, 96, 108, 171
LIGHT ON DARK.. .. 52, 178
LOMBARDIC CAPITALS .. 120,
153, 158
LONDON (Victoria and Al-
bert Museum) 62, 86, 87, 99
HIDDEN MEANINGS 9o et seq.
HOLBEIN .. .. 120, 182, 186
HORIZONTAL BANDS.. .. 76
LINE .. 57, 65
MANUSCRIPT .. 29, 96, 157
MARGINS .. .. 23, 24, 170
MASTIC .. .. .. .. 51
MATERIAL (its influence on
design) III, 112, 146 et seq.
MECKENEN . 95, 160, 205


218
PAGE
STONE.. .. .. .. 51, 153
SUNKEN LETTERS .. 52, 54
SURFACE BREAKING.. 6, 8, 63,
199
Sykes (Godfrey) .. .. 187
SYMBOLISM 13, 14, 126, 144
SYMMETRY..120, 121, 125, 130,
131
PAGE
TOLEDO ..
.. .. 70
TOMBSTONES ...... 55
TREATMENT .. 15, 117, 125
TURNOVER . . . . . 49, 52
TYPE .. I, 19, 112, 113, 158
35, 37
VARIETY .. .....
VASES..
VERSAL .. .. ..
VERTICAL LINES ..
VISIGOTHIC CROWN ..
in ::::
.. 165
TABLETS .. .. .. .. 44
TAPESTRY .. .. . 62, 78
TEXTURE .. .. .. .. 140
TiNT OF ORNAMENT. .172, 173,
175
TITLE PAGE. .. .. .. 25
98
Wood.. .. .. .. 51, 153
THE END.
BRADBURY, AGNEW, & co. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.


A List of Standard Books
ON
ORNAMENT & DECORATION,
INCLUDING FURNITURE,
WOOD-CARVING, METAL WORK, DESIGN, &c.,
PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY
B. T. BATSFORD,
94, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C.
The books in this list are marked at net cash discount prices, and
will be forwarded carriage free on receipt of remittance.
DECORATIVE FLOWER STUDIES for the use of Artists,
Designers, Students and others. A series of 40 Coloured
Plates, printed by hand by a stencil process in facsimile of
the original drawings, accompanied by 350 Studies of Detail
drawn to show the Development of the Plant in successive
stages, and Descriptive Notes. By J. FOORD. Imperial 4to,
handsomely bound in cloth gilt from a special design by the
author. Price 255. net.
[Just published.
“These studies are no slight sketches devised for mere pictorial effect, but accurate and
careful presentments of the growth of the subjects selected... . . The beauty and value
of the growth of the sectional studies from the designer's point of view may be gathered at a
glance."-Home Art Work.
“Each plate is, in line and composition, a faithful and realistic study from nature, the
rendering of the flowers being strictly true to their originals, while suggesting their adaptation
to decorative treatment. .. Miss Foord excels in the drawing of flowers that grow in
massed heads of small blossoms.”—The Queen.
"Seldom, indeed, has one the good fortune to meet drawings so pleasing, and the
various parts of the flowers are explained by accompanying drawings. Miss Foord is an
artist with the pen as well as the pencil. :: The book is altogether admirable, and may
be heartily recommended."--Country Life.
“A truly valuable and beautiful book..... The coloured plates are nearly all
good; they have a certain spaciousness of treatment that is full of delicacy and freedom ;
and we have no doubt at all that the book, considered as a whole, is a real gain to all who
take delight in the decorative representation of flowers.”—The Studio.
Mr. Lewis F. Day, writing in the “ Art Journal” says :-
««• Decorative Flower Studies' go very far indeed towards satisfying at once the
decorator, designer, or student who wants trustworthy data upon which to found his work,
and the lover of nature who delights to see deft and delicate rendering of the thing he knows.
“ The author is duly regardful of the designer's wants, and supplements the coloured
page by outline drawings of details likely to be of use to him. In these he will find flowers
in various stages of growth, in bud, in full bloom, over-blown, and in seed; and often various
views of these, as well as diagrams of the parts of the flower, and sections.


THE HISTORIC STYLES OF ORNAMENT. Containing
1,500 examples from all countries and all periods, exhibited
on 100 Plates, mostly printed in gold and colours. With
historical and descriptive text translated from the German of
H. DOLMETSCH. Folio, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt,
price £ 1 55. net.
This work has been designed to serve as a practical guide for the pur-
pose of showing the development of Ornament, and the application of
colour to it in various countries through the epochs of history.
A SKETCH BOOK OF ARTISTIC OBJECTS in POTTERY,
GLASS, AND METAL WORK. By Professor ANTON SEDER,
Director of the School of Applied Art, Strassburg. With an
Introduction by LEWIS F. Day. Containing 46 full-page
Plates, exhibiting upwards of 750 novel Designs for Vases,
Beakers, Jugs, Teapots, Lamps, Candlesticks, Electric Light
Fittings, Photograph and Mirror Frames, Knives and Forks,
and Ornamental Ironwork, &c. Large 4to, fancy paper
covers, cloth back, price 215. net.
“It is no slight recommendation of Professor Seder's work that he is at once fertile in
invention and familiar with what has been done. In the sketches here collected he appears
to be amusing himself by roughing out ideas for vessels and objects of all kinds, and they are
all the more interesting in that they are but sketches, which he himself would very likely
have considerably modified if he had carried them out. Herein seems to me to be the value
of these plates--in their suggestiveness.”—Extract from Introduction by Lewis F. Day.
A REVIEWOF MODERN DECORATIVE ART IN
ENGLAND AND ABROAD. (“DER MODERNE STIL.”)
Containing 700 examples of Wall Papers, Textiles, Lace,
Embroidery, Bookbinding, Pottery, Carving, Stained Glass,
Metal Work, &c., by WALTER CRANE, C. F. A. VOYsEY, LEWIS
F. DAY, WILLIAM MORRIS, SELWYN IMAGE, E. GRASSET,
HEYWOOD SUMNER, G. C. Haité, and many other famous
designers. Selected from the Art Magazines of recent years,
and arranged by J. HOFFMANN. 4to, boards, price 20s. net.
A REVIEW OF MODERN DECORATIVE ART (“ DER
MODERNE STIL”).—A Second Series of the above publica-
tion, containing about 700 further examples of the work of
the leading English and Continental Designers. 4to, boards,
price 2os. net.
Fust published.
A REVIEW OF MODERN DECORATIVE ART. (“ DER
MODERNE Stil.") Third Series. Containing many hundreds
of Photographic Illustrations of all branches of Design and
Art Industries, on 96 full-page Plates. 4to, boards. 205. net.
This series comprises a great number of late designs, including French
Decoration and Furniture from the Paris Exhibition. The collection is
most varied as to its subjects, being especially important in regard to
Pottery and Furniture, and is drawn from almost every country of Europe.
B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn, London.


MR. LEWIS F. DAY'S WORKS—continueit.
NATURE IN ORNAMENT.— With 123 full-page Plates and
192 Illustrations in the text. Third Edition (Fifth Thousand).
Thick crown 8vo, in handsome cloth binding, richly gilt,
price 12s. 6d. Net ios.
"Amongst the best of our few good ornamental designers is Mr. Lewis F. Day, who is
the author of several books on ornamental art. 'Nature in Ornament' is the latest of
these, and is probably the best. The treatise should be in the hands of every student of orna-
mental design. It is profusely and admirably illustrated, and well printed."- Magazine of Art.
“A book more beautiful for its illustrations, or one more helpful to Students of Art, can
hardly be imagined."-Queen.
WINDOWS.—A BOOK ABOUT STAINED AND PAINTED
GLASS. Containing 410 pages, including 50 full-page Plates,
and upwards of 200 Illustrations in the text, all of Old
Examples. Large 8vo, cloth gilt, price 21s. net.
DECORATIVE BRUSHWORK AND DESIGN – ELE-
MENTARY STAGE. A Manual for the Use of Art
Students and Others. By HENRY CADNESS, Master of
of Design in the Municipal School of Art, Manchester.
Synopsis of Chapters: Materials -- Preparatory Work —
Methods of Expression--Forms of Ornament-Nature-
Influences of Styles-Application of Study, &c., &c. With
upwards of 400 Examples of Design on 38 Plates. Crown 8vo.
[Ready shortly.
PROFESSOR MEYER'S TEXT-BOOR'S.
A HANDBOOK OF ORNAMENT.-— With 300 Plates, contain-
ing about 3,000 Illustrations of the Elements and Application
of Decoration to Objects. By F. S. MEYER, Professor at the
School of Applied Art, Karlsruhe. Third English Edition,
revised by Hugh STANNUS, Lecturer on Applied Art
at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. Thick 8vo,
cloth gilt, gilt top, price i2s. 6d. Net. 1os.
"A Library, a Museum, an Encyclopædia and an Art School in one. To rival it as a
book of reference, one must fill a bookcase. The quality of the drawings is unusually high,
the choice of examples is singularly good. .. The work is practically an epitome of a
hundred Works on Design."-Studio.
“The author's acquaintance with ornament anazes, and his three thousand subjects are
gleaned from the finest which the world affords. As a treasury of ornament drawn to scale in
all styles, and derived from genuine concrete objects, we have nothing in England which will
not appear as poverty-stricken as compared with Professor Meyer's book."- Architect.
HANDBOOK OF ART SMITHING.-- For the use of
Practical Smiths, Designers and others, and in Art and Tech-
nical Schools. By F. S. MEYER, Author of “A Handbook
of Ornament.” Translated from the Second German Edition.
With an Introduction by J. STARKIE GARDNER. Containing
214 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, price 6s. Net 55.
B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn, London,


THE FURNITURE OF OUR FOREFATHERS. By
ESTHER SINGLETON. With critical descriptions of Plates
by Russell Sturgis. Being Examples of Old English, French,
and Dutch Furniture, taken out by the early Colonists to
New England and also of Pieces manufactured by them.
Containing about 140 plates, 20 reproduced by photogravure,
120 in half-tone, and 200 Illustrations from Drawings. To
be completed in eight parts, not sold separately, of which
Four are just issued, the remainder shortly. Priče to Sub-
scribers only 9s. net each part.
(Illustrated Prospectus on Application.
HEPPLEWHITE'S CABINET - MAKER AND UPHOL-
STERER'S GUIDE ; or, Repository of Designs for every
article of Household Furniture in the newest and most
approved taste. A complete facsimile reproduction of this
rare work, containing nearly 300 charming Designs on 128
Plates. Small folio, bound in speckled cloth, gilt, old style,
price £ 2 ios. net. (1794.) Original copies when met with
fetch from £17 to £18.
CHIPPENDALE'S THE GENTLEMAN AND CABINET-
MAKER'S DIRECTOR.-A complete facsimile of the
3rd and rarest Edition, containing 200 Plates of Designs of
Chairs, Sofas, Beds and Couches, Tables, Library Book
Cases, Clock Cases, Stove Grates, &c., &c. Folio, strongly
bound in half-cloth, price £3 155. net. (1762.)
EXAMPLES OF OLD FURNITURE, ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.
Drawn and described by ALFRED ERNEST CHANCELLOR.
Containing 40 Photo-lithographic Plates exhibiting some 100
examples of Elizabethan, Stuart, Queen Anne, Georgian and
Chippendale furniture; and an interesting variety of Conti-
nental work. With historical and descriptive notes. Large
4to, gilt, price £ 1 55. Net £i is.
THE DECORATIVE WORK OF ROBERT AND JAMES
ADAM. Being a reproduction of all the Plates illustrating
DECORATION and FURNITURE from their “WORKS IN ARCHI-
TECTURE,” published 1778–1812. Containing 30 large folio
Plates (size, 19 inches by 14 inches), giving about 100
examples of Rooms, Ceilings. Chimney - pieces, Tables,
Chairs, Vases, Lamps, Mirrors, Pier-glasses, Clocks, &c., &c.,
by these famous Eighteenth-century Designers. Large folio,
handsomely bound in old style, price 30s. net. [Just published.
This volume contains every plate of decorative value from the com-
plete work, which now fetches £70, and therefore forms a complete
key to the graceful style for which the Brothers Adam are so universally
renowned.


THE DECORATION OF HOUSES. BY EDITH WHARTON
and OGDEN CODMAN, Architect. 204 pages of text, with 56
full-page Photographic Plates of Views of Rooms, Doors,
Ceilings, Fireplaces, various pieces of Furniture, &c., from the
Renaissance period. Second Edition, revised. Large square
8vo, cloth gilt, price 12s. 6d. net.
This volume, written by an American Lady Artist, and an Architect,
describes and illustrates in a very interesting way the Decorative treat-
ment of Rooms during the Renaissance period, and deduces principles
for the decoration, furnishing, and arrangements of Modern Houses.
OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES AND THEIR MAKERS.
Being an Account of the History of Clocks and Watches,
their Mechanism and Ornamentation, with a List of 8,000
Old Makers. By F. J. BRITTEN. Containing over 400
Illustrations, many reproduced from photographs, of choice
and curious examples of Old Clocks and Watches. 512
pages. Demy 8vo, cloth, gilt, price 1os. net.
“Mr. Britten, the best living authority on clocks and watches, has given us a book
altogether admirable. Every kind of watch and clock is here dealt with historically and
completely."- The Artist.
FURNITURE DESIGNING AND DRAUGHTING. Being
Notes on the Elementary Forms, Methods of Construction,
and Dimensions of Common Articles of Furniture. By
A. C. NYE. Fully illustrated by 152 diagrams, many of them
being full-page. Large 8vo, cloth, 1os. net.
A practical manual on the preparation of working drawings of furni-
ture, prepared from material collected during an experience of some
years as a designer of furniture for several of the most important furniture
makers in New York.
REMAINS OF ECCLESIASTICAL WOOD - WORK.-A
Series of Examples of Stalls, Screens, Book-Boards, Roofs,
Pulpits, &c., containing 21 beautifully engraved Plates, from
drawings by T. Talbot Bury, Archt. 4to, half-bound, price
1os. 60. Net 8s. 6d.
DETAILS OF GOTHIC WOOD CARVING.–Being a
Series of Drawings from original work of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Centuries. By FRANKLYN A. CRALLAN. Contain-
ing 34 large Photo-lithographic Plates, illustrating some of
the finest specimens of Gothic carving extant. With intro-
ductory and descriptive text. Large 4to, in cloth portfolio,
or bound in cloth gilt, price 28s. Net 225.
B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn, London.


Published with the Sanction of the Science and Art Department.
FRENCH WOOD CARVINGS FROM THE NATIONAL
MUSEUMS.-A Series of Examples printed in Collotype
from Photographs specially taken from the Carvings direct.
Edited by ELEANOR ROWE. Part I. : Late 15th and Early
16th Century Examples ; Part II. : 16th Century Work ;
Part III. : 17th and 18th Centuries. The Three Series Com-
plete, each containing 18 large folio Plates, with descriptive
letterpress. Folio, in portfolios, price 125. each net; or
handsomely bound in one volume, £2 55. net.
“Students of the Art of Wood Carving will find a mine of inexhaustible treasures in this
series of illustrations of French Wood Carvings. . . . Each plate is a work of art in
itself; the distribution of light and shade is admirably managed, and the differences in relief
are faithfully indicated, while every detail is reproduced with a clearness that will prove in.
valuable to the student. Sections are given with several of the plates.”—The Queen.
“Needs only to be seen to be purchased by all interested in the craft, whether archæo-
logically or practically."-— The Studio.
HINTS ON WOOD CARVING FOR BEGINNERS.—By
ELEANOR ROWE. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged.
Illustrated. 8vo, sewed, price is. in paper covers.
“The most useful and practical small book on wood-carving we know of.” -- Builder.
“Is a useful little book, full of sound directions and good suggestions.”- Magazine
of Art.
HINTS ON CHIP CARVING.—(Class Teaching and other
Northern Styles.) By ELEANOR ROWE. 40 Illustrations. Svo,
sewed, price is. in paper covers, or in cloth, price is. 6d.
“A capital manual of instruction in a craft that ought to be most popular.”
Saturday Review.
PROGRESSIVE STUDIES AND DESIGNS FOR WOOD).
CARVERS.. By Miss E. R. PLOWDEN. With a Preface
by Miss Rowe. Consisting of five large folding sheets of
Illustrations (drawn full size), of a variety of objects suitable
for Wood Carving. With descriptive text. Second Edition,
enlarged. 4to, in portfolio, price 5s. net.
ANCIENT WOOD AND IRONWORK IN CAMBRIDGE.
-By W. B. REDFARN, the Letterpress by John Willis
CLARK. 29 folio Lithographed Plates drawn to a good scale.
Cloth gilt, a handsome volume, price 1os. 6d. Net 8s. 6d.
LEADWORK-OLD AND ORNAMENTAL.- By W. R.
LETHABY, Director of the London County Council's School
of Arts and Crafts. With 76 Illustrations of Leaded Spires
and Turrets, Fonts, Statues, Vases, Finials, Pipe-heads, Lead
Glazing, &c., &c. 8vo, cloth, price 3s. (published at 45. 6d. net).
An interesting and charmingly illustrated volume upon a subject about
which practically nothing has hitherto been written.
Only a small number of copies remain for sale at the reduced price.


A Facsimile reproduction of one of the rarest and most remarkable
Books of Designs ever published in England.
A NEW BOOKE OF DRAWINGS OF IRONWORKE.-
Invented and Desined by John Tijou. Containing severall
sortes of Iron Worke, as Gates, Frontispieces, Balconies,
Staircases, Pannells, &c., of which the most part hath been
wrought at the Royall Building of Hampton Court, &c.
ALL FOR THE USE OF THEM THAT WORKE IRON IN PER-
FECTION AND WITH ART. (Sold by the author in London,
1693.) Containing 20 folio Plates. With Introductory Note
and Descriptions of the Plates by J. STARKIE GARDNER.
Folio, bound in boards, old style, price 25s. net.
Only 150 copies were printed for England, and very few now remain.
An original copy is priced at £48 by Mr. Quaritch, the renowned
bookseller.
DECORATIVE WROUGHT IRONWORK OF THE 17TH
AND 18TH CENTURIES.-By D. J. EBBETTS. Con-
taining 16 large Lithographic Plates, illustrating 70 English
examples of Screens, Grilles, Panels, Balustrades, &c. Folio,
boards, cloth back, price 125. 6d. Net ros.
AN ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF WORDS USED
IN ART AND ARCHÆOLOGY. By J. W. MOLLETT,
B.A. Giving concise Descriptions of the Chief Terms used
in Decorative Art and Architecture, with Derivations. Illus-
trated by over 700 Woodcuts of Objects of Art, &c. Large
square 8vo, price 75. (published at 155.).
COSTUME OF ALL NATIONS - ANCIENT AND MODERN.
By F. HOTTENROTH. (LE COSTUME CHEZ LES PEUPLES.)
Containing 30 full-page coloured Plates, and over 2000 other
Illustrations in the descriptive text (in French). Large 8vo,
fancy boards. 215. net.
An interesting and comprehensive handbook on Costume.
PEN DRAWING: AN ILLUSTRATED TREATISE. By CHARLES
D. MAGINNIS. With 72 Illustrations, including reproduc-
tions of the work of the principal black-and-white artists.
8vo, linen, price 5s. 6d. net.
CONTENTS :—I. Style in. Pen Drawing. 2. Materials.
3. Technique. 4. Values. 5. Practical Problems. 6. Archi-
tectural Drawing. 7. Decorative Drawing.
B. T. Batsford, 94, High Holborn, London.


II
PLASTERING—PLAIN AND DECORATIVE. A Practical
Treatise on the Art and Craft of Plastering and Modelling.
Including full descriptions of the various Tools, Processes,
&c., employed. With over 50 full-page Plates, and about
500 other Illustrations. By WILLIAM MILLAR. With an
Introduction, treating of the History of the Art, by G. T.
ROBINSON, F.S.A. Thick 4to, cloth, containing 600 pages
of text, price 18s. net.
EXAMPLES OF ENGLISH MEDIÆVAL FOLIAGE AND
COLOURED DECORATION. — By Jas. K. Colling,
Architect, F.R.I.B.A. Taken from Buildings of the XIIth
to the XVth Century. Containing 76 Lithographic Plates,
and 79 Woodcut Illustrations, with Text. Royal 4to, cloth,
gilt top, price 155. net (published at £2 2s.).
Dedicated by Special Permission to Sir Edward ). Poynter, P.R.A.
EXAMPLES OF GREEK AND POMPEIAN DECORA-
TIVE WORK. Measured and Drawn by J. CROMAR WATT.
Containing 60 Collotype Plates, reproduced from the original
Pencil Drawings of the author, comprising Architectural
Details, and Ornament, Terra Cotta, and Ornamental Bronze
Work, &c. A handsome folio volume, cloth, price £ 1 1os. net.
EARLY RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND).
An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Development
of English Architecture during the Tudor, Elizabethan and
Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625. By J. ALFRED GOTCH, F.S.A.,
Author of “The Architecture of the Renaissance in England,”
&c. With 88 Collotype and other Plates and 230 Illustra-
tions in the Text from Drawings by various accomplished
Draughtsmen, and from Photographs specially taken
Royal 8vo, cloth, 21s. net.
[ Just published.
** This work is quite independent and distinct, both in plan and Illustrations,
from the author's larger work, and is in no sense a reduced or cheaper
edition of it.
THE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE: GREEK, ROMAN
AND ITALIAN.—Edited with Notes by R. PHENÉ SPIERS,
F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged,
containing 26 Plates, several new to this Edition. 4to, cloth,
price ros. 6d. Net 8s. 6d.
“A most useful work. ... Mr. Spiers has done excellent service in editing this
work, and his notes on the plates are very appropriate and useful.”— British Architect...
ORNAMENTAL DETAILS OF THE ITALIAN RENAIS-
SANCE. A series of 50 full-page Plates of measured draw-
ings of Pilasters, Panels, Friezes, Capitals, and other Details,
with some Inlaid Work; also a variety of choice Ironwork,
selected from Rome, Milan, Padua, Bologna, &c. By G. A. T.
MIDDLETON, A.R.I.B.A., and R. W. CARDEN, A.R.I.B.A.
Small folio, cloth, price 255. net.