^LIBRARY ^ UNIVERSITY O^ CALIFORNIA » SAN DIEeO J f?? Printing in Relation to Graphic Art The Imperial Press Printing in Relation to Graphic Art By George French oh> Cleveland The Imperial Press 1903 Copyright, 1903, by George French 4-0 ^4- 7 r^ Contents PAGB Prefatory Note vii Introduction i Chapter i Art in Printing 1 1 Chapter ii Pictorial Composition 23 Chapter hi Type Composition 31 Chapter iv Proportion and the Format .... 41 Chapter v Color 51 Chapter vi Tone 62 Chapter vii Light and Shade 71 Chapter viii Values 77 Chapter ix Paper 83 Chapter x Style 93 Chapter xi The Binding 105 Chapter xii Specifications 115 Prefatory Note It is not the purpose of this book to try to establish a claim for printing that it is an art. It is hoped that it may show that the princi- ples of art may be applied to printing, and that such application may lead to improvement in some essentials of printing. Thanks are due to several experts in print- ing who have read the proofs, and have given wise and acceptable counsel. I desire to acknowledge that aid has been freely sought from books upon art, and that in some instances forms of expression have been adopted from them. No originality is claimed for the allusions to art, nor for art terms and formulas employed. September, 1903. Introduction Introduction tECAUSE it is difficult to per- fectly transfer a thought from one mind to another it is essen- tial that the principal medium through which suchtransference is accomplished may be as perfect as it is poss- ible to make it. It is not wholly by means of the literal sig- nificance of certain forms of words that ideas are given currency, whether the words are spoken or printed. In speaking it is easy to convey an impression opposed to the literal meaning of the words employed, by the tone, the expression, the emphasis. It is so also with printed matter. The thought or idea to be com- municated acquires or loses force, directness, clearness, lucidity, beauty, in proportion to the fitness of the typography employed as a me- dium. It is not primarily a question of beauty of form that is essential in printing, but of the appropriateness of form. Beauty for itself alone is, in printing, but an accessory quality, to be [3 ] considered as an aid to the force and clarity of the substance of the printed matter. An object of art illustrating forms and ex- pressions of beauty subtly suggests esthetic or sensuous emotions, which play upon the differ- ing consciousnesses of beholders as their ca- pacities and natures enable them to appreciate it. The impulse received from the art object is individually interpreted and appropriated, and its value to the individual is determined by each recipient, in accord with his nature, training, and capacity. The motive of a piece of printing is driven into the consciousness of the reader with brutal directness, and it is one of the offices of the typographer to mitigate the severity of the mes- sage or to give an added grace to its welcome. The book has become such a force as had not been dreamed of a generation ago. The magical increase in the circulation of books, by sale and through libraries, is one of the modern marvels. It is inevitable that the gentle and elevating influence of good literature will be greater and broader in proportion to the in- crease of the reading habit, for despite the great amount of triviality in literature the propor- tion of good is larger than ever before, and the trivial has not as large a proportion of absolute badness. The critical are prone to underrate [4] the influence of what they esteem trivial litera- ture upon the lives of the people who read little else. It is certain that there is some good in it, and that it affects the lives of those who read it. Even the most lawless of the bandits of the sanguinary novels has a knightly strain in his character, and his high crimes and mis- demeanors are tempered with a certain imper- ative code of homely morality and chivalry. The spectacular crimes are recognized by the majority of readers as the stage setting for the tale — the tabasco sauce for the literary pabu- lum. They are not considered to be essential traits of admirable character. The cure for the distemper it is supposed to excite resides in the sensational literature of the day ; it is as likely to lead to better things, it may be, as it is likely to deprave. The cultivating power of any book is en- hanced if it is itself an object of art. If it is made in accord with the principles of art, as they are applicable to printing and binding, it will have a certain refining influence, independent of its literary tendency. If we are to subscribe to the best definition of esthetics, we are bound to recognize in the physical character of the books that are read by masses of people a powerful element for ar- tistic education, and one lending itself to the [5] educational propaganda with ready acquies- cence and inviting eagerness. The business and the mechanics of printing have attained a high degree of perfection. The attention bestowed upon the machinery of business, the perfection of systems and meth- ods, has brought commercial and mechanical processes to a degree of perfection and finish that leaves slight prospect of further improve- ment, more illuminating systems, or more exact methods. The business of printing is conduct- ed in a manner undreamt of by the men who were most consequential a generation ago. Only a few years have passed since the methods that now control in the counting-rooms of the larg- er printshops were unknown. Now all is sys- tem; knowledge, by the grace of formulas and figures. A like condition prevails in the work rooms : in the composing-room and the pressroom. The processes incident to printing have been improved, in a mechanical way, until little is left for hope to feed upon. The trade of the printer has been broken into specialized units. The "all 'round" printer is no more. In his place there is the hand compositor, the " ad " compositor, the job compositor, the machine operator, the make-up man, the pressman, the press feeder, etc., each a proficient specialist [6] but neither one a printer. To further mechani- calize the working printers, the planning of the work, has been largely taken into the count- ing-room, or is done in detail at the foreman's desk. So every influence has been at work to limit the versatility and kill the originalitv of the man at the case. The compensatory reflec- tion is the probability that the assembly of results accomplished by expert units may be a whole of a higher grade of excellence. The process of specialized improvement has been carried through all the mechanical depart- ments, and has had its way with every machine and implement, revolutionizing them and their manipulation also. The time is ripe for a new motive of improvement and advance to become operative. The mechanical evolution may well stay its course. It has far outstripped the ar- tistic and the intellectual motives. It is quite time to return to them and bring them up to the point reached by the mechanics of the craft, if it be found not possible to put them as far in advance as their relative importance seems to demand. It is not difficult to conclude that certain principles of art have been influential in print- ing since the craft was inaugurated by Guten- berg and Fust and their contemporaries, but it appears that the relation between printing [ 7] and the graphic arts has not yet been fully and consciously acknowledged. Some of the older rules and principles of printing are in perfect harmony with the principles and rules of art, and undoubtedly had their origin in the same necessity for harmony that lies in human na- ture and that was the seed of art principles. Printing touches life upon so many of its fac- ets, and is such a constant constituent of it, that it requires no special plea to raise it to the plane of one of the absolute forces of culture and one of the most important elements of progress. This postulate admitted, and the plea for the fuller recognition of the control of art principles in printing needs to be pressed only to the point of full recognition, and it requires no stretch of indulgent imagination to find printing successfully asserting a claim to berec- ognized as an art. It is manifest that printing is not an art in the sense that painting is an art. Painting has no utilitarian side. It is, with it, art or nothing. Printing is 99-1 oothsutilitarian. It is essentially a craft. If there is a possibility latent in it of development of true art through refinement and reform in its processes, and the application of art principles, to the end that the possibility of the production of occa- sional pieces that can demonstrate a claim to be art be admitted, it is all that can be hoped. [8 ] This is claiming for printing only that which is conceded to the other crafts. There is no claim put forward for silversmiths that their work is all artistic ; the chief part of it is very manifestly craftsmanship, yet examples that are true art constantly appear. The same is true of wood carving, of repousse work in met- als, and of many crafts. It may be true of print- ing, and will be when printers themselves be- come qualified to view their craftsmanship from the point of view of the artist, and feel for it that devotion which is always the recognizable controlling motive of artists in other graphic arts, and in those crafts that verge upon the graphic arts. [9] Art in Printing Art in Printing HERE is this vital difference between other objects of art and printing : That our asso- ciation with them is purely voluntary, and that printing forces itself upon us at all times and in every relation of life. It is impossible for a person of intelligence to remove himself from the influ- ence of printing. It confronts him at every turn, and in every relation of life it plays an important and insistent part. Such examples of art as a painting or a piece of statuary exert a certain influence upon a restricted number of persons ; and it is at all times optional with all persons whether they submit themselves to the influence of such art objects. We are able to evade the influence of other forms of art, but we are not able to ward off printing. To it we must submit. It is con- stantly before our eyes ; it is forever exerting its power upon our consciousness. It is quite possible that we may not at present be able to refer any quality of mind, or any degree of [ u] cultivation, directly to printing, in any form it may have been presented to us ; but it is easily conceivable that printing has a certain influence upon our esthetic life which has been so con- stant and so habitual as to have escaped definite recognition. If we engage our minds in some attempt to realize the quality and extent of pleasure and profit derivable from the constant influence of printing that conforms to artistic principles, we may perceive that it may be a most powerful and effectual agency for culture. It is under- stood that it is the gentle but constant influ- ence that moulds our habits and lives the more readily and lastingly. If therefore it is possible for us to conceive that the printed page of a book may illustrate and enforce several of the more elemental and important principles un- derlying graphic art, we may thereby realize that printing may readily be employed in the character of a very powerful art educator, if be- cause of certain inalienable limitations it must be denied full recognition as a member of the sisterhood of arts. The book page may be regarded as the pro- toplasm of all printing. If we examine the re- lation of principles of art to the book page we will be able to appreciate the exact importance of those principles in the composition of any [ H] other form of printing, and to so apply them as to secure results most nearly relating print- ing to graphic art. It is the chief characteristic of this uncertain dogma of art in printing that its limitations and variations defy the conventional forms of expression, and almost require a new vocabu- lary of art terms. It assuredly requires a new and a different comprehension of the terms of art, and a distinctly varied comprehension of the word art itself It has ever been a stum- bling block to printers that the word art as applied to their craft must be given a more limited significance than is given it in its usual acceptance. If we can come at some intelligible appreciation of what we mean by art in print- ing the way will be opened for the application of that motive to the work of the presses. If we recognize at once the fact that we do not mean exactly what a painter means when we use the word art with reference to printing, we will have taken the vital step toward a com- prehensible employment of the term, as well as qualified ourselves for an understanding of the results we desire to achieve. It is essential that we do not fall into the er- ror of supposing that scientific accuracy is art. It is destructive of art, and the temptation to put too much stress upon exactitude is a mis- [ -5] take the printer must guard himself from with the most sedulous care. It is agreeable to rec- ognize the touch of the artist, in printing as in other arts, and scientific accuracy is certain to obliterate individuality. It is not the cold, lifeless abstraction, the shining exemplar of all the precepts and rules of art, that we love and desire, but the human note speaking through the principles and rules. If the artist is not the dominant note, and the rules submerged by the personality, there is no value in the object of art. The picture is interesting because the artist expresses through it his appreciation, his interpretation, of a beautiful thought or a love- ly thing. This is what puts the most faithful photographs outside of the pale of art, and com- pels the idealization of the performance of the camera before it can be considered to be ar- tistic. The photograph is not, usually, true to our view of life. If it is indeed true to life it rep- resents a view of life that is quite strange to us, and often distasteful. We are not familiar with the uncouth animal the photograph shows us the horse in action to be, and we will not accept that caricature as the real horse. The horse that is real to us is the animal we see with our eyes, and the horse in art must be the animal we see plus the artist's logical idealization. The facts are the same with regard to nearly all of the [ '6 ] work of the camera, and with regard to other attempts at scientific accuracy in art. It is for- eign to our experience, and does violence to our ideals. We actually see no such automa- tons as photography shows us men in action are, and we can never accept such disillusionment. If it is attempted in the name of art we will turn upon art and throw it out of our lives. It is the irredeemable fault of some proc- esses employed in printing that they are too scientifically accurate. This is the legitimate ar- gument against the halftone plate as contrasted with the line engraving or the reproductions of pen-and-ink work, etc. The halftone is too accurate. It brings us face to face with the stark reality, and brushes away all the kindly ro- mance nature has made a necessary adjunct to our powers of vision. Attempts to restore this quality to halftones with the graver are only partially successful, as the defect is too deep seated, too radically fundamental. Some other processes, other than reproductive processes, employed in printing are exposed to this dan- ger of too much scientific accuracy, producing results that have no warmth, no sympathy, no human power. Printing is peculiarly the victim of this cold formality of sentiment, and must be considered as upon that plane. But this fact makes the obligation to be alive to every [ -7] opportunity to mitigate its severity the more pressing upon every printer who dreams of his work as of an art, and the closer the sympathy between the printer and the culture of art the more warmth and humanity he will be able to infuse into his work. Some of the principles of art have a funda- mental relation to printing, while some have an influence upon it so illusive as to defy defi- nition, and compel us to look upon the con- nection as something no more substantial than feeling. Indeed, the whole matter of the appli- cation of art principles to printing may not unfairly be considered to be one of feeling; in- volving the saturation of the printer with the rules and tenets of art and the adding thereto of a fine discrimination tempered by a resolute Philistinism, and then the play of his cultivat- ed individuality upon the typography. Principles and rules of art for the printer's guidance must be more mobile than can be permitted for the guidance of the painter, the draughtsman, the engraver, or the sculptor, be- cause the medium for the expression of the printer's conception is so nearly immobile. It is the reverse of the general conception: The rule must adapt itself to the medium and to the circumstances, at least so far as the measure of its observance is concerned, if not in some [ ■» ] emergencies where its principle is also at stake. It is conceivable in printing that emergencies may occur making it imperative to ignore the primary rules of composition, of proportion, of balance, or of perspective; it may be neces- sary to even do violence to principles relating to color or to tone. Such emergencies must be exceedingly rare, but that we are forced to re- gard them as possible emphasizes the subtle difference between art and art in printing. There can be no good art if the principles of art are violated in execution ; there may be good print- ing if the principles of art are occasionally mod- ified or even ignored. The motive of printing is not primarily an art motive. It is a utilitarian motive. In print- ing therefore art is to be invoked for guidance only so far as it will lend itself to the expres- sion of the motive. It is never, in printing, "art for art's sake"; it is ever art for printing's sake. We do not print to illustrate art, nor to produce objects of art. We print to spread in- telligence — to make knowledge available to all who will read. A painted picture, if of a high order of art, is meant to appeal to a sentiment but slightly connected with the " story " of the picture. The appreciative observer of a good painting gives little thought to the "story," to the literary motive, but is absorbed in seeking [ >9] for the artistic motive, in order that he may yield himself to the charm of the work of art ; he seeks " art for art's sake." In printing it is the "story" that is told; it is the literary motive that must be consid- ered, first and most anxiously. Nothing may interfere — not even art. The shaft of the " story " must go, swift and true, straight into the comprehension of the reader. This is the constant anxiety of the printer. The literary motive must not be encumbered. It must be freed from the mechanics of the printed page absolutely. This is the printer's problem. He must not seek to attract to his mechanics. It is the essence of his art that he liberate ideas and send them forth with no ruffled pinions, no evident signs of the pent-house page from which they wing their way. The printer's work and the painter's art ex- actly reverse their processes, as their motives are opposed ; but they must both work with the same tools, measurably. Everything with the painter is plastic, except his art. Everything is immobile with the printer, except his art ; and of that he hopes to employ only so much as will gild the prosaic commercialism of the mo- tive he must express. The chief principles and tenets of art are all applicable to the craft of printing, in some degree. Drawing, composi- [ 20] tion, harmony, balance, proportion, perspec- tive, color, tone, light-and-shade, values, etc., are qualities of graphic art that apply to print- ing with varying force, according to the ex- igencies of each particular case in hand, and particularly according to the comprehension and cultivation of the printer. It is always pos- sible to explain the beauty and power of any piece of printing by reference to the same prin- ciples that are responsible for the excellencies of other works of graphic art. It is therefore logical to assume that those principles which explain the excellencies of printing are respon- sible for them. It is evident that the value of these art qual- ities in printing must depend upon the care and intelligence exercised in their application. They are refinements upon the usual and pri- mary practices of printing, and unless they can be employed with full sympathy and knowl- edge, as well as with the artistic spirit and com- prehension, they will appeal to the printer in vain. The question with the printer is : Is it worth while to give my work all the beauty and dis- tinction and power possible.'' If it is decided that it is profitable to execute work as worth- ily as it is possible to execute it, the printer will not be satisfied if he does not devote himself [21 ] to a study of this phase of his craft, and a study of sufficient breadth and thoroughness to give him a reliable basis of knowledge and the re- sultant self-confidence. Having proceeded thus far he will not fail to apply all these art tenets to the full extent of his knowledge and their adaptability. [ " ] Pictorial Composition Pictorial Composition ,HILE too much science is often deadly to art, the true basis of pictorial composi- tion is rigidly scientific, and all of the principles govern- ing it are of use and importance to the printer, especially in planning displayed work and in title pages. Composition is that quality which gives a picture coherence, "the mortar of the wall." It was not esteemed of importance by the old masters, and many of their works do not show that they knew or cared for that which distin- guishes a picture from a map, a group photo- graph, or a scientific diagram. It is the absence of composition, balance, unity, that makes or- dinary photographs something other than true works of art. It is not primarily truth of rep- resentation that is necessary in a work of art, but truth of idealization; and that quality is be- yond the conscious reach of the camera's lens. It is a redeeming and a justifying element add- ed by the imagination of the artist. There may [ ^-5 ] be a picture, by a photographer or by a painter, having all the requisite component parts to make it a work of art ; there may be, for ex- ample, a woman, an axe, a road, a mountain, trees; but these thrown together upon a can- vas do not make a work of art unless they are properly composed, even if they are arranged in an order satisfying to the realist, and each faultlessly executed. It is not the same thing to paint and to make pictures; to print and to execute artistic printing. The application of the rules of composition to pieces of printing made up in a whole or in part of "display" types is obviously essential to their beauty. It is the touch of beauty given to science that produces art. In printing the matter of securing balance and unity is at once more simple and more difficult than in paint- ing. The component parts to be dealt with are more rigid and restricted, but are purely con- ventional and precise. The painter's concep- tion is given balance and unity through the original drawing and color-scheme corrected and perfected by constant scrutiny and by tests and continual alterations. The printed piece must be balanced by a wise choice and skilful arrangement of the types, and a careful distri- bution of white space and black ink, or color. The actual center of a canvas is the center [ ^-6 ] of attraction in a picture perfectly balanced. This does not mean that an equal amount of paint must be spread upon every quarter of the canvas, nor that objects of equal visual im- portance in themselves must be equally distrib- uted over it. A tiny dot of distinctive paint, placed a certain distance from the center of the canvas, may perfectly balance an object ten times its size which is placed relatively nearer the center. Balance in printing must not be un- derstood to mean that there must be an equal distribution of weight over all quarters of the piece, but that there must be a compensatory distribution of weight. I n his lucid and interesting book upon " Pic- torial Composition" Mr. H. R. Poore gives a series of " postulates" which embody his ideas upon the subject, and are expressed in terms intelligible to the non-artistic as well as to those whose familiarity with art enables them to grasp more technical phrases. To the printer it is only necessary to suggest that he inter- pret "units" as meaning features in his work and he will be able to appreciate that these art rules may not infrequently stand him in good stead, especially when he is perplexed with some piece of work that he is having difficulty in making " look right." Those of Mr. Poore's "postulates" that appear to apply easily to [^7] printing, and may be more profitably studied and heeded by printers and others interested in typography, are here given: All pictures are a collection of units. Every unit has a given value. The value of a unit depends on its attrac- tion ; of its character, of its size, of its place- ment. A unit near the edge has more attraction than at the center. Every part of the picture space has some at- traction. Space having no detail may possess attrac- tion by gradation and by suggestion. A unit of attraction in an otherwise empty space has more weight through isolation than the same when placed with other units. A unit in the foreground has less weight than one in the distance. Two or more associated units may be reck- oned as one and their united center is the point on which they balance with others. In the application of the rules of composi- tion to graphic art it is possible to minutely sub- divide the topic and refer to specific examples and explicit rules for practice. The selection of the particular kind of balance to be sought de- pends upon the placement of the important item or subject, which is in itself chiefly impor- tant in the scheme of balance as giving the key- [ 28 ] note, furnishing the starting point. There is the balance of equal measures, which is a picture or piece of printing which may be cut into four equal parts, by horizontal and vertical lines drawn through its center, with each part show- ing equal weight; the balance of isolated meas- ures, where the chief item is placed away from the center and has one or more isolated spots to compensate, skilfully placed ; the horizon- tal balance; the vertical balance; the formal balance ; the balance by opposition of light and dark measures; balance by gradation; balance of isolation, and other varieties of balance more technical and more especially adapted to the painter's uses. Each of these variants of the basic rules of composition may be of special value to the printer, if he studies the subject sufficiently to gain a clear comprehension of how each applies in printing. This is one of the art subjects that the prac- tical printer may deem of too slight conse- quence to merit his careful attention. But if it is desired to produce printing of power — power to pleasurably attract the eye of those persons who possess either an instinctive or a cultivated taste for art — it is essential that the work ad- here closely to the rules governing pictorial composition. The eve is a relentless judge. Here, as in all printing, the esthetic motive [ ^9 ] is identical with the business consideration. There is a double motive for the best printing, the esthetic and the business motive, and it is impossible to separate them, or consider either apart from the other. It is unnecessary to at- tempt to evade the force and meaning of the new appreciation of the basis of good printing, as it leads so surely to financial as well as es- thetic betterment, and should be congenial to the tastes of every printer who has advanced in his craft beyond the standards of the wood- sawyer. [30] Type Composition Type Composition H E composition of type is the first task an apprentice is re- quired to undertake when he goes to " learn the trade," and his ideas regarding its impor- tance rarely rise above the level of the drudgery of his early days at the case. But little of the effort to improve the quality of printing has as yet extended back to this primary proceeding, the setting of the type, yet in this fundamental operation lies the possibility for very great im- provement and distinction, and for lamentable failure. Progress in typography has been slower, and it has reached a less advanced position, than have other branches of the printing craft. Press- work for example has become so nearly perfect as to leave little room for the exercise of the critic's art ; and the choice and manipulation of paper leaves little hope for radical advance. Type is set as it was set one, two, three gener- ations ago, for the most part. A few printers have given this subject special study, and are I 23 ] executing book pages that are the wonder and despair of the craft. Their distinction has been rather easily won. It is quite possible to detect the source of it, and not difficult to draw the same results from the same fount. It has become a habit to accept the com- posed page of type as the foundation upon which to erect a fine piece of printing. The real foundation lies somewhat further back. There can scarcely be distinction in a printed piece unless its source is in the successive steps of progress that antedate the composition of the type. The final artistic result must be clear- ly conceived in the mind of the printer before he drops one type into the stick. His scheme must be fully developed, and it must be con- sistent in all its details. The type for a piece of printing should be selected to give adequate expression to the lit- erary motive, to properly emphasize the sub- ject matter, with the view to the production of a handsome and worthy piece of printing. To secure this latter quality in printing is the pri- mary object of the typesetter, and therein lies the proof of his skill and of his taste. Wheth- er the type selected is the best possible for a given piece of work may be a debatable ques- tion, but however it succeeds or fails in this particular, the printer may manipulate it in [34] such a manner as will result in a consistent and artistic example of typography. He may use the sizes which should be in conjunction; he may avoid the common anachronism of lower- case and capital-letter lines in the same piece ; he may place his white space so that it will not only be agreeably proportioned to the black or other color of the print but so that it will be as important an element of strength as the ink- covered surface; he may adjust the margins. These points are all vital, but none of them more so than the use of lower-case and capital- letter lines in conjunction. The capital letters of the ordinary font of type do not lend them- selves gracefully to the making of complete words. They are not designed for such work. The lower-case letters are designed to stand to- gether, but it is impossible to combine many capital letters without making noticeable gaps and breaks and some awkward connections. But the objection to capital-letter lines in conjunc- tion with lower-case lines does not rest chiefly upon this point. There are fonts of type from which capital-letter lines scarcely subject to the cristicism suggested may be set. The objection is not urged against capital-letter lines in a pro- hibitive sense, but because their intrusion in a company of lower-case lines destroys harmony. A like deplorable effect is produced by the use [35 ] of inharmonious series of type for the same piece of typography. The war of styles of type is as destructive to artistic effect as the poorest execution can be. In the old days the appren- tice was taught to alternate lower-case and cap- ital-letter lines in job printing, and avoid using two lines of the same series in conjunction. No one of the small refinements which are now being applied to composition has worked so radical an improvement as the newer ideas relative to spacing, and the perception that the spacing between words, the leading between lines, and the degree of blackness of the face of the letter, must have a balanced relation. This has operated to abolish the conventional em quadrat after the period, and to produce a page of type-matter which lends itself readily to securing tone and optical comfort. The activity and the fecundity of the type founders in producing new type faces has oper- ated, in the first instance, to furnish new ex- cuse for discord. Then a reaction began, and the liberality of the founders in making complete lines and elaborate series of type faces is sug- gesting uniformity in scheme and supplying material for consistent execution. The elabo- rate specimen books are scarcely a temptation to restraint however, nor do they tempt to clas- sicism. Too much type at the hand of the printer [36] is a positive detriment. Until quite recently a very large proportion of the new faces had no warrant for existence. They were abortions, based upon the fantastic ideas of designers who exhibited little knowledge of art or of history. The more recent product of the foundries is much more creditable, and it appears that the designing of type has been taken in hand by artists of capacity, who are actuated by motives worthy of their ambitions and guided by his- torical research that is true in aim if not always profound. The typographic tendency is distinctly to- ward better things. It lags, however. It is not on the level of the other processes of printing. We are yet compelled to admit that presswork is far ahead of composition in development, as is the facility for compounding and handling inks and the selection and the manipulation of paper. In this vitally fundamental matter we have made little real progress. The disciples of bet- ter things are not honored with a following. They are regarded with mild interest by a few of the more progressive ones, with distinct dis- approval by the many conservatives, and with utter indifference by the mass. Yet they will win. That there is impending a considerable re- form in the composition of type is certain, and [37] the reform will consist in the general adoption of the refinements now practiced by a few: In a closer study of the matter of spacing and lead- ing, with a view to bringing the tone of the page up to near the artistic requirements; in a better balance between body type and chapter and page headings; in a better, more consist- ent and uniform management of the folio; in order that those features may be actually the guiding and subsidiary features in typography that they assuredly are in the literary scheme of the book. The time is coming when a book page will be planned to harmonize with and express the literary motive; to promote ease and pleasure in reading; and to satisfy the innate sense of artistic harmony which is felt and appreciated by the cultivated reader, even if, as must often be the fact, he is quite unconscious of the ex- istence of such a demand. It is upon a basis somewhat like this that books should be planned : Make one page that meets the requirements of art and of the liter- ary motive, and base the book upon it. Such is not the general custom. It is more the fashion to fix the size of the book and accommodate the page to the arbitrary scheme, forcing the type and the format to adequate proportions. There are books that are artistically ruined by the use [38 ] of type of an inharmonious face, or that may be one size too small or too large; there are many books that are, typographically, abor- tions, because of neglect to conform to certain very simple tenets of art, when they might as easily have been exemplars of artistic motives and a comfort and delight to each cultivated reader. It is doubtless because these neglected es- sentials are so simple and so easily incorpo- rated that it is so difficult to obtain recognition and currency for them. But we may rejoice that books are beginning to receive some of this kind of attention, even in the big printing fac- tories, where books are made very much as barrels of flour are turned out of the great northwestern mills, or as bags of grain are discharged from the modern reapers marching in clattering procession over the horizon-wide wheat townships. 139} Proportion and the Format Proportion and the Format T I S a delicate and essential mat- ter to fix upon the length of the type page, and a difficult ques- tion to fix the margins. There is a mass of literature bearing upon these matters, but they cannot in every case be decided according to arbitrary rules. It is usu- ally safe to be guided by the usual rules in pro- portioning a page of type, and in placing the page upon the paper. A thorough understand- ing of the principles of art as they may be applied to printing will suggest occasional in- fractions of mechanical rules in the interests of good art. Exactly what is to be the procedure in every instance cannot be formulated into rules, but it is always possible to explain justi- fiable infractions of rules by reference to prin- ciples of art. When it is found impossible to thus justify departures from rule, precedent or convention, it is evident that art would have gained if the rules had been adhered to. The treatment of the format of a book has become somewhat of a moot question, though [43 ] it is evident that the advocates of the strictly conventional method are gradually drawing practical printers into agreement with them, and that their opponents rely upon the spirit of philistinism for their chief justification, con- fining their arguments largely to contradiction unfortified by either logic or precedent. Phi- listinism is not entirely evil, but the present is not a time of such slavish conformity as to clothe it with the appearance of a virtue. Pro- test is the instinctive spirit of today. In print- ing there is too much of it. We need more con- formity, if conformity be interpreted not to mean blind adherence to precedent but a large and active faith in the saving virtue of demon- strable principles. Proportion, balance, in a limited sense com- position as understood in art, and optics must be considered in adjusting the format of abook. The size and shape of the book must deter- mine the exact dimensions of the page and the margins. The leafof the ordinary book which is generally approved is fifty per cent longer than it is wide. This proportion is often varied, and for different reasons, but it may be accepted as a standard. The margins of a correctly printed book are not equal. The back margin is the narrowest, the top a little wider than the back, the front [44] still wider, and the bottom, or tail margin, the widest of all. Why this scheme for margins has grown to be authoritative, and adopted by good bookmakers, is not entirely clear. Nearly all the literature upon the subject is devoted to at- tempts to justify the custom instead of explain- ing its origin. The best justification that can now be offered is the evident fact that the cus- tom is agreeable to publishers, to authors, and to discriminating readers. It is often alleged that there is some law of optics that is in agreement with the custom, but it might be difficult to establish such a claim though it is not necessary to attempt to refute it. We are accustomed to this arrangement of the margins in the best books, and that to which we have become accustomed requires no de- fense, scarcely an explanation. It is certain that the format of a book appeals to us as right only where this arrangement of unequal margins is strictly observed. It is easy to imagine that our eyes rest more contentedly upon the pair of pages before them when those pages incline toward the top of the leaves and toward each other. The eyeof thebookishperson is undeni- ably better satisfied if the margins are propor- tioned as specified. There may be grounds for doubting the claim that the reasons for such satisfaction are optical ; there are some plausible [45] arguments to support such a contention. It is a question for oculists. The other reasons for the evolution of the book format into its present form are logical. If they do not lead to the conclusion that art has been served and justified in full they as- suredly do not lead to a contrary conclusion. The early paper makers produced a sheet that was uneven in shape and variable in size, and the pressman was compelled to make large al- lowance on the front and tail margins. The back and top margins could be reckoned, as when the sheet was folded by the print they would be uniform. The front and tail margins were made wide enough to allow for the un- evenness of the paper and for the trim. It was inevitable that the allowance should be too great, and that to preserve the proper form and proportion for the book the front and tail mar- gins should occasionally be left wider than the back and head margins. This, it may be im- agined, did much to fix the present custom. The ancient handmade papers were thicker on the fore edge of the sheet than in the cen- ter, and as the bookbinder could not beat the edges flat they had to be trimmed oflF. In the old days books were taken more se- riously than they now are, and studious read- ers desired to annotate their copies of favorite [46] books. The front and tail margins were used for this purpose, and they were therefore given their larger proportion of the sheet. In the fif- teenth century this motive for wide margins was recognized by all printers, and many of them went so far as to provide printed annota- tions for all four of the margins. There were other motives for fixing the margins as we have them. Whether the optical and the artistic motives, purely as such, may explain the modern format more logically than the historical motives do, may be debatable. The question is not vitally important. We wish to see the format of our books made as the best practice makes it, whether our taste is in- herited as a habit or is acquired through our artistic cultivation. Accepting therefore the dictum as it stands, without pressing an inquiry as to its authority or its legitimacy, it remains something of a problem to fix the margins and place the page of a book. When all suggestions and rules are considered it will be found that it is not often that the ordinary book page will submit grace- fully to variation of the rule that the length be determined by cutting the page into two tri- angles, the hypotenuse of either of which shall be twice the width of the page. The page-head- ing should be included in this measurement, [47] but if the folio is placed at the foot, either in bare figures or enclosed within brackets, it need not be included. This formula must often be disregarded, especially when the book is not to be proportioned in conventional dimensions. No other form is as satisfactory however, and it is quite within the bounds of the practice of the better bookmakers to consider it as the approved conventional page. Whenever it is varied the guide must be a general sense of appropriateness, having consideration for all the other varied elements. There are other rules. One that was much in vogue at one time, and is esteemed now by some good printers, makes the type page one- half more in length than its width. This rule is restricted in its application. It will not do for a quarto page, nor for a broad octavo. An- other rule provides that the sum of the square inches on the back and top margins shall be one-half the sum of the square inches on the front and tail margins. This is difficult to ap- ply in practice, for obvious reasons, except as a test to determine the correctness of margins already fixed. The margins must be adjusted with the in- tent to make the two pages lying exposed to view properly harmonize with the book leaf, and adjust themselves to the tyrannical optical [48 ] demands of the eyes of the reader. This re- quires a very strict and careful adherence to rules well understood by good printers, as well as a courageous disregard of those rules when the exigencies of the case demand it. There are many other things to consider. The general character and purpose of the book must be taken into account,the size of type, and whether it is to be leaded or set solid, the quality and weight of paper, etc. A bible, guide book, or directory, need not have wide margins, nor a book printed on small typeand thin paper; and a book the type for which is not leaded should be given less margin than is allowed for a page of leaded type. While the same general scheme for margins is applicable to nearly all good books, of whatever shape and size, when the contents and object do not dominate the physi- cal character, it is obvious that the dimensions cannot in all cases be fixed according to the same formulas. A quarto page must have wider mar- gins than an octavo, but they must bear a like relative proportion to each other. A quarto page must be proportioned differently than an octavo ; it must be shorter by about one-seventh. The width of the margins must in some de- gree depend upon the amount of white in the page of type, upon the tone of the type page. This involves the character of the type face [49] quite as much as the spacing and leading given it, as some type faces have such Hght lines as to give the page a very light tone, even when the type is set solid and the spacing is close, other types have such heavy lines as to de- mand wide spacing, leading, and wide margins, to bring the tone down to a proper degree of grayness. Consideration of all these questions affect- ing the format, and especially the margins, of a proposed book lead to the conclusion that it is good practice to select the paper as the first step in the planning of a book that is intended to be made upon artistic lines, and upon this foundation to build the typography and the binding, according to the rules of harmony and of proportion. [ 50] Col or Col or N art, color is not essential to some forms and processes, as en- graving, etching, charcoal work, and the various forms of crayon work; and in printing, it is ab- sent from the large percentage of work done in black and white. This limitation of the application of the word "color" in printing is quite arbitrary. If we speak in the strictest sense we must con- sider that black and white work is color work. White is the concentration of all the rays of the solar spectrum, the epitome of all colors; while black is the appearance of the substance that most nearly rejects all reflections of the spectrum colors ; and black and white are as truly colors as are red, violet, vermilion, or any of the other brilliant tints. Yet as it is usual to allude to black and white as some other qualities than color, and as they affect us so dif- ferently, it is deemed to be more convenient to consider them in relation to light and shade, tone, and values, and to confine the meaning of [53] "color "to the tints shown by the spectrum. This is not an insignificant distinction when employed in relation to printing, as much of the beauty and power of the plainly printed book page is due to the apportionment of black and white — black type and white paper. So when we speak of color in printing it must be understood that the word is not used in its broadest, nor in its most exact, sense ; but in an arbitrarily restricted sense, applying exactly as it is applied by printers in actual practice. The printer's understanding of color, his appreciation of its usefulness and power, is ap- proaching toward the high esteem in which it is held by the painter. He is coming to know that it is a high quality of his work, and that by it he is able to suggest several other qualities that are vital, such as lights, shadows, perspec- tives, etc. There are no explicit rules for the guidance of the printer in the use of color. There are certain fundamental principles, and many rules deduced from them, a thorough acquaintance with which will enable him to avoid serious blunders and greatly aid him in the working out of a scheme ; but that sense of rightness which the successful artist or craftsman occasionally experiences, cannot be won by the mere follow- ing of the letter and the spirit of rules. How [ 54] true this is becomes apparent when the work of the best printers is examined with inteUi- gent care, and it seems absolute when the mea- ger Hst of great painter colorists is reviewed: Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Rubens, Velasquez, Delacroix, and a few with less claim to the title. All that is known about color has been absorbed by hundreds of artists ; yet out of a great army of successful students there have come so few good colorists that their names can be spoken in ten seconds. To effectively deal with color a fair under- standing of what science is able to tell of its essential properties and powers is necessary as a basis. To this may be added such of the de- ductions and rules as have been formulated by the great painters and the students. The important starting point is this : To re- alize that color is not a material existence, not a substance, not a fixed fact equally appreciable by all and equally demonstrable to all. It is a sensation; and a sensation not of the same force or quality for different individuals. Of itself it depends upon the waves of the ether in space; for us it depends upon the power and truth of our eyes. One may truthfully see a color that is quite another thingto another person, if there should chance to be a difference radical enough or defects serious enough in the eyes of either. [ 55] The laws governing light are of great impor- tance to the colorists. There are subtleties that have important practical application which cannot be guessed otherwise than by direct reference to science. In no other way can a printer know for example what colors are com- plementary or what effect a certain color will have upon another when they are used together. There are many curious facts about color which do not appear to be regulated by laws at all similar to those we are accustomed to ap- ply in other matters; that there is this universal and radical difference is of great importance to those who use color in printing. It is interest- ing to realize that color is produced by light wavesjthe different colors by waves of different lengths, or greater frequency ; that red appears to the eye when the light wave is xg^finr of an inch in length, or when the frequency of the vibration is 392 quadrillions per second, by the American system of enumeration. It may be also of practical money value to the printer to know such facts, and to always be conscious of a fact more likely to be of practical use, namely, that the sensation of color is produced upon our sensory nerves in a manner closely analogous to that which produces the sensation of har- mony : by ether waves set in motion in a dif- ferent way. These sensory nerves are the most [ 56] easily entered avenues to our pleasurable sen- sations; far more delicate and responsive than the different brain organs to the more obvious consciousnesses, as personal regard and literary appreciation, etc. The printer handling color is making an appeal of the most subtle and delicate nature, vastly more so than is made by the type matter that may form the body of the piece of print- ing he is embellishing with color. There are three primary colors — red, yellow, and blue — and three composite colors, which can be formed by mixings of primary colors — green, orange, and violet. It is of importance to the printer to know which of these colors are complementary and which uncomplemen- tary. Complementary colors are those that may be used in close conjunction without one un- favorably affecting the other. This is the secret of complementary, or harmonious, colors : Will they make white if mixed ? This means a natural and perfect union of the light rays reflected from the color scheme upon the eye's retina, and so passed along to the sensory nerves — the telegraph line from the physical world to the appreciative brain. It appears that those com- plementary color schemes which can be perfect- ly justified are such as reflect light rays near- est like the rays that show us white. Red and [ 57] green, the two most pronounced and vigorous colors, are complementary. When mixed in the proper proportionsthey produce white, butthis does not mean that they weaken each other when otherwise used; when placed side by side they enhance each other's power and brilliancy by reflection. Their very intimate relation is further shown by the fact that red, by itself, is bordered by a faint halo of green, and green by a tinge of red. Yellow and indigo also make white bymixing,and easilyreveal traces of each other when properly manipulated. This inter- changebetween complementary colorsiscarried still further: The shadow of a color does not show the color itself, but the complementary color to which it is most nearly related. There is a curious law of optical mixture to deal with — that tendency of the eye to unify the color scheme which changes colors when used in combination upon a piece of printing or upon a canvas. This sometimes so changes the expected effect of a color scheme that has been carefully studied as to render it inadvis- able to use it. It is generally found that opti- cal mixture verifies the taste and judgment of the colorist who has been faithful to the com- plementary color laws, and helps him to a har- mony, rather than condemns his work. Opti- cal mixture is too nearly a mere name for a [58] manifestation of the relation of complementary colors to trouble the printer, though a con- sciousness of it and its effect may at times aid him in producing some delicate effects. The reasons for desiring reliable knowledge of these qualities of colors are clear. Brilliancy is obtained by using complementary colors side by side, because each gives to the other its favorable halo of color; and dulness of coloring followsthe use of uncomplementary colors side by side because each partially kills the other with its unfavorable halo of color. Careful observance of this law of colors will not give perfect harmony to the color scheme, but it will give one of the more important ele- ments of harmony. But there is an important exception to be noted. The law of contrast claims attention, though it cannot produce harmony. Strong effects may be obtained by ignoring these rules relative to harmony, or by boldly employing pronounced discords and seeking to so mitigate the discord as to tempt the attention to divide itself between the contrast- ing colors. Red and blue in the national flag are so tempered with pure white as to subdue their fierce antagonism. And so it may be with other examples — there must be either some overpowering sentiment or some skilful expe- dient, like breaking the main colors into lower [59 ] tints, to ease the transit from one to the other. A good piece of color work need not be com- posed of different colors. It may be composed of different shades of the same color, or of tints very nearly related. This requires a good work- able knowledge of perspective and of that rather elusive and indefinite quality known in paint- ing as "values"; which chiefly means that each tint employed in a piece of work shall be placed as it would appear in nature and shall proper- ly harmonize with every shade or color in the piece. Such a composition as this is difficult for a letter-press printer, less so for a lithographer, with exactly the kind of delicate manoeuvering that delights some painters. It involves such fine discriminations as are necessary to show the difference between a white handkerchief and white snow, between a gray house and a gray sky, between a green tree and a green moun- tain, between a carnation pink and a pink mus- lin gown. It is well to appreciate the difference between color and colors, and to recognize the fact that good color does not necessarily alone mean the degree of brightness or contrast, but is oftener found in accordance, mellowness and richness. Color does not always mean bright color. There is beginning to be seen some low keyed color work, simple in color composition. It is a good [60] sign. It is only the masters who are able to successfully cope with the high keyed composi- tions, and the masters are, as they ever were, scarce. The wise choose, when there is a choice, such harmonies as may be indicated by mahogany wood and Cordova leather; Indian red instead of brick red, peacock blue instead of sky blue, olive green instead of grass green; golden browns, garnet reds, Egyptian yellows, deep tones of brown, green, and orange. These colors are not gay, flippant nor flimsy; they are dig- nified and good style ; they have a quality of beauty inherent in them — a depth; and they may be in keeping with a motive in the printed piece that means something other and better than a shock to the color sense. [6i ] Tone Tone O quality of printing is of more general importance than tone. It has great weight as a purely artistic attribute, and it has a great physiological value. If the tone of a page of print is not right — if it does not conform very closely to the standard set up by the rules of art — it will not be "easy" read- ing, and will severely try eyes that are not ab- solutely normal and perfectly strong. Here as elsewhere, and as is the unvarying rule, the art standard is the standard required by hygiene and common sense. It is of the greatest importance that a printed page shall be toned, with respect to the pro- portion of visible white paper and black type, in strict accord with the requirements of art, which are identical with the rules that guard healthy eyesight. Tone in painting has a radically different meaning in America from themeaningattached to the term in England and in France, and it appears to be less important. The American [65] meaning of the word tone as an element in painting is that it refers to the dominant color of a picture; that is, as one would note that the prevailing color of a certain picture is red, of another yellow, of another blue. This makes of tone a mere descriptive adjective of small value as an aid to a critical estimate or as a guide in creation. To the printer, this meaning of the term would bar it out of his curriculum. The EnglishunderstandingoftoneisquitedifFerent, and it appears more worthy of acceptance. It is, at all events, the meaning that must be accepted by printers if they are to derive any benefit from a study of tone as a possible aid in their craft. The English consider tone to be "the proper diffusion of light as it affects the intensities of the different objects in the picture; and the right relation of objects or colors in shadow to the parts of them not in shadow and to the principal light." It is easier, and may be clearer, to think of tone in a piece of type composition, or in a black-and-white engraving prepared for print- mg, somewhat as we think of tone in music. And we find upon getting further into the sub- ject that it is expedient to take advantage of the extreme comity at present existing between England and America and let the two mean- ings of tone merge into a more general one for [66] the benefit and use of the printer in practice. The painter's estimate of the tone of a painting may be understood by applying a test cited by awriteruponart:"lfthecanvaswere placed up- on a revolving pin and whirled rapidly around, the coloring would blend into a uniform tint." The color tone of a painting must then be the dominant color, modified by the subordinate colors. If the color tone be yellow for example, as it is in some of the good work of Dutch artists, there must be enough yellow so that it will be a yellow blur if the piece is spun rap- idly around. In black-and-white printing tone must mean depth of color, and diffusion of color, and the tone can scarcely be otherwise than some shade of gray. If it is advantageous to strive for a cer- tain harmony betw een literary motive and type motive an appreciation of the technical mean- ing of tone and the utilization of the unique test suggested may be of great assistance to the printer of black-and-white work. The printer has to consider the tone of his piece in a different light than the painter. The latter has only his canvas to take account of, and he works his canvas to its edge. The printer has his page of type and his margins. This blends the question of tone in a very practical way with questions bearing upon the format — [67] with the question of proportion for example, and with the important question of the balance of the margins; and while the determination of the tone of the type page itself, irrespective of the margins, involves one weighty question in optics, the placing of the type page upon the leaf involves another, quite different in na- ture but none the less important from an artis- tic point of view. It is easily perceived that the element of tone is of considerable importance in what is erro- neously called "plain" composition, the black- and-white book page. In color printing it is apparent that the knowledge of tone is of more practical importance, as colored printed pieces should show a decided preponderance of that tone which best illustrates or translates the idea that the piece is conceived for the purpose of expressing. It may be important that a certain piece emphatically presents to the eye a certain shade of red. It must be just enough given over to the red to produce the effect required — no more, no less. There must be red everywhere, but not too much. The simple test will show the printer whether he is overloading his piece with the dominant color or whether he has not yet used enough. The color scheme must be keyed to the required pitch of color, as a piece of music written in a certain key must be kept [68 ] free from notes belonging to another key. But not absolutely free, of necessity; short notes of another key, and very few of them, may be in- troduced. Soatouch of aradically different color may be thrust into a composition without ruin- ing it, as a bit of brick red or small patch of blue in a monotone, or a little green or yellow in a red composition, but not enough to show plainly when we apply the whirling test. This more obvious meaning of the term tone seems to be applicable to printing, at least to theextentof informing and modifying the mind of the printer. The moreimportant significance of the term in painting means but little to the printer, as it deals in modifications and grada- tions in color not practicable in typography, and applying, so far as printing in general is concerned, to engravings. [ 69 ] Light and Shade Light and Shade ^r^^^^g IGHT and shade means nearly jY ^^>Nm the same as the English idea of V y• •*■ i ^ , lilt