Chapter 26

EXAMPLE 483On the left is a reduced reproduction (from Reed) of Baskerville’s types used in a book of 1758, and on the right, for comparison, is the same matter set in Baskerville Roman, twelve-point size, introduced to America in 1917

EXAMPLE 484The possible descent of Scotch Roman. (A) Baskerville Roman, based on Baskerville’s letter of 1758. (B) Mrs. Caslon’s “modern” Roman of 1796. (C) Scotch Roman, as we know it today

Bodoni Book.—When a representative of the Bodoni type family was selected for a place in the group of standard faces, Bodoni Book was chosen for its refinement and legibility. In its lower-case, especially when printed on other than gloss-surfaced paper, it seems to have more of the qualities of the best types of the Parma printer than does Bodoni, the first series brought out by the American Type Founders Company. Scientific tests have demonstrated that in the small sizes usually used for text purposes, type-faces with considerable contrast of hairlines and heavy strokes strain the eyes. The contrast found in Bodoni Book is moderate.

John Baptist Bodoni was born in Italy twenty years after William Caslon cut his first font of Roman letter. Bodoni’s subsequent career as a printer and typefounder doubtless resulted from his entrance, when eighteen years old, to the printing house of the Propaganda, in Rome. He began his important work in Parma in 1768.

The print of his books is remarkable for clearness, and in both type-cutting and printing he was skilful to a high degree. His types are not quite so regular in design as the recent Bodonis, and were given additional character by being impressed firmly in paper that did not have the enameled surface so much in use in our day.

His type-faces were a change from those previously used—different from the type-faces of Jenson, the Elzevirs and Caslon. The change was principally in the serifs, which were straight, thin strokes; and the general character of the letters was also distinctive. He used a few fonts in which the straight serifs were rounded by being filled in slightly at the corners, and these fonts probably suggested to Scotch, English and American founders the style known as “modern,” as compared with the “old-style” faces in use before Bodoni’s time.

The reader can compare for himself the resemblance of Bodoni Book to one of the text types of Bodoni as used in 1789. In order that the comparison could be fairly made, the Bodoni Book (Example486) was printed on antique paper and etched on zinc, as the original Bodoni page had been (see page26). This type is not only lighter, but other details are different from a 1790 type of Bodoni (Example487-A), which may have served as a model for the present-day type-face called Bodoni. Compare the capitalRs, and notice that the cross stroke on the lower-casetin the 1783 alphabet is low and distinct, while on the 1789 page it is high and joined with the upper end of the vertical stroke. The latter treatment prevails on many of Bodoni’s types, as it does on practically all type-faces. Excepting for the straight serifs, many of Bodoni’s types have some general resemblance to other Roman types of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

In designing the present-day Bodoni, the typefounders gave it much of the “finish” in design that was given type-faces by Scotch and American founders during the nineteenth century. Typefounders seldom succeed in faithfully reproducing old type-faces, for the reason that they “correct the faults” of the old faces, and in doing so lose much of the humanistic spirit of the original. Were it not that the punches of some of William Caslon’s types were preserved, we would not have the true rendering of this old-style that we now possess. Modernized Oldstyle represents the Caslon face corrected and improved as the typefounders of the nineteenth century thought it should be. Some American founders, however, are making excellent progress in reproducing the spirit of old type-faces, and it is possible that we may yet have a satisfactory copy of the famous “silver” types of the Elzevirs.

Bodoni types are shown in use on page26, and in Examples26,36,48,175,176,194,278,310,322,330,352,355,365,387,390,412,413,414,416,428,437and458.

Scotch Roman.—During the nineteenth century English, Scotch and American typefounders took Bodoni’s type-faces, redesigned them more along mechanical lines, filled in the corners of his straight serifs so as slightly to round them, and gave to the English-speaking world what are best known to printers as the modern Romans.

Looking over the specimen books of the type foundries of the last century—those of Bruce, MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, and others—one marvels at the wonderful skill in the cutting of the hairlines and the general mechanical excellence of the modern Romans.

Because of their continued use on newspapers and in books of reference, these letters are in wide use today, altho there is a movement away from them.

The most generally used type-face on small city newspapers in America is the linotype company’s Modern Roman No. 2 (Example489). In the hand-set days this broad, open-faced letter was so made for the reason that it would stereotype easier than would the narrower letters. It was adopted by the ready-print and plate houses, and when the newspapers installed linotypes they naturallyselected the same face, so that the type matter thruout the publication would match. The larger city dailies give more attention to the details of the faces they use for body purposes. If No. 2 is selected, or the leaner No. 1, modifications are frequently made in some of the letters or figures. The No. 1 Modern Roman is used by the New YorkTimes(Example406).

However, instead of the selection of a severe letter, such as the so-called Scotch-cut Modern Roman as a representative type-face in the group of six standard Roman letters, the more interesting Scotch Roman won the place. This type-face was first made in America by A. D. Farmer & Son, and the eight-point and ten-point sizes were used as body type byThe American Printerfirst in April, 1902. In September of that year there appeared in that publication showings of the eight-point, ten-point, eleven-point, twelve-point and fourteen-point sizes, with the statement that other sizes were in preparation. The name, “Scotch Roman,” probably comes from the fact that Miller & Richard, the Edinburgh typefounders, made a similar letter in sizes from eight-point to twelve-point. However, they call it “Old Roman.”

Scotch Roman is the link that connects the graceful old-style and the severe modern Roman. Compare it with the letter (Example484-B) made at the foundry owned by Mrs. Henry Caslon in 1796, and notice the resemblance. (As a further study, there is added an alphabet of Baskerville Roman, recently introduced to America.) Scotch Roman is also procurable under the names of Wayside Roman and National Roman.

Scotch Roman has been used in Examples38,39,77,78,85,143,152,153,154,185,186,238,271,317,400,420,423,427,428and444.

French Oldstyle.—This is the title by which is known among printers a style of type-face made, under the name of “Elzevier,” by the Gustave Mayeur foundry of Paris in 1878. Its design, M. Mayeur tells us, was suggested by types used in a book printed in Leyden by the Elzevirs in 1634.

In 1889, Farmer, Little & Co. of New York procured drives of five sizes from France and began making the letter in America, naming it “Cadmus.” The type foundry of Phelps, Dalton & Co. of Boston had as early as 1884 made a similar and rather pleasing letter in capitals only, which it called French Oldstyle.

Theodore L. De Vinne was the first to use the Mayeur French Oldstyle in America. It was a favorite with Walter Gilliss, who adopted it in remodeling the catalogs and other printed matter used by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

EXAMPLE 485A study of the French Oldstyle design of Roman capitals

The capitals of French Oldstyle are especially pleasing, and when this letter is employed they should be used in display with frequency. The Mayeur letter would be even more attractive if the proportions of its capitals were nearer those of early Roman lettering (Example464-B), as are some other French Oldstyles.

French Oldstyle is tall and formed with liberal space between the strokes of the lower-case letters. It should always be leaded, as its open character and large lower-case demand that it shall not be crowded. Like Cheltenham, it is best suited for pages that are narrow and long, such as the 12mos issued in the seventeenth century by the Elzevirs.

The Mayeur French Oldstyle has a slight resemblance to the type-faces found in the Elzevir seventeenth-century books (Example475), but is a rather free rendering of those types. The capitals of the Elzevirs are more in the proportions of Jenson’s (see Cloister Oldstyle, Example467-A), and the small letters (o) of the lower-case are not so large in comparison with the tall letters (l) as they are in French Oldstyle. The Mayeur letter also contains the shortened descenders and short-kernedfof the nineteenth-century typefounders. In fact, both ascending and descending strokes have been shortened.

Examples45,183,184,217,410,411, and the Jacobi specimen on page33show French Oldstyle in use.

Cheltenham Oldstyle.—This extremely popular type-face was designed in America and here developed into the most numerous family known to typefounding—at least thirty series. A pamphlet issued in 1905 by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company tells the story of its origin. Ingalls Kimball, director of the Cheltenham Press, New York, was commissioned to suggest and supervise the making of a letter that would have both beauty and legibility. Cheltenham Oldstyle resulted, the drawings of which were made by Bertram G. Goodhue.

It was realized by the designers of this type-face that space between lines increases legibility, and experiments seem to show that the upper half of lower-case letters are easier to read than the lower half. For this reason the lower-case was then designed with long ascending strokes and short descending strokes. While the theory regarding the superior legibility of the upper half was announced as a new one, it had been put forth about 1882 by Dr. Émile Javal, a Parisian oculist. (See the demonstration in Example508-G.)

The first announcement by the American Type Founders Company of Cheltenham Oldstyle inThe American Printer, January, 1903, showed eleven sizes—eight-point to forty-eight-point. Claim was made that it was a “compact and legible book type,” and that it would become the most popular job type.

Because of its lean formation and close set it has been frequently used for narrow booklets.

A Roman type-face entirely new in design would be a freak and unreadable in the mass. As a completed design, Cheltenham Oldstyle was different from others in use in 1903, yet it is made up of features of Roman type design in vogue between the designing of Jenson’s letter and Caslon’s types. Study Examples470,472,476,477and478. Compare with the Portuguese capitals, especiallyG,P,W, in Example485.

Cheltenham Oldstyle has strength, readability, and a certain amount of beauty. Its capitals are awkwardly large in comparison with its lower-case. It is shown in use with smaller capitals in Example476.

Because of the smallness of most of the lower-case and the close set of the letters, very little space is needed between words; yet, as used by printers generally, much of the legibility the type-face possesses is lost by wide spacing between words, especially on machines.

Because the eye, as a rule, gives less attention to the lower part of a line of reading matter, the descenderswere cut off almost entirely in the designing of Cheltenham. It would be as reasonable, because the eye usually sees only the upper part of a man, to amputate his legs. This amputation of the legs of type-faces by modern founders has maimed many other letters, notably Caslon Oldstyle as we most frequently see it.

The serif, which is supposed to distinguish modern types from old-style, is very small in Cheltenham Oldstyle, and is more like the serif found in modern types. The general character of Cheltenham, however, is extremely old-style.

This letter has been used in the composition of Examples35,40,47,106,122,125,209,267,273and350.

In the beginning, Roman letters were in capitals only (Example464-A), and, carved on stone, were at their best about the beginning of the Christian era. The present so-called Roman, Italic and Text types are descended from them.

EXAMPLE 486Resetting in Bodoni Book of the 1789 Bodoni specimen on page26. Like the original, this specimen was printed and then zinc-etched

Use of the pen and brush in lettering and the tendency to letter rapidly finally gave us the lower-case type of today. The evolution is pictured in Example465. “A” shows the Roman capital alphabet as made with the pen (compare with the chiseled letters of Example464-A). In “B” we have the result (known as uncials) of hurried writing of the Roman capitals, and one can see how the lower-case letters were forming. At about this point in the development, the minuscules, or lower-case letters, took two separate growths—one in the direction of the “Black Letter” or German Text types of today, and the other toward the “White Letter” of the Caroline Minuscules, which, as Roman lower-case, are now used almost exclusively in America, England, France and other countries in North and South America and Europe, the notable exception being Germany.

EXAMPLE 487Comparison of one of Bodoni’s alphabets with a new type-face. Both are rough, having been zinc-etched

When Gutenberg began to print he used a black Text type designed after the bold lettering of the German manuscript books, and when Germans went to Italy to print they had difficulty in rendering into types the character of Italian lettering. Example468shows the efforts in this direction by Sweinheim and Pannartz in 1465, and in Example469, types by John and Wendelin of Spires, an improvement is noticed.

It remained, however, for the Frenchman, Jenson, to design and cut a letter that is the alpha of Roman type-faces (Example470). Jenson was fortunate in the selection of a model, and it is interesting to include in the corner for comparison a section of an Italian manuscript of the same century. Development of the Roman letter into the beautiful and legible form known as “Caroline Minuscules” was due to the encouragement of Charlemagne. Why it is called “White Letter” in contradistinction to “Black Letter” may be seen by comparing the light-gray tone of the Jenson page (Example470) with the missal specimen opposite page14. It may be well to explain that the seeming disfigurement of the capitals in the Jenson page is due to the custom that book decorators had of placing a stroke of vermilion over the capitals. In the reproduction these strokes came out black. Both the Spires and the Jenson specimens were reproduced from the original volumes in the Typographic Library and Museum at Jersey City.

Example465also shows, for comparison with the style of lettering known as the Caroline Minuscules, a type-face based on Jenson’s letter of 1470, following which are Moxon’s and Caslon’s lower-case alphabets.

The faithfulness with which Jenson’s type-face was followed in the designing of Cloister Oldstyle may be seen by comparing the Cloister alphabet (Example467-A) with the Jenson letters as they are found in Example470. A very interesting comparison can also be made of Jenson’s capitals, on page14, and Cloister Oldstyle, in Example473. If a comparison of present-day type-faces with very old faces is to have any value, the present-day type-faces should be printed on antique-finished paper dampened if possible. And if the old face is reproduced by zinc etching from an old book the other type-face should also be zinc-etched. Printing and zinc etching were resorted to in the case of this example and in other instances in this chapter.

In some works reproductions of type-faces are valueless and misleading, for the reason that they have been retouched by an artist, redrawn, or cut in wood.

EXAMPLE 488Modern Romans of the nineteenth century in three tones

The influence of the Jenson style of Roman was seen for some years, but in 1566 (Example472) we find a change of form. The type is more condensed, and instead of a diagonal stroke on the lower-case e there is a horizontal stroke close to the top of the letter. This style, as used by Paul Manutius in 1566, seems to have been maintained with little alteration in the work of Daniel Elzevir a hundred years later (Example477) and two hundred years later in the types of Fournier, the French founder (Example478). This style of letter was also used by Plantin, the Antwerp printer, in 1569, and for the interest there may be in it the reproduction of a bit of his work (see page16) should be compared with Example476. This last-mentioned example has been set in Cheltenham Oldstyle. However, ten-point capitals have been used with twelve-point lower-case. It may be that the appearance of most reading matter would be improved if the capitals were a trifle lower in hight than the ascending strokes of the lower-case lettersb,d,f,h,k,l.

EXAMPLE 489Modern Roman as it is used on many American newspapers. Six-point, seven-point and eight-point Linotype Roman No. 2. A readable but not a handsome type-face

The National Printing Office at Paris is using on some of its productions a type-face designed in 1693 by Grandjean. While it is greatly like other letters of that period, it has peculiarities, one of which is a slight dot on the left center of the lower-casel, a feature also present in the Black Letter of Gutenberg, and in the types of Fust and Schœffer (see inserts opposite pages7and12).

We have a key to the formation of the Roman types of the seventeenth century in the alphabets drawn by Joseph Moxon, an English typefounder, and published in 1676 (Examples479and480). These are here reproduced from Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises,” as reprinted, under the supervision of Theodore Low De Vinne, by the New York Typothetæ in 1896. Moxon says these letters are copied from the letters of Christopher van Dijk, a punch cutter of Holland. As will be seen by the scale in the upper left corner of Example479, he attempted to show how the shapes of letters were “compounded of geometric figures, and mostly made by rule and compass.” Each letter was to be plotted on a framework of small squares, forty-two squares in hight and of a proportionate width. Passing up this idea as impractical, De Vinne said:

It is admitted that the characters are rudely drawn, and many have faults of disproportion; but it must not be forgotten that they were designed to meet the most important requirement of a reader—to be read, and read easily. Here are the broad hair line, the stubby serif on the lower-case and the bracketed serif on the capitals, the thick stem, the strong and low crown on letters likemandn, with other peculiarities now commended in old-style faces and often erroneously regarded as the original devices of the first Caslon.

The writer was curious to see how these letters of Moxon’s made up into type, and for this purpose had the outlined alphabets inked in and reproduced in smaller size (Examples479-Aand480-A).

When William Caslon, in 1720, cut his first Roman letter he may have had Moxon’s Roman alphabet before him. There are some resemblances, but that he did not slavishly follow the Moxon letters may be seen by comparing both type-faces (Examples465-Fand465-G).

We could be more familiar with the types of Baskerville than we are, but now that the typefounders are reproducing them (Example483) we shall come to a realization that they rival the letters of Caslon in beauty and readability. John Baskerville, the English typefounder and printer, spent six years and thirty thousand dollars in designing and cutting his first font of type. In 1758 he had cut eight fonts of Roman, but other printers would not buy his types, preferring those of Caslon. Two years later he attempted to sell his types and retire from the printing business. After his death, in 1775, his widow sold all his type and type-making material and they were removed to Kehl, near Strassburg. There is a legend that the types finally reached France and were melted into bullets for the French Revolution. It is a pity that Baskerville’s original punches are not available, like those of Caslon, so that printers of today could make use of the splendid type-faces that were unappreciated in his lifetime. However, Baskerville Roman is a satisfactory reproduction of the types of John Baskerville.

Like Caslon Oldstyle, however, it should be printed on other than gloss-surfaced paper (Example463), as then, especially in the smaller sizes, the good qualities of the letter are brought out and it is made more legible.

When Mrs. Henry Caslon, in 1796, “Bodoni-ized” the types of William Caslon the first, she was probably influenced as much by the types of Baskerville as by those of Bodoni. This is borne out by the comparisons in Example484. In “A” is shown an alphabet of Baskerville Roman as now made in America, and in “B” Mrs. Caslon’s Modern Roman. The third type-face (C) is Scotch Roman, one of the six selected representative type-faces (Example467-D).

John Baptist Bodoni made some very good type-faces, but it is not difficult to lay at his door the responsibility for throwing typography out of gear for almost a century. Thru his influence and the desire of Scotch typefounders to improve on his work, the nineteenth century was inflicted with those stiff “Modern Romans” (Example488) that in all their inhuman “perfection” yet abide with us and are still liked by Victorian persons of staid tastes. Many of our school children are being brought up on them, and in lighter form (Example489) they are being fed to millions of Americans thru the homely typography of most newspapers. This double influence works for a lowering of typographic taste among printers and buyers of printing that for many years will keep the general standard of printing below what it should be.

To return to Bodoni. This Italian typefounder’s types, as a rule, were not so faultlessly finished as are therecent types that bear the name. There may be seen in Example487the alphabet of a type-face cut by Bodoni in 1790, together with an alphabet recently cut in America. The Bodoni type of the American foundry is a clever copy of the original, yet there is in the copy much of the modernization of the Scotch founders of the nineteenth century. Bodoni Book is a better-looking and more readable type-face.

EXAMPLE 491(A) Optical changes caused by adding Vs at end of strokes. (B) Appearance of vertical stroke altered by adding small horizontal strokes, or serifs, and by joining both with curved line. (C) Cross strokes or serifs added to E

EXAMPLE 495(A) The diagonal stroke of the first Roman type-faces. (B) The lower cross stroke or serif extended to right on the Roman type-face of Jenson

The Scotch typefounders also attempted to improve the types of William Caslon, and the result of their labors is known as Modernized Oldstyle (Example466-A). This kind of type was first made about 1852 for Miller & Richard of Edinburgh, Scotland. With Caslon Oldstyle unknown, Modernized Oldstyle would be a rather satisfactory letter, but with Caslon Oldstyle procurable there seems to be no need of the Scotch letter. There was brought out in 1884 by the MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Company a decorative Modernized Oldstyle under the name of Ronaldson Oldstyle.

The Serif.—The serif is that portion of a type-face indicated by the small black sections in Example492. It has a powerful influence in determining the character and style of a face of type.

As an experiment, we will make three vertical lines exactly the same length (Example491-A), leaving one as it was first drawn, but on the other two adding V-shaped marks, because of which the character of the line is changed and the length seemingly affected.

However, the serif, when properly used, has a decorative quality and is to type what the capital is to the column and the cornice to the building in architecture.

EXAMPLE 493By altering the serifs, “old-style” type is changed into “modern.” From Bullen

After further experimenting with three vertical lines that we will now identify as capitalIs (Example491-b), there can be no doubt that the serif is necessary as a finishing stroke. The seriflessIsuggests a man in the public streets without hat or shoes. The crudest manner of adding a serif is to place a small horizontal stroke at the head and foot of the long vertical line, but the sharp angles thus formed can be softened and one stroke joined to another by a curve, with the corner filled in, as is shown. These two illustrations of the serif are merely for the purpose of introducing the novice to the subject. The fact that there are so many different faces of type is due somewhat to the manipulation of the serif—changes of length, thickness, direction and curve.

EXAMPLE 492The black sections indicate the serifs, and show the differences in serif construction on several well-known type-faces. From Bullen

It is by the serif that in most cases old-style types are distinguished from the so-called modern Romans. An interesting demonstration of this was made by Henry L. Bullen with Century Expanded, a modern Roman (Example494). The first line shows the letter unchanged. As the serifs in most old-style faces project diagonally, he, in the second line, altered the modern serifs to conform to this idea. The third line shows Century Oldstyle as it actually appears in type.

There is, of course, more to a true old-style face than mere change of serifs, and in the actual cutting of the types other minor alterations were made, as will be seen by study of the third line.

EXAMPLE 494By altering the serifs “modern” type is changed into “old-style.” From Bullen

EXAMPLE 496In most Roman alphabets all vertical strokes are thick, excepting in M, N, U. Horizontal strokes are thin. Diagonal strokes running down from left to right are thick and from right to left are thin, excepting Z, z.

This process was reversed by Mr. Bullen, and in Example493certain serifs of Caslon Oldstyle are in the lettersi,n,k,p,hmade horizontal, and in the lettersE,L,smade vertical. Modernized in this manner, Caslon Oldstyle resembles Scotch Roman (Example484-C).

Thick and Thin Strokes.—The inbred good taste and instinct for beauty possessed by the Roman calligrapher which directed him to add the serif to his lettering also impelled him to vary the width of the strokes (Example464-A).

EXAMPLE 497(A) No serifs or stroke contrast. (B) Serifs added. (C) With serifs and thick and thin strokes

EXAMPLE 498Vertical thick strokes were made with pen held straight

EXAMPLE 499Diagonal thick strokes were made with pen held at a slant

The most uninteresting kind of lettering is that which is not only serifless but without contrast in the width of its strokes—lettering that is known to the printer as Block, or Gothic (Example497-A). Dignity and something of good looks are given to it by adding serifs (Example497-b), yet it is not eligible for admission to the select society of pure Roman type-faces until the various strokes show, properly proportioned, a difference in thickness (Example497-C). The difference should be at least as two to one. It is about that in Cloister Oldstyle, but in Baskerville Roman (Example496) it is as six to one. When the difference in thick and thin lines is exaggerated, as was done in the nineteenth century, the result is a caricature and type that is almost impossible to read, even in large sizes.

EXAMPLE 500Heavy strokes in the lower left and upper right part of curves

EXAMPLE 501Heavy strokes in vertical positions

Generally the distribution of thick and thin lines in Roman letters, as shown in Example496, is as follows: All vertical strokes are thick (excepting inM,N,U). Horizontal strokes are thin. Diagonal strokes running down from left to right are thick, and from right to left are thin (exceptingZ,z).

When this rule is reversed, as was actually done by a nineteenth-century typefounder in a weird attempt at novelty, there is begotten a monstrosity. Good typography requires that basic principles be adhered to.

In the recent recutting of the Roman type-face of Nicholas Jenson, the founders went all the way back to his type for their models, and did not content themselves, as they did near the end of the last century, with copying Morris’s type or the faces of other foundries. As Jenson based the design of his types closely on Italian manuscripts, we have in such a face as Cloister Oldstyle many of the characteristics of the pen-made letters, one of which is the position of the thick strokes on round letters. The thick strokes on theO, as an instance, instead of being vertical, are diagonal. This is due to the manner of holding the pen when lettering. When held to write vertically and horizontally, the pen makes lines as in Example498; when held at a slant, the pen makes thick lines diagonally as in Example499. The Caroline Minuscules, upon which the lower-case types of Jenson were based, were written with a slanted pen.

In Example500are to be seen two well-known type-faces on which the slanted-pen thick strokes are used. In Example501are two faces that could be made by writing vertically. It was Mr. Goudy who reintroduced into type forms a characteristic of Jenson’s Roman—that of having the lower serifs extend more to the right than to the left, as shown by Example495-B.

Ascenders and Descenders.—Not a little of the beauty of Roman type-faces lies in the ascending and descending strokes, and one reason why our types are becoming more beautiful is that we are going thru a period of restoration—the long-missing ascenders and descenders are being given back to us, after an absence of many years.

What should be the length of these strokes? Edward Johnston, in “Writing and Illuminating and Lettering,” illustrates this point (Example503), and says: “The lines in massed writing are kept as close together as is compatible with legibility. The usual distance apart of the writing lines is about three times the hight of the lettero. The descending strokes of the upper line must clear the ascending strokes of the lower line.”

Bodoni, the Italian typefounder, had a system of measurement for the proportions of his lower-case letters: “Divide the body of the type into seven parts and let two at the top and two at the bottom be for the ascenders and descenders and the three in the middle for the other letters.”

The ascenders and descenders, as found in Cloister Oldstyle and in the original Caslon Oldstyle, approximate the proportions given by Bodoni.

Half the letters of the lower-case alphabet—thirteen—areof the hight of theo, and we will call them the small letters. The letters with ascending strokes number eight, with descending strokes five (Example502). Because the descending letters are only five in number, they are most frequently picked out for mutilation. This sawing off of a portion of the descending strokes cripples the letters just as the sawing off of a portion of a man’s legs cripples his body. Not only is typography made imperfect by missing descenders, but, generally, the practice has worked toward the degeneration of type print, making it less easy to read, as the lines set too close together. When the descenders are of proper length they maintain a strip of blank space between lines, but when they are cut off the printer must add leads to recover the space—which he seldom does.

The printer and user of typography have been using false logic in favoring type-faces that have descenders cut off. They think they are getting more for their money when they obtain a normal twelve-point type-face on an eleven-point body, but as the one-point linear space must be restored by leading, there is nothing gained. Scientists, in the study of eye hygiene, have ascertained that a certain amount of space between lines is necessary to save eyestrain, and the descenders are essential in furnishing some of this needed space.

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