EXAMPLE 548Decorative imprints constructed with typefounders’ ornaments and suitable type-faces
EXAMPLE 548Decorative imprints constructed with typefounders’ ornaments and suitable type-faces
EXAMPLE 548Decorative imprints constructed with typefounders’ ornaments and suitable type-faces
Initials in monogram form are frequently adopted by printers, and three such devices are shown in Example546. Reversing one of the initials is a favorite method when the nature of the letter allows it, as in the Patteson Press device. Fitting the initials to a general shape callsfor clever work, as in the shield shape of the Corday & Gross design.
EXAMPLE 549Type imprints, and the various interesting effects possible with them
EXAMPLE 549Type imprints, and the various interesting effects possible with them
EXAMPLE 549Type imprints, and the various interesting effects possible with them
Of the large variety of devices in use by other publishers and printers, those shown in Example547are representative.
The Griffith-Stillings device, as has already been mentioned, includes elements of the mark of the Society of Printers of Venice.
TheAmerican Printermark shows an American eagle standing on books, and the initials A. P. used decoratively in the upper right corner. The dimensions of this oblong and the background are borrowed from the Venetian mark.
Unusual in shape and in wording is the Stillson device, which develops attractiveness when printed in several colors and embossed.
EXAMPLE 550Quaint book-ending, or colophon, as used by Elbert Hubbard
EXAMPLE 550Quaint book-ending, or colophon, as used by Elbert Hubbard
EXAMPLE 550Quaint book-ending, or colophon, as used by Elbert Hubbard
Notwithstanding the cumbersome size of the acorn, the Sparrell Print device is not unattractive.
With a decorative quality that suggests the sixteenth century, the Ginn device is appropriate in its use of the horn book, an old-time teaching help.
Rather clever is the manner in which Goudy has hung the ampersand decoratively on the double-T monogram that is part of the Taylor & Taylor mark.
The diamond-shaped Wright & Joys device, with its conventionalized tree, is also interesting.
It is possible to construct really creditable decorative imprints with typefounders’ ornaments and suitable type-faces. Example548presents several such designs as demonstrations of what can be done in this respect. In building these imprints the author has kept in mind the rules that govern combinations of type and ornament, as explained in the chapters relating to harmony, appropriateness, tone, contrast and ornamentation. In the Church Press design the border is made in outline to reflect the ornament. The types used in the Smith-Brown, Willis Works and Gothic Shop imprints harmonize with the ornamentation in both tone and shape. Italic type and the fleur-de-lis are French in motif. The Caslon type-face and the old-style parentheses go well together. The block, or gothic, type-face in its plainness of stroke suggests early Greek letters, and blends with the plain illustration. The money-bag ornament is an attempt at a pun, in the Stuff imprint. The pleasing gray tone of the Horner & Wilburn device is due to harmony of ornament and type-face.
The printer will more often be called on to use a small, inconspicuous type-imprint than the prominent decorative device, and it is just as desirable to have distinction in these small type lines as in the elaborate devices. There are grouped in Example549, a variety of effects suggested for this purpose. The type used in an imprint should harmonize and blend with the typography of the work on which it is used. An imprint in old-style type would not blend with a page set in modern type. It was the custom at one time to electrotype imprint lines so that they could be easily handled, but now the linotype furnishes a convenient method of casting them. It is well, tho, to strengthen the face by having the slugs copper-faced, which work is done by electrotypers.