Capitals / A Primer of Information about Capitalization with some Practical Typographic Hints as to the Use of Capitals

A capital letter is a letter of formal shape. Capitals were originally derived from the stiff and angular letters used in formal inscriptions. Originally all writing was done in capitals. Later the scribes devised less formal shapes for the letters, making use of lines more easily made by brush or pen on papyrus, parchment, or paper. The capitals were retained for certain uses but the less formal shapes were employed to do the greater part of the work. These less formal letters have been known by several names. They will be referred to here by that under which they are known to modern printers, “lower-case.”
A further modification of the letter came with the introduction of the sloping, or italic letter. This received its name from its place of origin, Italy. It was introduced by Nicholas Jenson, a printer of Venice, and was an imitation of the handwriting of the Italian poet Petrarch. Originally it was used only for the lower-case and was combined with the older form of capital letters, called roman, also from the place of its origin. Later the italic characteristics were given to capitals as well as lower-case letters.
An ordinary font of book type contains five series of letters: full capitals, small capitals, italic capitals (full size), roman lower-case, and italic lower-case. The full capital, roman or italic, is larger than the other letters of the font, every letter being as high as the lower-case ascenders. The small capital is only as high as the lower-case round letters. Larger capitals still are sometimes used as chapter initials and the like.
It will be observed that the distinction between capital and lower-case letters is one of form, not of size. The full capitals being much more used than the small capitals and being larger than the other letters in the font, the impression is common that the size is the distinguishing mark. This erroneous impression has even crept into dictionary definitions.
The full capital, which will hereafter be called in this book simply the capital, is used in combination with lower-case letters or with small capitals in the same word. The small capital is not used in combination with lower-case in the same word. We may print GEORGE WASHINGTON, George Washington, GEORGE WASHINGTON, or George Washington, but not george washington.