The Art & Practice of Typography / A Manual of American Printing, Including a Brief History up to the Twentieth Century, with Reproductions of the Work of Early Masters of the Craft, and a Practical Discussion and an Extensive Demonstration of the Modern Use of Type-faces and Methods of Arrangement

by Edmund G. Gress

ORNAMENTATION

Offer a child the choice of two toys, alike excepting that one has a flower painted upon it, and he will doubtlessly select the ornamented one; proving that the human race has a natural liking for ornamentation. When the old-time trader visited savage countries, he took with him colored glass and brought back gold. The glass soon after ornamented the somber bodies of the savages, and the gold became rings and bracelets worn by the whites. There are those in this day who love the trees and the flowers and hear music in the brooks, but more find pleasure in artificially ornamented ball-rooms with music blown and sawn and hammered from brass and catgut and sheepskin.

EXAMPLE 83
The egg-and-dart ornament

EXAMPLE 84
The bead ornament

Man was created in a garden of flowers and trees pleasant to the sight, yet he has ever been yearning for a new Eden of pure gold, garnished with precious stones, forgetting that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like the lily of the field. Nature is the great artist, and man’s ornamentation at best is a poor imitation of natural things. The trees of the forest gave the motive for the stone columns and ornamental capitals of architecture, and the plant and animal world furnished themes for talented calligraphers in the days when books were literally written. The blue vault of the skies inspired Michelangelo to plan the great dome of St. Peter’s at Rome, as the sun furnished a model for the Indian while decorating his tepee, and the flowers of the field have provided inexhaustible color harmonies.

EXAMPLE 85
The egg-and-dart ornament as a typographic border

In the early days of this country most of the inhabitants devoted their working hours to the struggle for existence, and it has been only within recent years that the average man has given thought to art. Many a one has thrown off his lethargy to discover beautiful things all about which he had never before noticed.

Art galleries and libraries all over the United States are aiding greatly in the cultivation of taste for art, and the printer to whom these privileges are accessible, yet who does not avail himself of their advantages, is much like the man who was lost in the Adirondacks, not knowing he was but a half-mile from a railroad. China, who could conquer the world if she only knew her power, has been sleeping for centuries, while a little handful of intelligent people on a small island of Europe wields an influence that is felt wherever the sun shines.

EXAMPLE 86
The bead ornament as a typographic border

The printer and he of an allied vocation should take less thought of food and raiment and devote more thought to learning the things of today and yesterday with which he may be but little acquainted. If one knows just enough to “make a living” he will never make more than a living. A study of art, of history, of the larger things in the printing business, will result in the good things of the earth being added.

---

Is ornamentation necessary to art-typography? Ask one good printer and he will answer, yes. Ask another and he will answer, no. One of the meanings of ornament as given by the Standard dictionary is: “A part or an addition that contributes to the beauty or elegance of a thing.” A paper may be so pleasing in texture as to give beauty or elegance to an otherwise plain page of printing; in fact, it is sometimes a mistake to use type ornaments or other embellishment on a richly finished hand-made paper. On the contrary, a stock poor in quality or color had better be covered with decoration to divert attention from the paper.

EXAMPLE 87
Conventionalized papyrus plant (Egyptian)

EXAMPLE 88
The winged ball, an ornament much used by the Egyptians

EXAMPLE 89
The acanthus leaf, much used by the Greeks and Romans in ornamentation

EXAMPLE 90
Palm-like ornament, used by Greeks and Romans

EXAMPLE 91
Plain and dignified. The Doric pillar

EXAMPLE 92
Slightly ornamental. The Ionic pillar

EXAMPLE 93
Elaborately ornamental. The Corinthian pillar

There are printshops in which all ornaments are kept under lock and key; a compositor wishing to use decoration must present good reasons before he gets it. Customers have become suspicious of type ornamentation because of the peculiar use to which printers sometimes put it. A young man some years ago became possessed of a desire to do artistic printing and had a number of type ornaments purchased with which to express his ideas. When one proof after another came from the customer with ominous blue marks upon the cherished ornaments, he realized the necessity of revising his ideas of art. For fully a year after that he worked without voluntarily using an ornament, meanwhile developing all the possibilities of good type-faces and appropriate paper stocks and color combinations. It has been claimed that fasting has a beneficial effect on the body; be that as it may, our friend certainly improved his artistic taste by his abstinence. When he again began using ornaments it was with discrimination and after study of their significance and appropriateness.

---

This leads to the subject of motive or reason in ornamentation. The styles of typography may be generally divided into two classes, one dominated by Roman or Italian influence and the other by Gothic or German influence. During the Middle Ages the Gothic influence was felt chiefly because the pointed style of architecture and embellishment was sanctioned by the Christian church. As art was practically dead outside the church, the art-workers absorbed the Gothic style.

EXAMPLE 94
Ornamentation as used by the Romans on an entablature and a Corinthian pillar, showing egg-and-dart, bead, and acanthus ornaments

When typography was invented Gutenberg’s first book was based upon the Gothic style—the type-face a pointed black letter, such as was then used on manuscript books, and the ornamentation pointed foliage (done by hand). It was some years after this that typography came under the influence of the Italian Renaissance, and both type-faces and decoration assumed the Roman style. In the old days there was sympathy between the various arts and crafts, and it worked for harmony in effects. Building-decoration, metal-carving and wood-engraving were governed by the same artistic motive, and were often done by the same man, much as the printer at one time was compositor, pressman, binder, typefounder, ink-maker and paper-maker, all in one. Now, many a piece of printing goes wrong because the ideas of several people, inharmonious from lack of relation, are injected into the work during the several stages necessary for its production.

The relation of typography to architecture is plainly shown in the formation of the Roman and Gothic alphabets. The letters of the Roman alphabet, dignified in their straight strokes and symmetrical in their rounded lines, suggest features of Roman architecture (Example [106]; also see Example [43] of a previous article). In the interesting picturesqueness of the pointed black Gothic letter may be seen reflections of the graceful arches of the cathedral pointing upward like hands in prayer—and of the pointed leaf ornamentation of the Gothic period. (Example [107].)

EXAMPLE 98
Dainty, elaborate rococo ornament, as applied to a program title-page. Compare with the chair, Example [97]

Ornamentation is both inventive and imitative. An ornament purely inventive or one purely imitative is seldom artistic. A child may make a jumble of lines that altho original means nothing; when it is older it may draw a flower so realistic and imitative that little is left to the imagination. When a flower or plant is used as a model in designing an ornament it is “conventionalized,” that is, it is blended with its environment. A flower in a garden surrounded by other vegetation should be as the other flowers, but as an ornament on the flat surface of paper it should be without perspective. Example [108-a] shows how commonplace an ornament looks when its details are carefully shaded in perspective. Examples [108-b] and [108-c] show how more decorative an ornament is when either outlined or filled in. Sometimes shadows are merely suggested, as on the fruit basket and book ornaments in Example [113].

EXAMPLE 95
Square-lined, ornamentless furniture

EXAMPLE 97
Dainty and elaborate rococo ornament, as applied to furniture. Compare Example [98]

EXAMPLE 100
Slightly ornamental typography. Compare with chair [opposite]. Design by Will Bradley

In the conventionalized decorative art of all ages may be found traces of the things which have inspired the decorator. The lotus leaf, and the papyrus plant (which once gave writing material to the world) thousands of years ago influenced Egyptian design (Example [87]). Religion dictated many of the decorative forms in ancient art. The winged-ball-and-asps (Example [88]) was a favorite device in Egyptian decoration and has come to us by way of Roman mythology as the winged staff of the herald Mercury, the ribbons on the staff supplanting the Egyptian asps, but later evolving into serpents as in the decorative border of Example [125]. The work of the best artists is full of meaning. The Egyptians considered certain animals sacred, and they were reproduced numerously in the picture-writing and ornamentation of the time. The sacred beetle as conventionalized was much used. In Example [125] the cog-wheel of commerce is conventionalized as the rim of the ball, which also contains a seal. The anchor and rope, hour glass, wreath, torch, acanthus leaves, all are conventionalized and blended pleasingly in outline drawing. The tone of the border approximates that of the type matter it surrounds.

EXAMPLE 96
Square-lined, ornamentless typography. Compare with chair [opposite]. Design by Fleming & Carnrick, New York

EXAMPLE 99
Slightly ornamental furniture

The acanthus leaf (Example [89]) is the model for much of the elaborate leaf decoration found on the capitals of Corinthian columns and wherever rich imposing leaf ornament is desired. The anthemion (Example [90]) is a palm-like ornament used by the Greeks and Romans, now frequently found in decorative work of an architectural nature.

---

It may not occur to the average printer that architecture is in any way allied with typography—that there is any connection between the ornamentation of a building and a job of printing. Fred W. Goudy, Bruce Rogers and D. B. Updike employ conventionalized architectural columns and arches to ornament title-pages of classic motives. The average typographer, tho, finds more inspiration in the ornamentation that is only an embellishment to architecture. There are several ornamental units that are used more frequently than others, and these are the egg-and-dart (Example [83]) and the bead (Example [84]). You, who are reading this, are invited to verify by observation this last statement. A printer who did so was astonished at the eggs, darts, and beads that were to be seen wherever he looked. Cut into the stone of buildings, carved into the wood of furniture, used on molding about doors and windows, on office partitions, on library lamps, in the ceiling panels of restaurants, about the prosceniums in theaters, around the mirror in the barber shop—wherever he looked there were the ornaments. It is remarkable how non-observant the average printer is. The hands of artists—Greeks and Romans—who lived thousands of years ago made similar designs, and yet a knowledge of history is counted non-essential by printers and others!

EXAMPLE 101
Regularity of repeat

EXAMPLE 102
Variety of repeat

EXAMPLE 103
Monotony

EXAMPLE 104
Less monotony

EXAMPLE 105
Contrasted shapes prevent monotony

EXAMPLE 106
Type border of Roman architectural ornament. Compare the straight and curved lines with the Roman type-face

Let us apply the egg-and-dart and bead ornaments as borders in typography, and notice how admirably they serve the purpose. Example [85] shows the egg-and-dart ornament perhaps too carefully drawn as to detail; and Example [86] demonstrates how the bead ornament may be adapted to panel work.

From early times there seems to have been a triple division of taste regarding ornament. In the days of Rome these divisions were given expression in the treatment of supporting columns, the three styles being known respectively as Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The Doric column is severely plain, the Ionic slightly ornamental, and the Corinthian elaborately ornamental.

The Doric style (Example [91]) is emblematic of dignity, simplicity and strength, and appeals to the man preferring these qualities in printing.

The Ionic style (Example [92]) represents refinement in ornament, and pleases the man able to discriminate between the severely plain and the over-ornamented—a quality of judgment worth cultivating by every typographer.

Outlined                   Filled in
Illustration, not ornament     Ornaments without perspective
EXAMPLE 108

The Corinthian style (Example [93]) expresses the preference of many who delight in ostentation and elaboration in ornament. The elaborate, showy acanthus leaf usually forms the chief decoration for the capital surmounting the column, and the entablature (Example [94]) is particularly rich in ornamentation.

The Doric pillar has been called masculine and the Ionic feminine, the sturdiness of the one and the grace of the other also being likened to the warlike Spartans who emphasized the development of the body and the artistic Athenians who especially developed the intellect.

This difference in ideals and preferences has come down the centuries to our time. A few years after Cromwell, plain, blunt, and even disapproving of sculpture and painting, was ruling England, across the channel Louis XIV. strutted in corsets and on high red heels amid gilt and glamour in the courts of France.

EXAMPLE 107
Type-border of English-Gothic pointed ornament.
Compare the black pointed effects with the Gothic type-face

Monks and nuns lived plainly in the company of bare walls and squarely cut chairs, and dressed in subdued browns and blacks, while at Rome surrounded by the art works of Michelangelo and Raphael the higher dignitaries were clothed in brilliant reds, and gold and white.

EXAMPLE 109
Extravagant wall border ornamentation, designed during the Renaissance in Italy

Morris loved an old worn-out house, squarely-cut furniture, burlap, and subdued colors; while the Newly-riches boast of the magnificence of their mansions, Louis Quinze ball-rooms and imported tapestry.

Only recently two church buildings were remodeled. In one were placed ornamental brass railings, lectern, pulpit and candelabra, and stained-glass pictorial windows; the walls were covered with gilt fleurs-de-lis on maroon backgrounds, and the entire effect was one of cheap magnificence. The other church had been an old Colonial structure of square proportions. Dignified mahogany furnishings were selected, the walls were ornamented in pure geometric designs, pale gold on tinted backgrounds, and the windows were made of small panes of glass subdued in color, in harmony with the architecture of the building, with a result that spoke good taste and refinement.

Examples [95], [96], [97], [98], [99], [100], present the three divisions of taste—the plain, ornamentless; the slightly ornamental, and the elaborately ornamental—applied to typography and reflected in furniture. The typographer should learn that the arts are related, that the styles of home-furnishings and architecture influence the styles of typography. A few years ago mission furniture was introduced and along with it came architecture that called for exposed roof supports, squarely-cut moldings, coarse fabric wall coverings, subdued green and brown tapestries. And before they knew the reason, printers were using heavy brass rules, rugged type-faces and printing on dark-hued antique papers. Example [96] is a program page produced under these influences. Compare it with the so-called “mission” chair (Example [95]) and note the resemblance of motive. Both are rugged, angular and plain.

EXAMPLE 110
Roman scroll ornament cut in stone

EXAMPLE 111
Type ornament based upon geometric lines

EXAMPLE 112
Type ornament based upon foliage

EXAMPLE 113
Type ornament based upon the inanimate

EXAMPLE 114
Type ornament based upon the animate

EXAMPLE 115. Ornamental hand-lettered effect; obtained by initials, text letter and rule

Now for contrast, compare them with the dainty, elaborately ornamental chair (Example [97]) and the title-page (Example [98]). Both chair and title-page designs are based upon the frivolous rococo style of the period known as Louis XV. (or Louis Quinze). In that period, shells and leaves conventionalized into graceful, golden curves were blended with a profusion of roses and other flowers. Straight lines were avoided, and furniture and architecture took on curves even to the extent of causing structural weakness.

EXAMPLE 116
Corner ornaments may have been suggested by the bolts on inscription plates or by the cross lines on books

EXAMPLE 117
Ivy-leaf ornamentation, and spaces filled in by decoration. From an old manuscript book

Because a majority of type-faces are built upon horizontal and vertical lines, rococo type ornamentation is seldom successful in typography. The pen-and-ink border design (Example [98]) is a clever adaptation of the Louis XV. rococo style. There is not an absolutely straight vertical or horizontal line in the border, and with the curves and flowers, ribbons, lattice-work and cupids it makes an appeal to women. The type-face combined with the border has similar characteristics—a freedom of line and an abundance of curves.

Examples [99] and [100] show a chair and an announcement page, both slightly ornamented to please those folks who like neither the severely plain nor the elaborately ornamental.

---

Ornament is secondary to the real purpose of the thing it embellishes; it should not be so lavish as to distract attention from the more important object. A booklet is issued to convey a message, and should the reading matter be overshadowed by ornamentation, this purpose may not be accomplished. A “flowery” oration may entertain and please an audience, but it may not convince. In 1896 Bryan stampeded a convention by his extemporaneous eloquence and metaphor, but when he came to the “enemy’s country” and faced an audience which wanted facts, he read his address from carefully prepared manuscript.

EXAMPLE 118
Filling blank spaces with ornamentation, as was done on manuscript books. Page by Government Printshop, Berlin, Germany

During the Middle Ages, when nations were fighting for existence and necessities of life were barely obtainable, there was little ornamentation except in isolated instances, but when, about the fifteenth century, the Renaissance came, art received an enthusiastic reception. Ornamentation was indulged in to excess, the artists using all the classic forms and inventing new ones. Example [109], showing wall border decoration, looks to the printer like a specimen sheet of type borders. This brings to mind that there is always the temptation to over-ornament when an artistic job is desired, and the necessity of advising printers to restrain themselves and save a few ornaments for other work. Our brethren of the cloth like to repeat the story of the theological student preaching his first sermon before the Seminary authorities. He began at Genesis and took his hearers thru the entire Bible to Revelation. When he had finished an old professor gravely asked what he would preach about the next Sunday.

The famous designer Chippendale, first made his furniture serviceable and then added ornament, from which fact the printer should profit. Have a printed job serve its purpose, and ornament it only so far as is consistent to this end. It is frequently advisable to omit decoration and let the type talk without interruption.

---

Ornamentation when used for border purposes has two features which may not be apparent to the superficial glance—regularity in repetition and variety in repetition. Example [101] shows repeated strokes of the same length. In Example [102] by alternating the length of the strokes the design is made more interesting. Examples [103], [104] and [105] illustrate this principle in rounded forms. In the first there is monotonous repetition, in the second there is less monotony because the oval form is less regular than the circle, and in Example [105], by contrasting the forms in both size and shape the design acquires new decorative interest. This principle of contrast and variety is exemplified in most border designs. In Example [107] the light scroll lines contrast with the black leaves, and in Example [106] curves are contrasted with angles. Contrast is sometimes obtained with color, as shown in Example [123].

---

EXAMPLE 119
Semi-ornamental ecclesiastic style

Ornament as used by the printer may be divided into four classes: Ornament based upon geometric lines (Example [111]), ornament based upon foliage (Example [112]), ornament based upon the inanimate (Example [113]) and ornament based upon the animate (Example [114]). The center ornament in Example [111] contains the cross and circle, ecclesiastic devices, and its conventionalized pointed leaves would also admit it to the group shown as Example [112]—ornament based upon foliage. Leaves and flowers from the beginning have been a prolific source of inspiration to artists. Before the invention of typography the decorator of manuscript books reveled in foliage, as will be seen by Example [117], and today when decoration is added by the process of printing the same liberal use of foliage is evidenced (Example [118]). In both examples should be noticed the custom of filling blank spaces with decoration.

EXAMPLE 120. INITIALS
a—Foliage decoration based on the acanthus leaf
b—Imitation of mortised woodcut initials
c—Simple geometric treatment
d—Rugged Colonial style
e—Suggesting literary use
f—Italian ornamentation
g—Plain black and white effect
h—Modern adaptation of Roman torch
i—German scroll decoration
j—Based upon the uncial character
k—Woodcut effect as used by Morris

The inanimate (Example [113]) lends itself better for ornamental purposes than does the animate (Example [114]), and the less familiar the subject the better ornament it makes. An ornament based upon the animate is shown in Example [124], and as will be seen it is not as pleasing as the one in Example [121], which is based upon the inanimate.

EXAMPLE 121
Simple ornamentation applied to letterhead. Design by Harry A. Anger, Seattle, Wash.

Initials afford a convenient means of ornamentation (Example [120]). An initial well chosen as to tone and appropriateness often satisfies all demands in this line. The mortised Colonial initial indicated by b looks well with Caslon roman and printed on antique paper. The acanthus design a looks well with Washington Text; the Italian design f, with a letter such as Bodoni. Initials are used in a highly decorative manner in Example [115], after the style found in ecclesiastical manuscripts. The possibilities of type and rule are here well set forth.

EXAMPLE 122
Appropriate ornamentation applied to the modern booklet. Page by the Munder-Thomsen Company, Baltimore, Md.

Sometimes ornaments in the corners of a plain rule border (Example [116]) are sufficient decoration. These effects may have been suggested by the corner bolts with which brass plates are fastened to walls.

In the booklet decoration (Example [122]) the artist has taken his motive from the word “Washington” making the capitol dome and its supports the central figure in the design, which is Colonial in character. Drawing a line down thru the center of the design it will be found that with a few minor exceptions the right half is a duplicate in reverse of the left half. The effect is frequently found in decorative work, as it gives balance and differentiates between illustration and decoration. An illustrative design, showing an actual scene, would not be effective.

EXAMPLE 123
Effect of alternating colors, for covers and end-leaves of booklets and catalogs

Wall paper and linoleum designs are made in patterns that repeat at intervals and for this reason answer the purpose of decoration.

Example [119] presents a program page, which, while attractive, has but one ornament, an ecclesiastic design. The arrangement of bands above and below the main display assists in forming a decorative effect.

Type decoration in use today shows a preference for forms from Italian sources. Several years ago the Colonial spirit had influenced a preference for Gothic-English forms. The work of Goudy, Cleland and others has had a part in developing taste for the Italian.

In closing this chapter it may be well again to warn the printer not to over-ornament. The relation of ornament to typography is well covered in the caution of an experienced architect to a novice: “Ornament construction, but do not construct ornament.”

The best art is that which is concealed, and which unobtrusively adds effectiveness to a piece of printing.

EXAMPLE 124
This ornament, based upon the animate, not well suited for business purposes

EXAMPLE 126

EXAMPLE 127
These pages are model specimens of book typography. Shown here in the actual size of the originals, from zinc etchings