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

Three branches of architectural virtue applied to the catalog—Act well, speak well, look well—The days when the catalog was a heterogeneous collection of woodcuts and type-faces—Now care and taste shown—The catalog a portable show case—Proper display of goods makes selling easier—Playing up the ordinary—A block of marble, rough and carved—Standardizing the dimensions of catalogs—Engineers recommend standard sizes—Other suggestions—Overlapping covers—Titles on exposed backs—Date—Index card inclosed—Copy should be legible—A dummy should be passed on—Decoration supplemental—Expressing personality—The penalty of being an average typographer—The envy of master printers of old—Horizontal position of illustration—Brass rule well used—A design full of character—Description facing illustration—Small amount of reading matter—Red borders—Variety and interest by simple means—Cover-page built on an illustration—Modern German typographic ideas—Bold type desirable when color is to be shown—An art museum catalog—Securing value from background—Technical details kept orderly—A book-catalog page—Rule border adds decorative quality—Typography seldom receives the attention it deserves—An uncommon catalog page—Tabular treatment for a high-class wine list—The stone rejected by the builder—A dainty German page—A legible ornamental letter—Absence of roman lower-case—Appropriate woodcut—Marginal distribution—Realistic pictures—Gloves well shown—Usual method of selling—Tabular matter.

PROGRAMS

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“Let all things be done decently and in order”—Four classes of programs—Programs of sacred services—Offer opportunity for artistic treatment—Significance an important element—The key to ecclesiastical printing—Rubrics—A modern interpretation of the historic—Pointed Gothic type-face—Uncial rubricated initials—Red lines—A significant device—Prejudices among clergymen—A churchly aspect by rubrication—Arranging numerous small titles—Economizing space—An almost perfect specimen of church program printing—A specialist on church typography—Program of lenten services—A small program, with a page for each event—Arranging a program with little matter—The dance program—Should be dainty—Stock folders—Must “look like a dance program”—A typographic dance card—Centered dots in place of periods—Uniform border treatment on an outing program—An unconventional dance program—Banquet programs and varied treatments possible—Value of the decorative border—Arrangement of type matter—A background in olive—The menu program in small booklet form—Menu dishes in the form of checks—“Hash” and “Rehash”—A bit of fun—A classic menu-page—A style appropriately humorous—Eating in a foreign language—Side hits—Artistic treatment simulating woodcut decoration—A simply constructed menu page—Unique arrangement—Titles at the left—Symmetrical arrangement—Programs for entertainments and exercises—The commonplace program a disappointment—Artistic programs—A refined page by Updike—Features of interest in a page by Rogers—Admirable treatment of a brief program—Appropriate decoration overprinted by type—A page dominated by the Gothic style—List of characters unusually displayed—A neat page in Caslon type—The program containing small advertisements—Theater programs exert influence on public taste.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Publicity essential to success—Announcements the modern representative of the public crier—Not confined to any size or shape—Often consists of only one page—The most personal of printed mediums of publicity—The printer depended on for suggestions and advice—Confidence of the customer an asset—Imitation engraved announcement the most common—Allows of no original or decorative treatment—The cobbler and tinker—Satisfaction from work well done—The uncommon typographer not governed by usual warnings—An announcement folder of a quality seldom attained—Points of interest in a Caslon page—Black text letter and a generous size of sheet—Sturdy masculine lettering—The human quality of imperfection—A cartoonist’s task—Broad strokes make a liberal showing of color possible—Classic dignity—Ornaments as eye-attractors—A postal-card announcement—One-tenth manual labor and nine-tenths brain exercise—Mistake to make type-face very large or very small—Obtaining variety and emphasis by use of italic and small capitals—Spacing of lower-case—One size of type only—Division into two type groups—A study in tone values—Harmony of type-face and decoration—A brief announcement—Colonial effects—Appropriate typography based on an early newspaper—Lack of margins and absence of print—Heavy- and light-faced rule—Greater legibility when lines are separated—A misplaced initial—A blotter announcement—Printers’ own announcements.

TICKETS

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Good results by accident—A good job of printing should be an everyday occurrence—Lack of interest reason for non-development—Any man not interested in his vocation to be pitied—Thought concentrated on typography—Efficiency a guarantee—Accept responsibilities—The first observations of a student—“None perfect, no not one”—Tickets afford practice of art printing—Many themes and styles in typography—Resourcefulness a valuable characteristic—Ticket forms especially designed—One based upon a classic motive—An idea from ancient Rome—Capitals slightly spaced—The historic Gothic or church style—Contrast by the use of color—A modern conception with a masculine motive—The margins of two styles—An odd and striking effect—Modern treatment based upon the Colonial—A bookish effect—An idea for a lecture course—White or colored stock?—A ticket of peculiar interest to women—The geometric or secession style—Enthusiasm over new styles—Building a house in the sands—Square-faced type and square ornaments—An adaptation of the missal style—Inspiration from William Morris and Italian printers—For educational and art functions—A motive from the art workers of the Middle Ages—A modern application of classic type effects—A purely Colonial effect—Dainty, refined treatment and symbolic decoration—Typography that is distinctly masculine—Orange is lighter than black in tone—An arrangement dictated by an ornament—A ticket not easily duplicated—Color background—Corner decoration in keeping with the subject—A motive from early French books—Typographers should go thru the world with eyes open.