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

EXAMPLE 76
Out-of-center balance. Page by Will Bradley

The relation of lines to proportion, as illustrated by Examples [62] and [63], is also to be considered in the composition of plain reading pages. Example [77] shows how the effect of horizontal lines is given by narrow spacing between the words and wide spacing between the lines. This gives a result, like that of Example [63], contrary to the principles of proportion. How this may be overcome is illustrated in Example [78], which contains the same amount of space between the words as is between the lines. This treatment not only gives better proportion, but improves the tone of the page.

EXAMPLE 77
The effect of horizontal lines is given by narrow spacing between the words and wide spacing between the lines

EXAMPLE 79
Other letters must be spaced because of the open appearance of the letter “L”

EXAMPLE 81
The erroneous and obsolete practice of spreading the lines over the page

Adapting this principle to display composition, Examples [81] and [82] are enlightening. Example [81] shows the manner in which some years ago display lines were erroneously distributed over the entire page, presenting in effect the faults of Example [77]. The manner of rectifying these faults is demonstrated in Example [82], where main lines are grouped at the point of balance in the upper part of the page.

The narrow measure to which these words are set necessitates letterspacing. The resulting appearance is far from satisfactory yet it enables illustrations to be grouped pleasingly and makes possible a squaring of the pages which could not be done otherwise.