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