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 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.