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

Ruskin, enumerating three branches of architectural virtue, requires of a building (1) that it act well, and do the things it was intended to do, in the best way; (2) that it speak well, and say the things it was intended to say, in the best words; (3) that it look well, and please us by its presence, whatever it has to do or say.

These three requirements, like many others that are important in the eyes of the architect, can be applied to the illustrated catalog, which most printers at one time or another are called upon to produce:

(1) The catalog should act well; it should be constructed in a manner fitting the purpose for which it is issued. If, say, it contains a list of plumbers’ supplies, it should be bound in strong stock of a color that will not easily soil. If it contains a list of jewelry and is for retail purposes, it could be bound delicately in light stock.

(2) The catalog should speak well; the illustrations should be faithful presentations of the articles to be sold, and the descriptive matter should be well written, accurate and informative.

(3) The catalog should look well; the type-faces, paper, ink, binding and other elements should be harmonious; the illustrations and descriptive matter should be arranged with regard to balance and proportion, and the treatment as a whole should be pleasing and interesting.

There was a time when catalogs were printed without attention to these things, or if the first two requirements were complied with the third was ignored. It will necessitate no effort for the reader to recall the days when merchants had no orderly plans for displaying their wares—when the average storeroom and window looked like a curiosity shop. Those were the days when the catalog was a heterogeneous collection of woodcuts and type-faces, packed on the pages to the very edge of the paper.

Now many show windows and salesrooms are delights to the eye, and similar care and taste are shown in the printing of the catalog.

EXAMPLE 177
Architectural title treatment by Will Dwiggins. The lettering contains typographical suggestions

The catalog is a portable showcase and from it the customer makes selection, often without seeing the article itself. These facts make it essential that goods be displayed invitingly and in good taste. An article well displayed requires few words to sell it.