Now instead of being the cause of an oriental handshake, a good job of printing ought to be an everyday occurrence, and the stirring of the waters should be left for the bad job of printing when, unfortunately, it happens along.
Lack of interest is the reason for the non-development of many printers in the art side of typography. Because, to many compositors, printing is merely a means of making a living, only enough knowledge is acquired to enable them to “hold their jobs,” or, in the cases of employers, to retain their customers. Time spent in the printshop is considered drudgery and the pleasures of life come after the whistle has blown. There are young printers who know comparatively nothing about good typography, yet are authorities on the rules of pinocle, baseball, or other pastimes. And there are older printers, too, who could write a book about chicken-raising, yet do not know when type-faces harmonize.
Any man who is not interested in his vocation is to be pitied. Unless his heart is in his work, a lawyer, preacher, editor, ad-writer, artist or printer will not be successful.
Interest may be developed. If the typographer will devote a portion of the time now spent on outside matters to the study of his craft, and especially the art side of printing, his work will become lighter and the hands on the clock will chase each other. The same concentration of thought now devoted to unimportant side interests would bring large dividends if invested in the study of typography. Efficiency is a guarantee of steady work and good pay to the employee, and an assurance of steady customers and better prices to the employer.
EXAMPLE 256
Classic, refined treatment, for art and literary purposes
The typographer who prefers freedom from care, and the blissfulness of ignorance, is a poor member of society. He should line up among the world’s workers and accept some of the responsibilities. The first things he observes, should he become a student, are the imperfections of his own product. Work that before looked good to him, now, viewed in a new light, is defective, and finally the old verdict is reached, “There is none perfect, no, not one.” While to the experienced art-printer expectations of absolutely perfect results are known to be futile, he tries for one hundred per cent just the same. A man lacks something in his make-up when he is satisfied to be rated as a twenty-five or fifty per cent printer.
Tickets, altho only a minute part of the printing-office product, afford opportunity for the practice and development of art printing. In typography there are many themes and styles and their incorporation into type-designs is an interesting and instructive study. The compositor or layout man should know and understand these various styles, that he may be able to adapt himself to any demand made for “something different.” Resourcefulness is a valuable characteristic for any printer to possess, and close examination of the nineteen ticket forms, and careful reading of what follows, should serve to develop that quality. These forms were designed by the author especially for this chapter.
Example [256].—It is fitting, in commencing a series of type arrangements, first to show one based upon a classic motive. The design is old to students of art, yet may be new to printers in general. The arrangement has been used for many years by leading architects on inscription tablets, and the idea itself comes from ancient Rome. The egg-and-dart border is a standard embellishment in architectural designing. The roman type-face is historically proper, especially the adherence to capitals, as originally there was none but what we call capitals, the small “lower-case” or minuscule letters having been evolved during the Middle Ages. The letters of roman type-faces usually set very close together and to get certain results the capitals should be slightly spaced. One-point spaces have been used in this example. White cardboard is preferable to a colored one on which to print this design.