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 334
Freedom of treatment that is distinctive

EXAMPLE 335
Label used for a special list

Example [331].—A specimen in Caslon, in which roman capitals and italic lower-case (the Aldine combination) make up an interesting label. The swash italic capitals add a specific decorative quality. The large lower-case “f” gives a graceful touch to the “for.” Dotted rule inside the black border is a change from the conventional continuous line. This form was printed on Japan vellum.

Example [332].—This is another hand-drawn label with qualities that can be approximated in typography. Border, decorative device and lettering are in the same key, and the harmony is agreeable. There are those who thoughtlessly condemn black borders as funereal, a judgment that is based on prejudice and not on an understanding of their use. It is well, however, to caution the young compositor against abuse of the black border; it would be well if he were to use no black borders until he had developed taste in the practice of typography.

Example [333].—An unusual label design that could probably be improved with careful typography. The initials of the text lettering are not exactly harmonious, and the space between words in the lower group is excessive. Printers should practice on the improvement of the design.

Example [334].—A characteristic Goudy type arrangement, with a freedom of treatment that is distinctive. How many printers would give the prominence to “From” that it has here? This suggests the custom of printers of the sixteenth century in starting a title-page with a large size of type regardless of the importance of the word or words.

Example [335].—This label was used in mailing to a special list some fine pieces of printing. The name of each addressee was printed in with type as shown by the reproduction, and, needless to state, attracted attention. The treatment of this label is uncommon in another respect—the modest inconspicuousness of the phrase, “From the Bartlett-Orr Press, New York.”

It would do no harm if printers also studied the stock labels manufactured by certain stationery houses. They will find much that is poor and commonplace and little that should be directly copied, but there are many suggestions in label making that could be adapted. The “reverse-plate” idea is one. The label is set in type and a proof sent to the photo-engraver, who makes a plate in which the letters show white and the background black. This plate can then be printed in color on gummed paper and the paper trimmed so as to “bleed” the edges of the printed background.