That these examples are mostly high-class and by many of the best typographers in America (Europe also being represented), is due to the fact that the author during his connection with The American Printer has received several thousand pieces of printing, from which selections were made for this work.
Great care was exercised in the choice of examples in order that the book would not become obsolete, and it is believed that most of the type arrangements shown will be considered good for a hundred years to come. That this is possible is proved by the Whittingham titles on page [32], one of which is sixty-eight and the other seventy-three years old at this writing. These titles were set up when most typography was poor, yet few other type arrangements of that time would meet approval today; which indicates that it is not when printing is done, but how it is done that makes it good or bad.
Attention should be called to the plan of this volume. There are two parts, the first having to do with typography of the past and the second with typography of the present. Good printing of the present has a basic connection with that of the past, and for this reason one part is incomplete without the other.
The entire first part should be studied before any of the ideas in the second part are applied to present-day problems, and especially should the chapter on Type-Faces be patiently read and studied. The printer should first know type-faces and then learn how to use them.
In the chapters on Harmony, Tone, Proportion, Ornamentation and other art principles the author does not intend to advocate that his readers shall make pictures with type or build pages that are merely beautiful. The first requirement of typography is that it shall be easy to read; the second is that it shall be good to look at. The efficient typographer studies the copy and arranges it so that the reader’s task is an easy and pleasant one.
In planning the second edition the general style of the first edition was retained. However, an effort was made to change the style, especially of the binding, but so satisfactory was the original that it was again adopted.
The historical chapters in the first part have been revised and slightly altered, but they are practically as before. Extensive changes have been made in the second part. The text has been thoroly revised, and better typographic examples substituted in many cases. These chapters especially have been greatly altered: Booklets, Catalogs, Announcements, Letterheads, Billheads, Business Cards, Posters, Advertisements, Imprints.
The chapter on Type-Faces is all new and has been enlarged from ten to twenty-four pages. New chapters on the following subjects have been added: Package Labels, Blotters, Newspapers, Periodicals, House-Organs. In place of the medley of contest specimens in the appendix of the first edition, there are halftone reproductions of more than one hundred attractive holiday greetings.
No one realizes more than does the author the minor defects in typography, presswork and other details that are present in this volume, yet the effort of a Hercules and the patience of a Job have been expended in making everything as correct as possible. As the book now stands, it is a reaching after the ideal, with human inability to attain perfection. It is needless to point out imperfections; the reader will discover them.