“Massed Writing” (Close Spacing).—The written or printed page is very commonly set close, or “massed,” so that the letters support and enforce one another, their individual beauty being merged in and giving beauty to the whole. The closeness of the letters in each word keeps the words distinct, so that but little space is required between them,[59] and the lines of writing are made close together (ascending and descending stems being shortened, if necessary, for this purpose).
“Fine Writing” (Wide Spacing).—An inscription in “Fine Writing” may be spaced widely to display the finished beauty of the letters, or to give free play to the penman (or letter-craftsman). It consists generally of a number of distinct lines of Writing (or other lettering).
The two modes may be contrasted broadly, thus—
| MASSED WRITING (Lines near together.) | FINE WRITING (Lines spaced and separated.) |
| Has an effect of richness, depending on tone of mass and close, evenspacing. | Has an effect of elegance, depending on form of letters and distinctarrangement of lines. |
Simple method (for ordinary use); saving of time and space, suited for long inscriptions or small spaces. | Refined method (for special use); lavish of space and time,suited for large spaces or short inscriptions. |
| Lines generally of equal length, or if some fall short, end-fillingsmay be used—gaps are avoided if possible. | Lines may be of unequal length, giving irregular, right-hand edge, asin poetry (see p.[263])—gaps allowed on either side.[p263] |
| Ascending and descending stems—medium or short: serifs simple, andnot strongly marked. | Stems—medium or long: long stems often a marked feature, ending incarefully made heads and feed, or flourishes. |
| Suited for slanted-pen forms of “gothic” tendency, and heavy, blackwriting (example, “black letter”).* | Suited for straight and slanted penforms of “roman” tendency, and slender, light writing (example,“Italic”).* |
| Requires generally contrasts of colour or weight (p.[330]), and willbear more and heavier illumination (Line-fillings, Initials, Borders,&c.). | Allows variety in size of Letters (see pp. [298],[328]): its typicaltreatment is as plain, fine lettering—better without heavy Borders,&c. (p.[299]). |
| * Note.—Both modes are suited for Roman Capitals andSmall-Letters. | |
These two modes may not have been recognised by the ancient letter-craftsmen: their comparison here is intended chiefly as a stimulus to definite thought, not as a hard-and-fast division of two “styles”; for there may be any number of possible compromises between them. In practice, however, it will be found convenient to distinguish them as two modes of treating LINES OF WRITING which produce markedly different effects, the one, as it were, of COLOUR, the other of FORM.
Plates [XI.], [XIII.], [XIV.], [XV.], [XVII.] may be taken as examples of “Massed Writing,” Plates [IV.], [V.], [VI.], [VII.], [IX.], ([XXI.]) of “Fine Writing”; the other plates suggest compromises between the two.
Poetry (see p. [95]), or any text consisting of, or which is conveniently broken up into unequal lines, may be treated as “Fine Writing.” There is no objection to a straight left-hand edge with an irregular right-hand edge,[60] where the cause of the irregularity [p264] is natural and obvious, and no fault of the scribe’s. Such an arrangement, or rather, straightforward writing, of poetry is often the best by virtue of its freedom and simplicity (see p. [371]).
In many cases, however, a more formal and finished treatment of an irregular line text is to be preferred (especially in inscriptions on stone, metal, &c.), and the most natural arrangement is then an approximately symmetrical one, inclining to “Fine Writing” in treatment. This is easily obtained in inscriptions which are previously set-out, but a good plan—certainly the best for MSS.—is to sort the lines of the text into longs and shorts (and sometimes medium lines), and to set-in or indent the short lines two, three, or more letters. The indentations on the left balance the accidental irregularities on the right (fig. [154], and [Plate IV.]), and give an appearance of symmetry to the page (see Phrasing, p. [384]).