Either mode of spacing (close or wide) may be carried to an unwise or ridiculous extreme. “Leading” the lines of type was much in vogue a hundred years ago, in what was then regarded as “high-class” printing. Too often the wide-spaced line and “grand” manner of the eighteenth-century printer was pretentious rather than effective: this was partly due to the degraded type which he used, but form, arrangement, and expression all tended to be artificial. Of late years a rich, closely massed page has again become fashionable. Doubtless there has been a reaction in this from the eighteenth century to an earlier and better manner, but the effect is sometimes overdone, and the real ease and comfort of the reader has been sacrificed to his rather imaginary æstheticism.
By attaching supreme importance to readableness, [p265] the letter-craftsman gains at least a rational basis for his work, and is saved from the snares which lurk in all, even in the best, modes and fashions.
EVEN SPACING
In the spacing of a given inscription on a limited surface, where a comparatively large size of letter is required, what little space there is to spare should generally be distributed evenly and consistently (a, fig. [155]). Lavish expenditure of space on the margins would necessitate an undue crowding[61] of the lettering (b), and wide interspacing[62] would allow insufficient margins (c)—either arrangement suggesting inconsistency (but see p. [352]).
Note.—A given margin looks larger the heavier the mass of the text,[63] and smaller the lighter the mass of the text. And, therefore, if lettering be spread out, as in “Fine Writing,” the margins should be extra wide to have their true comparative value. The space available for a given inscription may in this way largely determine the arrangement of the lettering, comparatively small and large spaces suggesting respectively “Massed Writing” and “Fine Writing” (see p. [262]).
In certain decorative inscriptions, where letters are merely treated as decorative forms—readableness [p267] being a matter of little or no moment—the treatment of the spacing is adapted to a particular surface; and, for example:—
