Italic Capitals are a variety of the Roman Capitals, slightly sloped (frequently less sloped than the accompanying small-letters), and sometimes much flourished (fig. [177]). The types modelled on the latter were called by printers in the seventeenth century, “Swash Letters.”
Use of Italics.—In printing they served at first to mark such portions of the text as—
| Introductions, Prefaces, Indexes, Notes, | and subsequently were used for | Quotations, Emphasising, Words not part of the Text (e.g. Chapter headings in the Bible, &c.). |
- Introductions,
- Prefaces,
- Indexes,
- Notes,
- Quotations,
- Emphasising,
- Words not part of the Text (e.g. Chapter headings in the Bible, &c.).
In MSS. when it is not desirable to alter the character, Red Writing (see p. [130]) may be substituted for italics. Italics—either in black or red—go best with “Roman” characters.
Like the Roman Small-Letter, the Italic is a generally recognised and accepted form: this and other considerations, such as the peculiar elegance and charm of the letters, their formal relation to modern handwriting, their compactness and economy of space in the line, and the fact that they may be written easily and with extreme regularity—being indeed the most rapid of formal hands—are practical reasons for a careful study of the type, and justify the writing of certain MS. books entirely in Italics. [p317]
[Fig. 178.]—Part of [Plate XXI.], enlarged, (approx.) four times linear (see p. [483]).