[126] The harder the stone to be carved, the more highly tempered will the chisels need to be.
[127] In learning to cut Inscriptions one would naturally begin with Incised letters.
[128] Where the ground between the letters is left plain, an absolute flatness and evenness is not necessary. The common method of jabbing or “pecking” the background is objectionable.
[129] E.g. Tombstones and Memorial Slabs are not usually fixed until finished.
[NOTES ON THE COLLOTYPE PLATES] (Note.—In order to make the illustrations [whether of facsimiles or enlargements] as large and as full as possible, I have sacrificed “appearance” to use and allowed most of the collotype plates, and many of the diagrams in the book, to encroach on the margins.—E. J.)
GENERAL NOTE.—All the plates are in facsimile as to size (or nearly so, allowing for errors in reproduction) except [I.], [II.], [XXII.], and [XXIV.], which had to be reduced, and therefore only portions of the MSS. can be shown. Note.—All the MSS. are on “Vellum” (see p. [173]). In order to get a better impression of the size and general proportion of a MS., the student might reconstruct it—or at least mark off the margins, text, &c.—on paper, from the measurements given. Or a sheet of paper might be cut to the size of the given page or opening, with an aperture (in its proper place) through which the plate might be viewed.
The plates are arranged in chronological order as nearly as possible. They are intended briefly to illustrate the Development of the Formal Book Hands from the Roman Capital and the General Development of the Illuminated MS.: I hope, moreover, that, fragmentary as they are, they will prove usefully suggestive in regard to the Arrangement of Text and Lettering and Ornament. The wonderful effect of the colouring cannot be given here, but, in any case, the illuminator should look at some original MSS. Several of the MSS. from which the plates are taken are exhibited in the British Museum.
[PLATE I.]—Portion of Inscription on base of Trajan Column,[130] Rome, circa 114 A.D. Scale approx. 19th linear.
THE STONE (within the internal line of the moulding): 3 feet 9 inches high, and 9 feet 34 inch long. [p410]
THE BORDERS.—The lettering practically fills the panel (see p. [352]): the surrounding moulding is approx. 4 inches wide.