Eight or nine words to the line is a common proportion in ordinary printed books, and may be taken by the scribe as his ordinary maximum. Lines having very many words are difficult to read.
On the other hand, lines of only two or three words each are generally tiresome, though they may be allowed in special cases of fine writing (see p. [262]), where it is less necessary to economise space or time, and the effect of an even mass is not desired. But in any case where there is an attempt to make the right-hand edge of the text approximately even, at least four or five words to the line are necessary; the scribe may therefore take four words per line as his ordinary minimum.
We may say generally, then, that an ordinary manuscript book should contain between four and eight words (or between 25 and 50 letter-spaces) to the line. [p108]
The exact size of the writing allowed in a given case may be found by a process of guess and trial, but this is seldom necessary for the practical scribe who uses regular sizes for regular occasions.
The line spacing.—The size of the letter determines approximately the distance apart of the writing-lines (see pp. [79], [327]). Much depends on whether the ascending and descending letters are long or short (see fig. [154]).
The number of writing-lines to the page equals the number of times that the line-space is contained in the text-column (i.e. the height of the page less the top and foot margins)—allowing for the top line not requiring a full space (see fig. [71]). Any fractional space left over may be added to the foot margin, or, if nearly equal to one line-space, a little may be taken from the margins to complete it.
The Large Capitals are commonly one, two, or more of the line-spaces in height (fig. [71], & p. [128]).
RULING
Having folded and cut the large sheet of paper into small (book) sheets of the size determined on, take one of these as a pattern and rule it throughout as if it were to be used in the book.
