THE SCOPE OF THIS HANDBOOK
Generally this book has been planned as a sort of “guide” to models and methods for Letter-craftsmen and Students—more particularly for those who cannot see the actual processes of Writing, Illuminating, &c. carried out, and who may not have access to collections of MSS. Much of, if not all, the explanation is of the most obvious, but that, I hope, gives it more nearly the value of a practical demonstration. In describing methods and processes I have generally used the present tense—saying that they “are—”: this is to be taken as meaning that they are so in early MSS. and inscriptions, and in the practice of the modern school of scribes who found their work on them.
Regarding the copying of early work (see pp. [195], [323], &c.) it is contended that to revive an art [p-xx] one must begin at the beginning, and that, in an honest attempt to achieve a simple end, one may lawfully follow a method[4] without imitating a style. We have an excellent precedent in the Italian scribes who went back 300 years for a model and gave us the Roman small-letter as a result (see p. [47]). The beginners attitude is largely, and necessarily, imitative, and at this time we should have much to hope from a school of Artist-Beginners who would make good construction the only novelty in their work. We have almost as much—or as little—to be afraid of in Originality as in imitation, and our best attitude towards this problem is that of the Irishman with a difficulty—“to look it boldly in the face and pass on”—making an honest attempt to achieve a simple end. Perhaps we trouble too much about what we “ought to do” & “do”: it is of greater moment to know what we are doing & trying to do. In so far as tradition fails to bound or guide us we must think for ourselves and in practice make methods and rules for ourselves: endeavouring that our work should be effective rather than have “a fine effect”—or be, rather than appear, good—and following our craft rather than making it follow us. For all things—materials, tools, methods—are waiting to serve us and [p-xxi] we have only to find the “spell” that will set the whole universe a-making for us.
Endeavouring to attain this freedom we may make Rules and Methods serve us (see p. [221]), knowing that Rules are only Guides and that Methods are suggested by the work itself: from first to last our necessary equipment consists in good models, good tools, & a good will. Within the limits of our craft we cannot have too much freedom; for too much fitting & planning makes the work lifeless, and it is conceivable that in the finest work the Rules are concealed, and that, for example, a MS. might be most beautiful without ruled lines and methodical arrangement (see p. [343]). But the more clearly we realize our limitations the more practical our work. And it is rather as a stimulus to definite thought—not as an embodiment of hard and fast rules—that various methodical plans & tables of comparison & analysis are given in this book. It is well to recognize at once, the fact that mere taking to pieces, or analysing, followed by “putting together,” is only a means of becoming acquainted with the mechanism of construction, and will not reproduce the original beauty of a thing: it is an education for work, but all work which is honest and straightforward has a beauty and freshness of its own.
The commercial prospects of the student of Writing & Illuminating—or, indeed, of any Art or Craft—are somewhat problematical, depending largely on his efficiency & opportunities. There is a fairly steady demand for Illuminated Addresses; but the independent craftsman would have to establish himself by useful practice, and by seizing opportunities, and by doing his work well. Only an attempt [p-xxii] to do practical work will raise practical problems, and therefore useful practice is the making of real or definite things. In the special conditions attaching to work which the craftsman is commissioned to do for another person, there is a great advantage. And the beginner by setting himself specific tasks (for example: making a MS. book for a specific purpose—see p. [100]) should give reality to his work. As a craftsman in Lettering he might get work in some of the directions mentioned in pp. [337]–[341].
Although the demand for good work is at present limited, the production of good work will inevitably create a demand; and, finally, the value of Quality is always recognized—sooner or later, but inevitably—and whatever “practical” reasons we may hear urged in favour of Quantity, the value of Quality is gaining recognition every day in commerce and even in art, and there or here, sooner or later we shall know that we can afford the best.
EDWARD JOHNSTON.
October 1906.
My thanks are due to Mr. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, to Mr. Emery Walker, and to Mr. George Allen for quotations: to Mr. Graily Hewitt, to Mr. Douglas Cockerell, to Mr. A. E. R. Gill, to Mr. C. M. Firth, and to Mr. G. Loumyer, for special contributions on gilding, binding, and inscription-cutting: to Mr. S. C. Cockerell for several of the plates: to Mr. W. H. Cowlishaw, to the Rev. Dr. T. K. Abbott, to Dr. F. S. Kenyon of the New Palæographical Society, to the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Hastings, to the Secretary of the Board of Education, S. Kensington, to Mr. H. Yates-Thompson, to Mr. G. H. Powell, and to others, for permission to reproduce photographs, &c.: and to Mr. Noel Rooke and G. J. H. for assistance with the illustrations and many other matters: I should like, moreover, to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. W. R. Lethaby and Mr. S. C. Cockerell for encouragement and advice in years past.
E. J.