Generally the greater the number of capitals the plainer their forms are kept, and the closer their spacing. It is best to keep to the regular method of spacing the lines of Versals one of the writing-line spaces (or more) apart—though in special cases the Versals may be independent of the writing-lines.
Spacing Out.—Coloured letters and ornaments are usually put in after the plain MS. has been written. A very little practice enables the scribe accurately to guess the amount of space which he should leave for the Versals, &c., whether it is designed to have several lines of them, or a single letter only on the page. A few pencil marks may be used to settle a doubtful point, but an elaborate sketching or setting out in pencil spoils the freedom of the work. [p127]
[CHAPTER VIII BLACK & RED ] Rubricating — Initial Pages or Title Pages — Prefaces & Notes in Colour — Pages with Coloured Headings — Page or Column Heading & Initial — Versals in Column or Marginal Bands — Stanzas or Verses marked by Versals — Music with Red Staves — Tail-Pieces, Colophons, &c. — Rubricating: General Remarks.
RUBRICATING
“Red, either in the form of a pigment or fluid ink, is of very ancient and common use. It is seen on the early Egyptian papyri; and it appears in the earliest extant vellum MSS., either in titles or the first lines of columns or chapters. The Greek term was μελάνιον κόκκινον; Latin minium,[26] rubrica.”—(Thompson’s “G. & L. Palæography,” p. [51].)
Rubricating, or the adding of Red, or other coloured, letters, line-finishings, or signs, to a MS. or Book, in which the main body of the text is already completed in black, constitutes in itself a very useful and effective form of decoration. It is, moreover, a connecting link between plain writing and illumination proper; and we may safely assume that the artists who made the beautiful illuminations of the Middle Ages were trained as scribes and rubricators.
INITIAL PAGES OR TITLE PAGES
Fig. [89] represents an Initial Page in Red Capitals. (The same arrangement may of course be used [p128] with a variety of colours and with gold: see Note (4) below). Such a page is, as it were, an “illumination” to all the pages, following it in black text.