The letter by Mr. Harry Everett Townsend shown in [131] is most distinctive in effect—a more refined form of the rapidly drawn character shown in [138].
Mr. Howard Pyle often gives us charming bits of lettering in connection with his illustrations. The heading, [132], shows a characteristic line. Most of Mr. Pyle's lettering is "Colonial" or Georgian in style, though the initials he uses with it are generally rendered in the fashions of the early German woodcuts, somewhat similar to Holbein's initials for the "Dance of Death."
One of the most original of American letterers is Mr. Orson Lowell. Usually closely conjoined with design, his lettering does not show to its full value when reproduced apart from its surroundings, for much of its charm depends
upon its harmony in line and color with the accompanying drawing Mr. Lowell has taken the same basic forms as those used by Mr. Penfield, and has played with them until he has developed a series of most ingenious and fanciful letters. The examples reproduced in [136] and [137] but inadequately show a few of the many forms that Mr. Lowell employs with remarkable fertility of invention and delightfully decorative effect of line. The small letters, [135], shown opposite his capitals, [134], are not by Mr. Lowell, nor are they in any way equal to his own small letters, of which regrettably few appear in his published work; but they may serve to exhibit a similar method of treating a much more conventional form of minuscule than Mr.
Lowell would himself use for the same purpose. Despite its unconventionally, however, an examination of Mr. Lowell's work will show that each letter has been developed to fit the space between its neighbors and to balance and relieve their forms; and that, fanciful as some of the shapes may appear, they have invariably been knowingly worked out, and always appear harmonious and fit.
