The examples of old lettering reproduced in figures [147], [148] and [149], together with the drawings by Mr. Goodhue, will indicate the proper spacing of Blackletter; but in most of the pages here devoted to illustrating the individual forms the letters have been spaced too wide for their proper effect that each separate shape might be shown distinctly. The style appears at its best in compositions which fill a panel of more or less geometrical form, as, for example, the beautiful title-page reproduced in [147]. Could anything be more delightful to the eye than its rich blackness, energetic lines, and refreshing virility? In this design surely we have a specimen that, from the proportion and balance of its blacks, is more effective than anything which could have been accomplished by the use of the more rigid Roman letter; but despite its many beauties it suffers from the inherent weakness of the individual letter forms,—it is more effective than readable!
Another excellent example of the old use of Blackletter is the page from the prayerbook of the Emperor Maximilian,