5.—The lettering is most effective when the type is selected and arranged so that it rises in size towards the middle line and then decreases.
6.—Unnecessary length tends to indistinctness; the best title tells what the book is in very few words, and should be easily read at a little distance.
Fig. 102—Rich half-calf extra binding.
It is impossible to mark out the whole of the title with the dividers unless a specimen copy is at hand from which the spaces can be measured. The best guide is the eye. The distance between the lines should be equal; a plain line is reckoned as a line of type and must not be placed at half the distance between the lines.
If a line with letters having long upstrokes (literature, hostile, latter, &c.) follows one without long downstrokes (never, miner, memoir, &c.) the lines must come a little closer than when a line having long downstrokes (poppy, Ganges, &c.) comes over one having long upstrokes. In this respect the binder is in a more difficult position than the printer, as the latter need give no attention to this, his title never being so cramped into little space.
The effectiveness of a leather back can be considerably heightened by evenly smoothing and polishing the title panel with a burnisher. Such a back with the title panel enclosed within a square with only a fine double line at the head and tail and also a fine line close to the head is perhaps the best that an ordinary bookbindery can produce. It is essential, however, that every detail should be faultlessly executed, especially the title.
Tooling a square is frequently done. The beginner should always use the roll for this, although tool makers produce line pieces for the work. It is easier to print straight with the roll than with the line pieces, which require skill to use. Special attention should be given to joinings at corners, so that neither gaps nor overlapping are seen.
For the rest we have given a number of different designs of backs (pp. 149, 150, 151) as well as a few richly tooled half-calf bindings, and also two specimens of highly ornamented insides (p. 150).
