After the student is able to make well-formed letters with the quill and reed pen, and arrange them well, the use of decoration and the further development of illumination should follow naturally.
There is undoubtedly a place for illumination to-day, and even in connection with the illuminated manuscript book, which should certainly possess the first place amongst the work of the modern illuminator. There is not the slightest suggestion there that the illuminated manuscript should usurp the place of the printed book, but there is no reason why it should not be in use at the same time. One of the great charms that a fine manuscript possesses is its uniqueness, not being one of many, as in the case of the printed book. Then again, some things, as, for example, Poetry and Romance, are rendered in a much more sympathetic fashion in the illuminated manuscript than in the printed book.
There are many ways in which the art of illumination might be applied to-day, as well as in the usual illuminated testimonial. Several suggestions are given in the following pages for different ways in which it may be employed.
In the decoration of the printed book the services of the artist who is well-trained in the use of good lettering and book-decoration should be of value to the printer. Although there is no need for the printer to endeavour to imitate the work of the illuminator, there ought, certainly, to be room for a well-developed style of decoration that could be used with a good form of type.
A few centuries ago, before printing was used for the production of books, illumination as a part of calligraphy was an important craft. Books were not only beautifully written but they were also richly decorated with gold and colours. The writing of long manuscripts was very slow work, compared with the increased speed of production afforded by the printing press; but, notwithstanding this, it appears to have been important that the writing should be rendered more beautiful by the enrichment of decoration. Unfortunately, although methods of book-production are now so speedy, most of the lettering is of the barest and crudest kind. Book-decoration seems to be, in most cases, confined to illustration, and even this does not often form an altogether inseparable part of the book.
With regard to the various developments on the purely commercial side, the study of pen- and brush-formed lettering cannot but be of the greatest service to the commercial artist who requires lettering for posters, labels, book-covers, and the many things that require lettering.
In fact, lettering enters so largely into decorative design that the study of some of the fine forms of lettering is of paramount importance to any artist who desires that the lettering that he uses should be of good construction. So many drawings have been spoiled through the introduction of weak and badly formed lettering that the need for training the student to produce lettering that is well-finished and of good form should be obvious to everyone.
Without doubt one of the great things in lettering is to allow the tool to have its way. Pen-formed lettering should be of a form easily constructed with the pen, and should not pretend to be a brush-formed lettering, and vice versâ.
It is for this reason that in the first chapter so much attention has been given in noting the influence that the tools and materials employed have had on the shaping of the letters.