It is interesting to note that my view on the importance of the work of the private presses is also confirmed by the article referred to, and that their work is beginning to influence the typefounders, however tardily.
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It is quite frequently said that it costs no more to print from good type than from bad. We might go further in the case of certain bad types and say that their use sends up the cost of printing. For when "modern" type of the extreme form is used, as De Vinne pointed out, their hair-lines are soon battered by any inequality in the paper and print imperfectly, or involve a loss of time in changing the damaged letters. The attempt to emulate the hair-line of the engraver of plate lettering is altogether misplaced in relief or letterpress printing.
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The Victorian greyness of page led some printers and publishers to resort to the use of heavier type to give their pages a richer black. But almost all the heavier types at their disposal had been designed for display lines in advertisements, and went too far in the thickening of the line. Even Morris's "Golden" type, excellent as it is in his use of it, is too heavy to be adopted as the staple type-face of our printing.
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Not till quite recently have type-faces of the right weight for bookwork been designed and placed on the general market. The work of the American Goudy, the type cut by Mr. Prince (who cut the punches for the Kelmscott, the Doves, and other celebrated founts) for Messrs. Shanks and christened "Dolphin," and some of the modern versions of Venetian founts are pretty satisfactory and generally available.
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With the exception of the Monotype Company, who designed an excellent modified "old style" type for the "Imprint," the composing machines that produce our newspapers, journals, and a large proportion of our books have repeated the stock designs originally made for movable or hand-set type. It is very desirable that they should not limit themselves to these, and the instance mentioned above is a most encouraging one to follow up.
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