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Design in Typography. Ornamental Types.

Following up the subject of Decoration, we naturally consider in the first place the simplest and most generally used of all decorative appliances—Ornamental Types. The fertility of invention and prolific production of this class of material in the last few years has resulted in such an enormous variety as might well confuse the learner who approaches its study for the first time. The entirely arbitrary nomenclature in use by the manufacturers is also perplexing. Notwithstanding all the care the typefounders take to avoid appropriating names already in use, it is unavoidable; and not only are the same faces differently named by different houses, but the same names, such as « Gothic, » « Celtic, » « Runic, » « Egyptian, » are applied to styles possessing no feature in common. The great house of Bruce, in New York, has discarded descriptive names altogether; but this is a doubtful advantage. The names are sometimes very appropriate; and it is certainly easier to remember « Relievo » and « Arboret » than « Style 2217. »

Vast, however, as is the variety, and confusing as are the arbitrary names, the whole field of ornamental founts may be readily classified under certain leading heads; and in a surprisingly short time the practical printer is able to detect at first sight a letter which he has not seen before. In fact, a trained eye can recognize the difference when a pattern has merely been re-cut by a different hand, or when a single letter of a fount has been intentionally varied.

In classifying ornamental Types, it is impossible to avoid overlapping, especially as in the search after novelty it has of late become a common practice to mix styles. Any system of arrangement must be open to criticism and improvement; but some classification is absolutely necessary as a preliminary to the subject. We have therefore to consider, first the essential forms of the characters, and secondly, the way in which these are modified, decorated, or distorted.

The simplest and most rudimentary form of letter, as well as the most ancient, is the sanserif, sometimes very inappropriately styled « gothic » and « grotesque. » Strictly speaking, this style has no lowercase. The addition of lower-case to correspond is an innovation within the memory of most of our readers. The simplicity and legibility of this form of letter, and the rapidity with which it can be inscribed, especially fits it for monumental inscriptions. For this purpose it has been used from the earliest times, and is used still, to the exclusion of almost every other character. In printing, it is specially appropriate to memorial cards (in which the monumental style is retained); and in general jobbing to the bold display lines in posters and advertising work generally. In its simple form it is not an ornamental letter—it is in fact, the farthest removed from ornament; but as in ordinary printing it has been displaced by the « roman » character, it ranks as a job fount. It is especially out of place in title-pages. We show a typical line of this style, which is the foundation of every other kind of character in present use:

Sanserif, An Ancient Form. Simple and Legible.

This fount will answer as well as any other to illustrate the modifications which may be introduced into any style of letter, without departing from its distinctive character. The specimen shown is of average proportion. The style may be modified

(1)	By thickening the lines. The type is then called « thick » or « heavy » sanserif.
(2)	By reducing the thickness of the lines. We have then « light, » « thin, » « skeleton, » or « hair-line. »
(3)	By expansion. Without altering the height of the letters, they may be increased in width to an indefinite extent. An increase of one-fourth in width would give a new character to the letter, which each additional expansion would increase. Stretched to four times the width, the letters would be still legible. Letters so treated are called « wide, » « expanded, » « extended, » « extra extended, » &c.
(4)	By contraction. The letters could be reduced to one-half, or even less, of the standard width. Such letters are called « narrow, » « condensed, » « compressed, » « elongated, » and « extra elongated. »
(5)	By inclination forward. The letters may be made to lean forward, as in italic; or on the other hand, may be modified
(6)	By inclining backward. This style is called « Backslope, » and does not meet with much favor. In any of these modifications there is a limit beyond which the letter would become an absurd caricature of the original. Legibility is the test. This should never be sacrificed.

The letter thus modified is still unadorned. It may become « sanserif ornamentedy » by modifications of another kind:

(a)	By blocking. This is a device to give the letter a solid appearance. Two sides are shown in a darker (or lighter) tint than the face. By common consent, it is usually the right-hand side and the foot of the letter that are thus distinguished.
(b)	By shading. This is generally combined with (a), and completes the illusion. The solid letter now casts a shadow. This is usually in the same direction as the blocking, but not necessarily. The letter may be blocked to the left and shaded to the right, or varied in other ways at pleasure.
(c)	By lining. A fine line is drawn on two sides of the letter, but without touching at any point. This produces an effect something like blocking, and the line is generally at the right and foot of the character.
(d)	By rimming. A rimmed letter has a fine line drawn entirely around it.
(e)	By outlining. In this case, the letter is drawn simply in outline, the face being left entirely open.
(f)	By face-tinting. An unlimited variety of beautiful effects may be produced by this simple process. The line « Cowan & Co. » in a small standing card in this paper, is a beautiful example of this effect.
(g)	By floriating. In this case the letter itself is untouched, but the open parts and background are occupied by leaves, flowers, or flourishes.

This list (which does not profess to be exhaustive) will show the almost endless variety of form available to the designer; and sanserif, from its essentially simple character, is not susceptible of so many kinds of modification as romans, gothics, and scripts. We will not recapitulate the above list in referring to other styles, as any character in use may be treated in all these ways. And the thirteen methods of modification may be multiplied into each other indefinitely. Thus a style of letter might be represented by the formula « 1 3 f a b »— that is to say the sanserif might be at the same time thick, expanded, face-tinted, blocked, and shaded.

We may mention one more modification:

• (h) By grounding. When the letter is in white, on a black or tinted ground, or vice versa. This class of letter approximates to the combination border, with which it is sometimes associated. « Shieldface, » and « Arboret » Nos. 1 and 2, are typical examples.

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We now pass to the next development—that of the cursive or lower-case letters. Even where their form seems most to diverge from the capitals, as in the a, e, or t, the fundamental resemblance can always be traced; and a favorite device with designers is to interchange these forms, as in the letters T, C, &c. All founts with lower-case may be classified in three great divisions (1) Gothic, or Old English; (2) Roman; (3) Script. Italic occupies an intermediate position between roman and script, shading off at one end of the scale into one, and at the opposite end into the other; but can scarcely be counted as a separate style.

(1)	Gothic. This character is not by any means of venerable antiquity. It is an elaboration of the ordinary roman, and was developed by the monkish scribes in the Middle Ages. There is something in the character of the letter which suggests that the writers had plenty of time at their disposal. It cannot be rapidly written, and is utterly unsuited for incised work. It is inferior in legibility to any other character in use. It has branched into two leading styles—the Old English and the German. There is a flourished style of German, called « German Text, » greatly used in fancy penmanship; and a simplified form, called « Schwabacher, » much more legible than the ordinary character, has lately come much into vogue in Germany. In spite of agitation in favor of the roman character, the somewhat crabbed German holds its ground in the « Fatherland, » and in the United States and English Colonies, the Teutonic population will have nothing else. It is also the character in popular use in the Scandinavian countries, Bohemia, Poland, &c. In English it is used solely as a decorative letter, and in the hands of modern designers has been developed into
(2)	Roman. Many founts of this character have no lower-case; but there are none to which the small letters could not be added if necessary. The essential difference between the roman and sanserif already described consists in the addition of the « serif. » This adds much to the beauty of the letter, and as it is usually thinner than the main lines, introduces the element of contrast. The letters cannot be formed so rapidly, as for example, in the case of the capital I, which is composed in roman of three straight lines; in sanserif (|) of but one. The serifs of the roman afford much scope for decoration, and in many cases determine the style, as for instance: (i) Egyptian, where the serifs are set squarely on the letters, and all lines are of uniform thickness. (k) Antique, where the serifs and other thin lines are distinguished from the thicker lines. (l) Clarendon and (m) Ionic. In these, these the serifs are rounded where they join the stem of the letter. (l) represents the uniformly thick character, (m) corresponds with (k). (n) Club-serif, where the lower serifs are disproportionately thickened. (o) French clarendon, where both top and bottom serifs are thickened. (p) Tuscan, in which the serif consists of a double curved line. (q) Latin, in which the serifs taper off to a point. This is a very recent style, and has become very popular. It is sometimes called « Runic » and « Celtic. » Other styles are formed by ornamenting the stems of the letters in various ways, as in (r) Concave, in which the stems of the letter are curved inward. (s) Ornamented. This is a wide term, but is specifically applied to the large family of letters in which the body of the character is foliated, curved, knobbed, spiked, rounded, serrated, panelled, or otherwise fancifully treated.
(3)	Scripts. These are letters in imitation of handwriting, and some beautiful styles have been developed during the past few years. They are the most costly and fragile of all the printer's stock of types; but are indispensable in every job office. Fashion has changed greatly in the matter of scripts. A generation ago, there was only the stiffly-formal style; this was succeeded by the extravagantly-flourished; which in its turn has given place to a free (and sometimes coarse and slovenly) character, in imitation of ordinary manuscript. Some of the recent productions are marvels of delicacy and grace, as well as of accurate finish. No printer need wish for more beautiful forms than are now in the market. Lines of caps should never be set in script. No one can read them without spelling them out letter by letter. Moreover, the caps are not cast to work close together. We would not have laid down this rule—so obvious to every type-setter—had we not more than once seen work turned out in which such lines appeared. In fact, a good many years ago, a large London publishing house, issued a « Writing made Easy, »—an illustrated story-book entirely printed in script—to familiarize children with the characters. The titles ought of course to have been in a larger script: but instead of this, they were set in the capitals of the text.

— Before proceeding to the next section we will describe some of the peculiar and exceptional styles of letter, which are not easily arranged under general heads, and also indicate where a want of system exists on the part of designers, to the great detriment of the printer.