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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5

Design in Typography. — Lix — Renaissance Borders

page 141

Design in Typography.
Lix
Renaissance Borders.

Klinkhart's « Germania » combination, referred to in our last chapter, might be classified under this head as correctly as under the title of architectural—in fact the term, as applied to designs in printing types, is very comprehensive. We intend using it in a limited sense—applying it specifically to the combinations which directly imitate the old illuminated ornaments, headpieces, and miniatures with which the beautiful manuscripts of the middle ages were embellished.

Most of these imitations are in the form of single ornaments, either ordinary cast types or electrotypes—often engraved to the exact scale of the originals without reference to any standard, and without any idea of combination. It was natural that the revival of old-face type should be followed by the revival of old-style ornaments, and the works of early Italian, German, and Dutch printers were accordingly ransacked for models. Then old-established foundries hunted up long-disused punches and matrices, and such simple and effective designs as these (revived by Caslon) made their appearance. Their beauty lay in their very simplicity, and they were far superior to the more or less debased designs by which they had been succeeded. To adapt the old-fashioned head-pieces (such as we show in the centre of this page) to the conditions of the modern combination border was, however, a great step in advance, and one that required much artistic and mechanical skill. So far as we know, the first series of the kind was the beautiful « Florentine, » of 80 characters, brought out in 1878 by Messrs Schelter & Giesecke. The scheme of the combination is very complete, both as regards horizontal and vertical pieces, and the whole series is duplicated, on solid and stippled grounds. The present writer, eleven years ago, reviewing this combination in the Colonial Printers' Register, remarked, « We should like to see a third series, in pure outline. » Such a design has never appeared; but the « Akanthea » border, of 1883, by the same house, is a kindred design, in outline, and is also furnished with a double set of tint-characters, for figures and background. We would much like, on account of the special interest it possesses, to illustrate the Florentine border, but it is not obtainable in Wellington: however, it will be familiar to most of our readers. It is noteworthy, as marking a distinct stage in typographic progress. But there is, after all, nothing new under the sun, and the most characteristic feature of this combination was foreshadowed by an early wood-engraver in a book issued from Wolf Köpfel's office in Strasburg in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. This ingenious artist cut a set of combination side-ornaments in wood, including nude male and female figures, which could be used interchangeably with the other pieces. Facsimiles of these interesting blocks may be seen in the Ősterreichische Buchdrucker-Zeitung of 27th November, 1879, in an article entitled Die Bücher-Ornamentik der Renaissance. It is a curious fact that several of the characters shown in the advance specimen of the Florentine, including two admirable L-shaped corners, are excluded from the completed scheme.

The « Grecian » combination, by the same house, which appeared in the same year, was a somewhat mixed style, chiefly architectural, and has already been noted in these articles. The artistic « Akanthea, » of 192 characters (8 of them repeated in the Florentine), remains still one of the finest examples of the Renaissance border without background. The headpiece to the present chapter and the vertical ornament in the margin show the graceful lines and admirable drawing of the design. It was followed in 1884 by the « Holbein » in twelve sections, 110 characters. This border is on the same principle as the Florentine, open figures on solid ground, but is distinguished not only by boldness of design and the large size of some of its pieces, but by the difference in motive, the models being taken, not from the Italian, but from the German mediæval style. One of the pieces is particularly striking. It is one of a large pair, 120· high by 84· wide, and represents Cupid soaring above a winged globe—Love superior to Fortune. The drawing of the figure and of the surrounding foliage is exquisite. The large electro corners, curved and three-sided, supplied as adjuncts to the border, are also very fine and artistic. The twelfth section, intended for exterior ornamentation, differs from the rest in having no background. A beautiful series of Gothic borders, for one to three colors, come partly but not wholly under the scope of the present chapter, as do also the later combinations 71, 73, and 74, (1887), which we had the pleasure of showing as a supplement to our second volume. So far we have dealt with the borders of one house only, but the number of Renaissance combinations is now so large that a mere catalogue would occupy a great deal of space. They are, with but one exception, so far as we know, German. American artists have not touched them. We intend to pass in review the leading examples, making no attempt at chronological arrangement, for which we do not possess sufficiently precise data. Were we to take them in detail, and illustrate their adaptations and combinations, as we did with certain designs in earlier numbers, we might pleasantly and profitably occupy some thirty chapters; but these borders are as a rule costly as well as beautiful, and we have not by any means a representative selection. Some of the more recent combinations have been described in earlier numbers. They may all be divided into the following classes: I. Open figures—(1) On solid ground; (2) on stippled ground; (3) on tint-ground; (4) without groundwork. II. Black or silhouette figures. III. Tint figures—(1) On stippled ground; (2) without background.

page 142

We will make no attempt to deal chronologically with these designs, as more precise dates than we possess would be necessary, but will review some of the leading examples, many of which have been more fully described in our pages already. Were we to take them in detail, and illustrate their uses and combinations, as we did with other designs in our earlier chapters, we could profitably and pleasantly occupy thirty or forty chapters, but these combinations as a rule are costly as well as beautiful, and we have not, by any means, a representative selection.

In Class I1 we may note: Assman's Heraldic, 22 characters, 24·, small and neat in design; Woellmer's magnificent Renaissance, 188 characters, to the consideration of which four or five pages might be devoted; Reinhardt's Teutonia, of 31 characters; his Kopfleisten (Headpiece) combination, series a and d, 16 characters; Flinseh's excellent Deutch Renaissance, 55 characters, and his neat border, 2215-2223; Brendler's Renaissance, an excellent and effective series with only 13 characters; Gronau's Renaissance, a somewhat heavy style, 54 characters, with 15 allegorical vignettes to correspond; and the Sgraffito (Genzsch & Heyse), 15 characters, in two sizes. The characteristic feature of the latter is that the foliated design is in pure white, no lines of any kind being admitted to indicate shade or contour. The same remark applies to Theinhardt's Italian in class I4, We note also a fine series by Flinsch in the title-page of his last quarto specimen book, but of which we have no details.

I2. Open figures on stippled ground. This is a much less numerous class than the last. It includes the Florentine, No. 2; Poppelbaum's Albert-Dürer; Rudhard's fine National and Herbaria combinations, the latter arranged for two colors.

I3. Open figures on tint ground. Poppelbaum's Deutschen, 46 characters.

I4. Open figures without background. This is a numerous class, and includes some of the finest examples of the style. We may note Schelter & Giesecke's Akanthea, for one or more colors; Klinkhardt's Germania, of 413 characters; Flinsch's pretty and elaborate Rokoko; Theinhardt's simple and beautiful Italian, for one, two, or three colors (set of fine two-color initials to match); Woellmer's Light Renaissance of 188 characters (complementary series to the Renaissance in first class); and his magnificent Rococo, of 80 characters, some of them very large and admirably designed, the charming Graciosa of the Actiengesellschaft; Weisert's Venetian, 88 characters; and lastly, though not least, Berger's splendid Renaissance, of 134 characters.

In the first category comes also Woellmer's Raphael, in which some of the figures are on a tint ground, and others without background.

II. Silhouette figures. (1) The most complete combination of this class is Weisert's Roman, of 280 characters, selections from which, under various names, appear in several other specimen books. It is a grand series as a whole, and capable of indefinite adaptation. Genzsch and Heyse's Hammonia is a fine design of this class; and we note also Berger's Kopfleisten, series b and c, 15 characters; Meyer & Schleicher's series 60, of 37 characters, including some pretty running borders; Woellmer's Italian Renaissance, 7 characters, two sizes; and lastly, Mayeur's Motifs Fantastiques, of 29 characters, the only combination in the Renaissance style, so far as we know, of other than German origin.

II2. Woellmer's Italian Renaissance is cast also with a stippled ground, and is the only one, so far as we know, in this category.

III. Tint Figures. Only one founder, so far—Otto Weisert—has made use of tint figures in his ornaments, and he has done it with great effect, in conjunction with solid and open patterns, in numerous head and tail pieces, and series of initials. In conjunction with his Roman border is a series entitled Roman Ornaments, all in tint. It is a beautiful and very useful series, and stands quite alone among the Renaissance borders.

Unlike the architectural combinations, designs of this class are well suited for type decoration, of which the large number now in the market is in some measure a proof. The difficulty is, of course, to carry out the pattern with freedom, and to conceal the square line of construction. In the frieze in the centre of our last page, a single design of many parts fills the whole space, and the curves sweep from the centre to the end. In a type combination this is impossible, the integral parts must necessarily be divided by a right line, and must be to a great extent interchangeable. Great as is the initial difficulty thus presented, it has been overcome with much success, as almost any one of the many borders we have named will prove. As a type of the class, we show the whole 39 characters of Poppelbaum's Albert-Dürer border, which, having all its pieces on one body, is simpler than many of the others we have described. The figures are a little unequal in artistic value; among the best to our mind being the pair representing serpents. The justification has been carefully studied; but a defect exists in there being only one piece each vertical and none horizontal of the lengths of 30· and 42· respectively.