LETTERINGIN

ORNAMENT

COMPANION VOLUME TO THIS

ALPHABETSOLD and NEWWITH OVER 150 COMPLETEALPHABETS, 30 SERIES OFNUMERALS, AND MANY FAC-SIMILES OF ANCIENT DATES.

OTHER WORKSBY THE SAME AUTHOR.

NATURE IN ORNAMENT.Third Edition.

WINDOWS: A BOOK ABOUT STAINEDAND PAINTED GLASS.

Second Edition.

ART IN NEEDLEWORKi A BOOKABOUT EMBROIDERY.

Second Edition.PATTERN DESIGN.ORNAMENT AND ITS APPLICATION.MOOT POINTS : FRIENDLY DIS-PUTES UPON ART AND INDUSTRY.

In conjunction with Walter Crane.

LETTERINGIN

ORNAMENTAN ENQUIRY INTO THEDECORATIVE USE OFLETTERING, PAST, PRE-SENT, AND POSSIBLE

BY

LEWIS F.DAYAUTHOR OF ' ALPHABETS OLD ANDNEW,' ' ART IN NEEDLEWORK,' ETC.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, OLD AND NEW-

LONDON :B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN

NEW YORK

:

CHAS. SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-7 FIFTH AVENUE

/l/K3coo

5RADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS,

LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

PREFACE.

This is not so much a sequel to " AlphabetsOld and New " as that is preliminary to this.The earlier volume dealt with the alphabet only,the forms of letters : the consideration is heretheir use in ornament, the way they have beenand are to be employed in decoration.The illustrations (of which a descriptive list is

given) are chosen strictly with a view to illustrate,which will account for the introduction of my owndesigns : it was not possible always to find thefitting instance, and an obvious way out of thedilemma was to make a drawing.

Incidentally, however, the examples of old workhere brought together show how universal wasthe use of Lettering in Ornament, how varied,how ingenious, and at times how beautiful.Haply they may serve as incentives to freshinvention ; in any case they are valuable object-lessons in decorative treatment.

My point of view, it is hardly necessary to say,is that of the workmanwho, if he is a goodworkman, is something of an artist too ; ari4

PREFACE.

what I have to say is addressed to those engagedin ornamental design or seriously studying it.The historic side of the subject is dwelt upon

because of its bearing upon the practical.

The work of other days throws full on what ispossible to-day a light, failing which, the

best of us grope awkwardly in the dusk ofperhaps very limited experience.

LEWIS F. DAY.13, Mecklenburgh Square,

London, W.C.September 1st, 1902.

NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

I am indebted in many quarters: to Mr. R. AimingBell, Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. Raffles Davidson,

Mr. Harry Soane and Miss B. A. Waldram, forthe use of their designs or drawings ; to Herren

Gerlach and Sc/ienk, the Imprimeries Reunies,ELerr von Larisch, Mr. Harry Soane and Messrs.H. Virtue & Co., Ltd., for allowing reproductionsfrom their publications ; to Miss Gimingham, for theloan of photographs ; to the Rector of Stonyhurst

College, for sanctioning the illustration of QueenMary's prayer-book ; to the authorities of the British

and Victoria & Albert Museums, and especially toMr. A. B. Skinner and Mr. G. F. Hill, for valuable

assistance in the production of this book.

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

I. INTRODUCTORY .

II. THE PRINTED PAGE .

III. THE WRITTEN PAGE .

IV. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS .

V. DECORATIVE LETTERING .

VI. INSCRIBED LABELS OR SCROLLS

VII. HIDDEN MEANINGS

VIII. CONJOINED LETTERS

IX. MONOGRAMS .

X. CYPHERS ....

XI. ORNAMENTAL LETTERING .

XII. INITIAL LETTERS .

XIII. ORNAMENTAL INITIALS

XIV. PICTORIAL INITIALS

XV. LETTERING AND ORNAMENT

PAGE

I

18

29

40

57

75

90

107

JI 4

129

H5165

171

181

J 93

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

i. frame of A purse or bag, with the lilies of France andinscription incised. Found in England. 15th century.(B. M.)

2. RUSSIAN MS.

3. PALI BUDDHIST MS.

4. Icelandic inscription, carved in wood.

5. Arabic inscription, from a stone slab in the Mosque atCordova.

6. leaf of a diptych, carved in ivory, with subjects relatingto the Nativity, etc. Rhenish. 10th century. (B. M.)

7. carved drawer fronts, from a Gothic cabinet. The lettera in the word fata deliberately bisected by the framing.French. (Cluny Museum.)

8. tracery window, from the refectory of the Hospital ofS. Cross, with quarries bearing the motto of CardinalBeaufort, whose arms occupy the centre of the light.English Perpendicular Gothic. About the middle of the15th century. (Winston.)

9. bronze medal of the Italian Renaissance. (V. & A. M.)

10. decorative panelPerseus and the Graeaein gesso uponoak, the inscription in raised gilt lettersby Sir E. Burne-Jones.

11. part of an embroidered stole. The inscription, worked intothe gold background, so far lost in it as merely to breakthe basket-stitch diaper. Roumanian,

xii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

12. woodcut initials, from a book printed at Bale in the1 6th century.

13. metal cover of a crystal cup, in the Uffizi at Florence,pierced and enamelled with the cypher of Henri Deux.French. 16th century. (H. Havard's " Dictionnaire del'Ameublement." Quantin.)

14. glazed encaustic tile, with part of a Latin inscriptionfrom the Book of Job, xix. 21. Found in Sussex. Dated1456. (B. M.)

15. from a jewellery design, by H. Holbein. (Print-roorn,B. M.)

16. marks of the printers, Jaques Huguetan and MathewHuz, Lyons. 1494, 1493.

17. ROUGH SKETCH FOR A NEWSPAPER HEADING. (L. F. D.)

18. poster, by R. Anning Bell.

19. parchment grant to a Hospital in Burgos, by Alfonso theWise, surrounded by inscription, signo del rey donalfonso, and confirmation of Juan Garcia, in concentriccircles. Spain, 1254. (B. M.)

20. inscription by Joseph Plenick, of Vienna. (BeispieleRunstlerischer Schrift. Herr von Larisch.)

21. inscription by Otto Hupp, of Munich. (Beispiele Runst-lerischer Schrift. Herr von Larisch.)

22. diagram, to show letter-spacing.

23. diagram, to show construction of Roman letters.

24. title-page to W. Eden Nesfield's " Specimens of MediaevalArchitecture." 1862.

25. bronze plate, from the grave of Veit Stoss, thesculptor. Nuremberg. German, 1591. ("Die Bronce-Epitaphien der Friedhofe zu Nurnberg." Gerlach &>Schenk, Vienna.)

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xiii

26. back of a pinewood stall, from the Church of S. Valen-tine, Kiedrich. Carved by Erhart Falkener, of Abensperk.Flat lettering grounded out, the words separated by inter-mediate ornament. German, 1510. (" Monumental- Schrif-ten vergangener Jahrhunderte. " Gerlach &> Schenk,Vienna.)

27. inscribed panel under the pulpit in the Cathedral at Siena.Marble, the letters in relief. Italian. 1543.

28. inscription panel, from the tomb of Mary of Burgundy, inthe Church of Notre Dame at Bruges. 14951502.

29. inscription on the tomb of Benozzo Federighi, in the Churchof S. Trinita. Florence, by Luca della Robbia, the lettersincised in marble. 1450.

30. inscribed panel, from the shrine of S. Simeon, at Zarain Dalmatia. Silver, embossed and gilt. The work ofFrancesco di Antonio, of Sesto. 1380.

31. cast-iron grave slab, from the Church of S. Jacobi,Lubeck. 1599. (" Monumental-Schriften vergangenerJahrhunderte.'* Gerlach & Schenk, Vienna.)

32. latin inscription, in ribbon-like Gothic character, from amural brass at S. Peter's Church, Cologne. 1506. (Froma rubbing by W. H. James Weale in the Library atV. & A. M.)

33. diagram to show the fitting together of letters so as to avoidas much as possible open spaces of ground between.

34. slab outside the Church of S. Emmeran, Regensburg, cutin sandstone. (" Monumental-Schriften vergangener Jahr-hunderte." Gerlach > Schenk, Vienna.)

36. carved pew-end. English. 16th century. From a sketchby Raffles Davison.

37. part of a beltIron inlaid with silver. Byzantine. (B. M.)

xiv DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

38. leaf of A diptych, carved in ivory. 10th century. (B. M.)

39. part of a wooden door at the Cathedral of Le Puy. Flatcarving grounded out. Inscribed on the upright post isthe name of the artist. (Compare with 81.) French.12th century.

40. cover of the gospels, with Slavonic inscriptions, repousse,silver gilt. 1519.

41. enlargement of an engraving on copper, by Hans SebaldBeham. German. 1542. (B. M.)

42. grave stone, with incised inscription, from the Island ofGotland. 1316.

43. glazed earthenware loving cup, decorated in clay ofdifferent colours. Staffordshire. 17th century. (B. M.)

44. part of a carved wooden door, with Moresque ornamentand inscription in Gothic character by way of border.Spanish. 15th century. (Musee des Arts Decoratifs,Paris.

)

45. part of an iron door, diapered with the arms of Leon andCastille. Inscription, by way of border, beaten up. In theCathedral at Toledo.

46. SILVER TETRADRACHMS.A. Reverse, with crab and bow in case, and the inscrip-

tion, KHION MOSXinN. Cos, island off Asia Minor.3rd century b.c.

B. Obverse, with a Bee (symbol of Artemis) and the letters,E * = Ephesus. 4th century B.C.

C. Reverse, with vine and the inscription, Em MHTPO-AOTO. Maronea, a city of Thrace. 5th century b. c.(All in the B. M.)

47. SILVER TETRADRACHMS.D. Reverse, with the figure of Zeus and the word

AAEHANAPOT ; coin of the types of Alexander theGreat, probably issued after his death, b.c 316

297.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xv

E. Reverse, with figure of Athene and inscription, BA2I-AEH2 ANTirONOT. Antigonus, King of Macedon.B.C. 277239.

F. Reverse, with figure of Zeus, and the inscriptionBA2IAETONTOS ArA0OKAEOT2 AIKAIOT, "in thereign of Agathocles the Just." Bactria. 2nd centuryB.C.

G. Reverse, with figure of Zeus, and the inscriptionBASIAEHS BA2IAEHN AP2AKOT2 ETEPrETOTAIKAIOT Eni*ANOY2

xvi DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

58. engraving on copper. The alphabet inscribed on a scroll.H. S. Beham. (B. M.)

59. part of a square carpet. The ornament consists almostentirely of inscribed scrolls. German. (V. & A. M.)

60. cypher and inscribed labels, designed for the " ArtJournal Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of 1851,"by W. Harry Rogers. (H. Virtue & Co.)

61. The words secundum lucam, from a manuscript of theGospels. German. 15th century.

62. Two names, charles and maud, intermingled with symbolicand decorative intent. (L. F. D.)

63. Gothic pew-end, with letter g used decoratively. From aChurch in Somersetshire. 14th century.

64. iron bolt-plates in the form of a letter F. French. Periodof Fran?ois Ier.

65. border of a page from "The Book of Wedding Days."Branches of the brier rose, appropriate to the month,spell june. Designed by Walter Crane.

66. engraved panel, in which florid Gothic foliage resolvesitself, upon examination, into the at first unsuspected wordIsrael, and (sideways) the letter m. Subsidiary labelsbear mottoes "Da gloriam Deo,'" etc. From a print (inwhich, however, the design is reversed), engraved byIsrael van Meckenen. German. 15th century. (B. M.)

67. The letters r . l . l . s . v, coloured, with so little regard to shapeas further to disguise already florid forms. Embroidered,border-wise, on linen. German Gothic. (V. & A. M.)

68. golden votive crown, found near Toledo. Suspended fromit in the form of a fringe are the letters reccessvinthus,in cloisonned mosaic of coloured stones. Visigothicworkmanship of the 7th century. (Cluny Museum.)

69. merchant's mark, in relief upon a bronze memorial tabletat Nuremberg. 1616.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xvii

70. merchant's mark, c . e . g., from a seal or stamp. (Barclay's" Monograms.")

71. mangling apparatus, with decorative inscriptions. Carvedin wood. Icelandic.

72. ornamental lettering, painted on a picture frame byVictor Vasnetzoff. Russian. (" The Studio.")

73. Slavonic inscription of the 16th century.

74. back of mirror frame, carved in low relief and enrichedwith gold and colour. Inscription, o thou satisfierof wants, Persian. 17th or 18th century. (IndiaMuseum.)

75. The word allah, in letters designed to form an ornamentaldevice. (L. F. D.)

76. The word prophet, in cursive ornamental letters. (L. F. D.)

77. The word allah, in fret-like letters, after the manner of aChinese seal. Compare also with Curie lettering. (L. F. D.)

78. The word prophet, in strap-like letters elaborately inter-laced. (L. F. D.)

79. stamp of domitian, with raised letters AOMITIANOY. Iron.Byzantine. (B. M.)

80. bronze pendant, enamelled in black and white. Spanish.17th century.

81. details from the doors at Le Puy (comp. 39), showing thepoint to which the conjoining of letters was carried in the12th century.

82. part of an inscription, with conjoint Gothic lettering,from a mural brass at Termonde. Flemish. 1575. (Froma rubbing by W. H. James Weale, in the Library atV. & A. M.)

83. conjoint letters of various periods.

84. diagram.

l.o.,

b

xviii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

85. conjoint lettering, forming the central device, in goldwith black (niello) outline, upon some silver dishes foundat Rome. 4th or 5th century of our era. (B. M.)

86. monogram, e. M.S., falling short of being a cypher onlybecause of its continuous line (comp. 90, 91, 92, 93).(Barclay.)

87. sundry monogramsThe component letters are written atthe side of each. (L. F. D.)

88. solidus (58 grain weight), with monogram inlaid in whitemetal (silver or lead). Roman. (B. M.)

89. THE ALPHABET IN MONOGRAMS OF THREE LETTERS. (L. F. D.)

90. continuous monogram, f. l. Reversible, i.e., reads thesame upside down (comp. 86, 92, 93), by J. Bonella.(Barclay.)

91. ) continuous monograms, s . p . l. and g . p . l. (comp. 86, 90,92. j 93), by W. H. Rogers. (Barclay.)

93. continuous monogram, r . e . d. (comp. 86, 90, 91, 92).(L. F. D.)

94. ) monograms from jewellery designs by Holbein. (Print-95. ) room, B. M.)

96. diagram, indicating the variety of letter-shapes availablefor the monogram mist.

97. MONOGRAMS AND CYPHERT. H. E.

98. A

99. t MONOGRAMST. H. E. (L. F. D.)100. j

101. stencilled monogram, with frame. (L. F. D.)

102. stencilled monogram, with symbolic background. (L. F. D.)

103. stencilled monogram, w . t. (L. F. D.)

104. monogram from a coin of queen Elizabeth.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xix

105. reversed cypher panel of a carved walnut coffer. French.1650. (V. & A. M.)

106. monograms and cyphers, painted upon quarries of old glass.English. (V. & A. M.)

107.) iron key bows, with reversed cyphers. 17th or 18th108. [ century. (B. M.)

109. reversed cypher, from a wrought-iron fanlight. French.1 8th century.

no. painted tiles, withreversed cypher, c 1. French. Periodof Henri Deux.

in. bookbinding, tooled with the reversed cypher of Julied'Angennes, Duchesse de Montausier. One of severa ofthe same design by Le Gascon. French. 1651. (" LesFemmes Bibliophiles." Quentin-Beanchart.)

112. CARVED AND FRETTED CYPHERS

L.E.W.I.SD . A . Y.

113. T . G., )

114. p . g., jby J' Fowler - (Barclay.)

115. g r s., by F. Montague. (Soane.)

116. b.e., by W. H. Rogers. (Barclay.)

117. w s., by F. Montague. (Soane.)

118. gothic cyphers, a.m., i.h.s., (from old embroidery)A.n. (L. F. D.)

119. foliated cypher, i . h . c. (Adapted from H. Rogers.)

120. cypher, a. m. Cutwork. (L. F. D.)

121. cyphers, t. h. e. (L. F. D.)

122. cypher and masonic device. (Harry Soane.)

123. manuscript. Italian. 1439.

124. stamp for printing on linen.Metal tape driven into ablock of deal, roughly sawn across the grain.

xx DESCRIPTIVE LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS.

125. initials. Woodcut. German.

126. initial, engraved on copper.

127. portion of a mural brass at Hal in Belgium. From arubbing by W. H. J. Weale. (V. & A. M.)

128. portion of a flemish mural tablet in the Church ofS. James Tournay. 1579. From a rubbing by W. H. J.Weale. (V. & A. M.)

129. bronze memorial tablet. Nuremberg. 1544. (" DieBronce-Epitaphien der Friedhofe zu Nurnberg." Gevlach&> Schcnk.)

130. Icelandic matchbox, carved in wood.

131. The words audeo, spero. Plaques of fretted ivory, appliedto a Portuguese cabinet. (Cluny Museum.)

132. The name de-boen, chased in leather. From an Italiancomb case. 15th century. (V. & A. M.)

133. iron lock, with chiselled inscription, o. maria [f] losj~VIRGINUM A]VE REGINA SELORUM . MATER REGINAANGELORUM . AVE MARIA GRACIA [PLENA, DO]mi[n]uStecum bene[dicta]. French. 15th century. (V. &A. M.)

134. stencil plate. The extended limbs of the letters designedto strengthen it. (L. F. D.)

135. varieties of the letter a, from early printed books.

136. maryThe letters breaking out into scrollery, which formsa background to them, and holds the design together.

137. f, from a grotesque woodcut alphabet. 1464. (In theLibrary at the B M.)

138. a. Woodcarving. French. 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

139. prayer book of Mary Tudor, Queen of England. Crimsonvelvet, with silver gilt mounts spelling the word regina.1 6th century. (Preserved at Stonyhurst College.)

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xxi

140. FRIVOLITY IN LETTERING.

141. woodcut initials Florid Gothic. By Israel van Meckenen.1489.

142. illuminated initial, from a choir book in the Sala Pico-lomini, adjoining the Cathedral at Siena. 16th century.

143. woodcut initials, by Rob. Stephanus. Paris. 1532.

144. I.

-woodcut initials. French.145. J

146. early woodcut initials. Italian.

147. early woodcut initials. German.

148. early woodcut initials. French.

149. early woodcut initials, by G. Tory. French.

-early woodcut initials. Italian.I5I.J

152.

1

153. '-early woodcut initials. French.154.

J

155. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.

156. early woodcut initials, by Lucas Cranach. Bale.

157. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.

158. early woodcut initials. German.

159. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.

160. woodcut initials, attributed to Holbein. German. 1532.

161. woodcut initials. Holbein.

162. |163. -early woodcut initials. German.164.

xxii DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

165. EARLY WOODCUT INITIALS.

166. s., in glazed earthenware. Designed by Godfrey Sykes.(V. & A. M.)

167. alphabet. Designed by Godfrey Sykes. (V. & A. M.)

16S. woodcut initials, by Matthias Gereon. 1555.

169. early woodcut initial. (Same series as 164.) Bale.

170. woodcarving, by Francois Siebecq, from the bedchamberof Henri II. in the Louvre.

171. wooden ceiling in the Salle de Diane, Chateau de Fon-tainebleau.

172. paving tiles, from Harpesden Church, Oxon. Early 14thcentury. (B. M.)

'* J-GOTHic pew-ends, from a church in Somersetshire.1 74J

175. earthenware dish, painted in blue and lustre on a whiteground. Spanish. 15th or 16th century. (V. & A. M.)

176. cloth, embroidered with the collar of the Saint Esprit, anddevices from it. (Cluny Museum.)

177. glazed tile, from the ancient Chateau de Beauty.(Havard's " Dictionnaire de l'Ameublement.")

[From stalls, carved in pinewood, in the Church of S.'

'

-jValentine, Kiedrich. German. 1510. ("Monumental

^9'

I Schriften." Gevlach & Schenk.)

180. monogrammic device, A Hand cross, in couched gold thread,by Beatrice Waldram.

181. cypher decoration, painted in red and green on a whitishground, from the roof of Sail Church, Norfolk.

182. monogram, the background inlaid in flint upon a pier inWymondham Church, Norfolk.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS, xxiii

i S3, part of the lid of a pearwood casket, carved with a diaperof strapwork, crowned initials, etc., said to have belongedto Mary Queen of Scots. Scottish. 15th century. (B. M.)

1S4. alphabet in drawn work, from an old sampler. (V. & A. M.)

185. lettering, with ornamental background designed to takefrom its obtrusiveness.

186. device with cypher v. r.,by F. Montague. (H. Soane.)

Note.

V. & A. M. = Victoria and Albert Museum.B. M. = British Museum.

L. F. D. = Lewis F. Day.

I. IRON PURSE MOUNT.

I. INTRODUCTORY.

Lettering has, over and above its practical use.and apart from any ornamental treatment of itsforms, a decorative value of its own ; and untilrecent times craftsmen of all kinds turned ithabitually to account in their designs. More thanthat, lettering is (or was, so long as any care for itexisted) in itself ornamental. A page consistentlyset up in good typeof one character throughout,after the manner of days when there was life inlettering, and not "displayed" after the distract-ing fashion of the modern printera merely wellplanned page is in its degree a thing of beauty.To that end, of course, the letters must bewell shaped and well spaced ; but, given theartist equal to the not very tremendous task ofshaping them, or it may be of choosing them onlyand putting them together, mere type is in itselfsomething upon which the eye can rest with

L.O. B

ElMTLOTtfliA2. RUSSIAN MANUSCRIPT.

satisfaction. To handle a printed book of thedays when the printer cared for his art is apleasure second only to that of turning over thepages of a fine manuscript.And this is no mere prejudice of the biblio-

maniac, who, indeed, values books for reasons notintimately connected with the love of beauty.Decorative artists have in all times felt the charmof lettering, and owned it in their work ; theyhave gone even to the length of inventing mockwriting, when they had nothing to say by it excepthow thoroughly they appreciated the use of any-thing like an inscription in design.

Artists as remote from decorative tendenciesin their own work as the painter of " TheAngelus " have been deeply interested in letter-ing. It is told of J. F. Millet* that as aboy he used to write verses of the Bibleon the wooden gates in the fields, choosing histext to fit the bars. Each letter, he held, had anintrinsic decorative value of its own ; and its formmeant something to him. He would describe tohis son, in teaching him, how the top of the big Gstooped over as if to drink out of the little gobletbelow ; and he had a liking for the combination of

* H. Naegely."J. F. Millet and Rustic Art."

letters in certain words, even in foreign wordswhich he did not understand. WEYMOUTH,for example, struck him as a fine combination ofletters to express a poor thin-sounding word.

Another artist who would have repudiated any

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ODDOCGGOOQ^OCX?DO3. PALI BUDDHIST MANUSCRIPT.

particular leaning towards the ornamental side ofart, and who yet saw decorative value in lettering,was Robert Louis Stevenson, who, a year beforehis death, was bent on decorating the ruddywooden walls of his house at Samoa with letter-ing. His idea was, to have made for him some

B 2

4. ICELANDIC INSCRIPTION.

hundreds of gilt letters on the model of " reallyexquisitely fine clear type from some Romanmonument " mounted on spikes like drawing-pins."You see," he wrote to Mr. St. Gaudens," suppose you entertain an honoured guest, whenhe goes he leaves his name in gilt letters on yourwalls ; an infinity of fun and decoration can be gotout of hospitable and festive mottoes ; and thedoors of every room can be beautified by thelegend of their names. I really think there issomething in the idea." It was with reluctancehe abandoned it. " I had a strong conviction,"he wrote later, " in that I was a great hand atwriting inscriptions, and meant to exhibit andtest my genius on the walls of my house ; andnow I see I can't. It is generally thus. TheBattle of the Golden Letters will never bedelivered. On making preparation to open thecampaign, the King found himself face to facewith invincible difficulties, in which the rapacityof a mercenary soldiery and the complaints of animpoverished treasury played an equal part."

It is no mere fancy, then, of the book-lover or ofthe decorator, that lettering is worthy of its place

yjNXfji

+#&*&. SMBfea&sft*5. ARABIC INSCRIPTION.

in ornament. Lines of well formed lettering,whether on the page of a book or on the panel ofa wall, break its surface pleasantly. It has onlyto be proportioned and set out with judgment todecorate the one or the othermodestly it is true,but the best of decoration is modest ; and it is notthe least of the ornamental qualities belonging tolettering that it does not clamour for attention, butwill occupy a given space without asserting itself.It gives at first sight not much more than textureor variety of surface; yet, when you come to lookclosely at it, it tells you what could in no otherway be so clearly conveyed. Symbols may bemisinterpreted, pictures may not convey all thatis meant, the written or the graven word tellswhat they cannot : there is no mistaking it.

At the same time, penned, painted, carved, oranywise adequately rendered, it is in itselfdecorative. This seems to apply to the script ofno matter what race ; Egyptian hieroglyphic,Assyrian cuneiform imprint, Greek or Romanchiselling, Gothic penmanship, are all alike pleasantto see, quite apart from the meaning of the words,which may, as likely as not, be past our understand-ing. So too the writing of strange peoples every-where, the Hebrew character, the Slavonic (2),the Pali of the Buddhists (3), the Runic of theIcelanders (4), the Cufic and the Neshki of theArabs (5), and all manner of to us mystifyingscript, conveying to the unlearned absolutely

6. BYZANTINE IVORY CARVING.

>

7. GOTHIC FURNITURE.

nothing of the meaning of the words, tell usone and all of the decorative value of merelettering.

There is perhaps no more absolutely satisfactorysimple way of breaking a surface than by means ofwell formed, well spaced lettering. In combinationwith ornament it has from the first been used bythe decorator, and always with effect. On paintedmummy cases from Egypt, in carved reliefs fromNineveh, and ivories from Byzantium (6), oncoins from Greece and Syracuse (46, 67), on Persiantiles and lustred pottery, on Gothic glass (8) andtapestry, on church embroidery (n) and furni-ture (7), on leather bindings, in locksmith's andgoldsmith's work (1 and 15) and all manner ofcraftsmanship, in the decoration of the manu-scripts and books of all times (12), and on theseals and signet rings of all peoples, lettering insome form, often a very emphatic one, plays adecorative part.

In modern days we seem to have lost sight ofits artistic possibilities. Only here and there anartist appears to perceive the opportunities it

offers. William Morris himself did not, except inhis printed books, turn it to appreciable account

;

though once at least Sir E. Burne-Jones in his

panel of Perseus and the Graeat (10) bound his

. STAINED GLASS TRACERY LIGHT.

composition together by a broad overhanging beltof beautiful lettering across the vacant background

1of the panelvery much as the medallist of theRenaissance before him clouded as it were the skyof his medallion (g) with inscription.The use, however, of lettering in ornament does

9. RENAISSANCE BRONZE MEDAL.

not depend upon its association with picture. It isitself the graphic art. It takes the place of picture,and conveys in the surest way what might possiblyhave been conveyed by carved groups or painted

11

figure subjectsbut not so precisely ; and all thiswithout calling attention to itself. There areabundant occasions when decoration ought notto attract too much notice, apart from those other

IO. PERSEUS AND THE GRAE.E, BY SIR E. BURNE-JONES.

occasions when adequate figure design is out of thequestion. It must be remembered (though it maysometimes suit us to forget it) that the moderatedegree of artistic accomplishment which contentsus in old work will not do for us in the produc-tions of our own day. We have passed the period

12

of unsophisticated art when naivete was possible,and are fast coming to the conclusion (if indeedwe have not already reached it) that, decorationbeing in the nature of a luxury, superfluous inthe sense that it is possible to do without it,only the best is to be tolerated, the best of itskind. Rather than feeble figure-work let ushave good ornament ; rather than poor scrollerylet us have mere diaper, or some other simplestform of enrichment.

Here, surely, lettering comes in, an art withinthe scope of any decent craftsman

give him buta model to work from. For, to tell the truth, thepretty theory that the workman should be left tohis own devices in design, works out in sheer wasteof workmanship. It is not so much that inventionis a rare gift, but that in the matter of taste, almostas rare, the workman lacks as a rule the culturewhich would keep him straight. With regard toabsolute originality, there is not much scope for itin lettering ; and when a man speaks of designingit, he means, as a rule, no more than that it is hishandwriting.Meaning plays by no means an essential part

in ornamentthe prime purpose of which isbeauty ; but it may be desirable, in additionto beauty, and the artist with ideas desiresalways to do something more than solve adecorative problem. Thoughtful artists turn tosymbolism, with the result that they are hampered

II. PART OF AN EMBROIDERED STOLE,

Hby it in their design, and perhaps led into a formof expression which conveys their meaning onlyto the smallest circle of admirers. The possi-bilities of symbolism stop suddenly short. Thedesigner is faced by two alternatives. Either thesymbols at his service are familiar, so familiar asto be hackneyed and commonplace, or, if they areof his own imagining, the interpretation of them

HBALDOOOEBDlOGSN^S-l!g|p g^SSS

^A

^ij^r '~M^

Wki%% Wwi^l 4^^^'

12. INITIALS FROM EARLY PRINTED BOOKS.

makes demands upon our sympathetic recognitionto which only here and there an appreciative soulresponds. It has continually been found necessaryto explain the significance of symbols, and even tocall in for that purpose the aid of lettering, which ofitself would have sufficed without them. It is notas though symbols were of themselves invariablyornamental. The sign which best conveys themeaning of the artist may not, and in practiceoften does not, readily conform to the conditions

*5

of design, and its forcible introduction into thescheme of decoration has consequently alwaysan air of intrusion.

Lettering, on the other hand, is bv nature most

13. CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL. HENRI DEUX.

amenable to treatment; there are so many varietiesof lettering, so many ways of introducing it ; and,given the artist accustomed to its manipulation,it can so readily be made to take its place in sucha way as certainly not to mar the decorative effect,and most likely to enhance it.

16

A picture itself, or a piece of sculpture, con-ceived in the spirit of decoration, may gain no lessin decorative value than in significance by theintroduction into it of lettering in one form or

14. GOTHIC ENCAUSTIC TILE.

another. This lettering may fill, or just suffi-ciently occupy, a panel or a tablet ; it may beintroduced into the nimbus of a saint or on alabel encompassing him ; it may be as it wereembroidered on the hem of his garment or

17

written across the folds of it, as was done inmediaeval timeswhilst the Assyrian of old boldlycut his cuneiform inscriptions right across his pic-tures in relief; it may be-diaper the ground (n),or otherwise enter into its decoration (6) ; thedevices of the designer are more than it is herepossible to number. In certain initials from earlyprinted books (12) lettering at once decorativeand explanatory is introduced into the subsidiarydecoration of the capital letters.Ornament, apart from picture, may gain still

more from lettering, which takes, in turn, theplace of figured story. It may form itself thestaple of all decorative device, as in many aninstance here given ; it may be cunningly inter-woven with ornament (13) ; it may be plentifullyemployed (14) or sparingly (170) ; it is equallyready to fill the most conspicuous place or toretire discreetly into obscurity ; it is the mostobedient servant of the ornamentist.

15. JEWELLERY, BY H. HOLBEIN.L.O.

II. THE PRINTED PAGE.

The idea of lettering is so closely bound up withthat of printed type that the book, from titlepage to printer's mark, naturally comes intoconsideration.

Due consideration of it from the printer's pointof view would, however, lead us astray from thepresent purpose ; it would demand quite a volumeto itself. The very extent of my subject compelsits compression within strict limits. It will beimpossible here to do more than consider thepage, printed or written, as a comparatively com-pact mass of lettering, the main business of whichis to tell us something, but to tell it with decentregard for appearances : it would not otherwisecome within our scope at all. The assumptionthat the appearance of the page is to be improvedonly at the cost of legibility, may have somegrounds in the vagaries of artists wanting inrespect for the art in which they dabble, but it isnot founded upon any inherent incompatibilitybetween what is beautiful and what can easily beread. Lettering may very well answer both con-ditions, and should do so. Is our newspaper typemore legible than a fine Roman inscription ? Any

19

advantage print may have lies entirely in thefact that the man in the street is more familiar

with it. Modern improvements (?) in type haveunfortunately been in the one direction of plainprinting, leaving aside the question of beauty, withthe result that the immediate effect of any artisticimprovement in letter-shapes must be a degreeof strangeness which, however slight, will strikepeople as less readablenot that it is really so.

Only in so far is it true, that more beautifullettering means lettering more difficult to read.

Many a beautiful script which asks of us rathermore attention than modern type, would be atleast as plain to us if it were our ordinary reading.There is not the slightest doubt that twentieth

century type might well be made more beautifulthan it is. The obstacles in the way of doing it are,not that such type would be less readable, but that" practical " people have made up their minds thatit would be, and vast commercial interests areengaged on the side of letting things be. Thebest we can hope for is gradual improvement, andthat such slight changes as occur in the fashionsof print may be for the better. It is well thatartistic attention should be called to it, for some-thing of all artistic doing trickles through intotrade. The effort of William Morris has not beenwithout effect. Printers who would most emphati-cally deny that they are converted to his opinionshave plainly been influenced by his work.

c 2

In the case of the written page, as of the gravenslab, the painted tablet, and other hand lettering,(to all of which much that is here said equallyapplies) the artist is untrammelled except by publicprejudice, which, if he deserves the name, he willto some extent ignore. It is the bounden duty ofthe caligrapher to obey the principle of beauty, toshape his letters as perfectly, and to space them aspleasantly, as conditions will allow.The conditions of execution with pen, brush,

graver or other tool will affect in most cases theshape of the letters. With regard to their distri-bution and arrangement, the conditions applyequally to page, panel, tablet, or any solid blockof writing such as the rectangular patch of com-pact inscription adopted by Greek or Romancarvers when they did not frame it in mouldingsor design a tablet for its reception.

Let us take the printed page as typical of thearea on which a patch of lettering is to be spread.Experience proves that the eye is best satisfiedby a tolerably uniform distribution of the letters,Roman, Gothic, or whatever their character, overit, so that they give at first sight the impressionof a fairly even surface, distinguished from thesurrounding surface (that is, the margin) more bya difference of tint than by any appreciable letter-forms within the mass.The tint of print is, however, only relatively

even : words are of uneven length ; and there may

21

be other breaks in its continuity, occurring as thesense of the words determines., and just not as thecompositor would have them. Nevertheless he isbound to accept them, not merely to take theminto account, but to make the best of them, un-happily as they may come for him. He cannot,without forfeiting all claim to artistic feeling,shirk the difficulty of so scheming his lines thatthey are of equal length, that the words arebroken as little as possible and never awkwardly,and that the spaces between them do not run intolittle rivulets of white wandering irregularly downthe page, to its extreme disfigurement. Broadspaces of white between the lines of print inter-cept such ugly streams, at the same time that theymake reading easier ; but the comparatively eventint given by closely compact lines of type is morerestful to the eye than distinctly marked bars ofprint. Here is, for once, a point of divergencebetween the most useful and the most beautifulway of doing it. It applies, however, more toprinted books than to carved, graven or writteninscription.

In books, where easy reading counts for muchand symmetry for little, it would be absurd tosacrifice convenience to effect, and to abandonany division or distribution of the text upon thepage enabling us to grasp the meaning readily.We want our reading made easy : and there isnot the least doubt that breaks in the type which

22

correspond to breaks in the sense do make iteasier. The division of the text into words,sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, is a foregoneconclusion, with which it is futile to quarrel.The remedy for the undue preponderance of

white, where a paragraph breaks the uniformity ofthe printed page, is, not to do away with para-graphs, but to break up the page into a numberof them. That also makes it livelier and easierto read ; and if to some extent it takes away fromthe importance attaching to a less frequent pause,the balance of emphasis can be restored by a dis-tinctive form of letter at the beginning of thedominant paragraph, denoting a fresh start

which of itself may be made to add to the interestand beauty of the page. But the considerationof the initial letter belongs to another chapter.An alternative to leaving a blank space at the

end of a sentence, is to mark the pause by a printedsign, much heavier than the type of course (or itwould not equally arrest the attention) and there-fore no less objectionable than the plain paper

:

the recurrence of relatively solid black ornamentsamidst the grey tint given by the type, is evenmore irritating than gaps of white in it. The sign,of something like equal weight with the text, bywhich the Greek scribe, say of the eighth century,marks a pause in the sense, is proportionatelyhappier in effect, but does not meet the modernneed for a signal which there can be no mistaking

23

even from a long way off. In fact, the demand forsomething more like " stops " is as old as the tenthcentury.

The proportion of the patch of print to the pageof the book, the amount, that is to say, of marginleft round the text, and the position of the patchupon the page, have very much to do with its

16. printers' marks.

appearance, and are very serious considerationswith the artist. It has been attempted to defineprecisely how to place the print upon the page

;

but it is one thing to say this or that systemanswers well, and another to insist that only uponone system are good results to be got. The pro-portion of print to plain paper is just one of thosepoints upon which an artist follows his instinct,and is not to be bound by rule : he works outrules for himself.

24

The double column owes its origin presumablyto practical convenience. When the page wasbroad, and the type employed was not very large,the lines of print ran to such a length of wordsthat it was not easy to carry back the eye andtake up the next line with certainty. The obviousremedy for this was to have two shorter lines ofprint, with a sufficiently broad interval betweenthem to divide the print into clearly markedcolumns. And the effect of this in early printedbooks was most satisfactory. In modern printing,where the space between the columns is reduced toa minimum (when will some really practical news-paper printer give us once more columns sufficientlywide apart ?), the effect is not merely unpleasingbut perplexing, the eye being continually caught bysomething in the adjoining column and led astray.Except, however, in very wide pages, excusablemainly on the grounds that they may be necessaryto adequate illustration, the double column is nolonger wanted, and is in fact so nearly obsolete that,where it survives, it has a distinctly old-fashionedlook.

It is, nevertheless, no less effective than it is logical,to consider the two pages of the open book as onearea on which to plant, as it were, two columns ofprint. A very considerable reduction of the innermargins, as compared with the outer and theupper and lower, has this effect ; and it is perhapsthe most satisfactory way of composing the page

25

17- ROUGH SKETCH-DESIGN FOR NEWSPAPER HEADING.

if only the binder were to be depended upon.Unless the folding of the sheets is perfect, the twopatches of print do not range, and the closer theycome together the more obtrusive is the fault : itis not so easily detected when there is a broadspace of white between.The ornamentation of the page, beyond the

mere setting out of type upon it, is a subjectapart. The only opportunity of the compositorfor anything like free and fanciful composition isin the title page, where, again, he does wisely incurbing his fancy. Plain print in the body of thebook seems to demand corresponding severity inthe treatment of the title page, in any case themost difficult page in the book to set out.Our type is a carrying on of the character which

came originally from the use of the pen. It willalways probably, perhaps it always should, beartraces of its origin : we do not want to wipe outthe landmarks of its history. But there seems no

26

reason why this carrying on should not be alsoa carrying further, and in the direction, not ofwriting, but of printing, and even of type-founding.Why should not type bear on its face the evidenceof that also ?

As in the title page of a book, so in a newspaperheading (17), or the cover of a magazine, there ispossible scope for design, more especially as theyare not ordinarily printed from type, but from ablock. Unfortunately, however, the publisher'sidea of lettering is usually type, to which hewould have the artist conform most strictly. Thedemand of trade is, further, for something whichshall advertise itself on the railway bookstalls,which shall be unmistakably readable as theflurried passenger hurries past to catch his train,

and at the same time fresh and unexpected. Thedictates of art, on the other hand, suggest some-thing which shall not shout itself hoarse.

It is difficult under such conditions to do morethan design bold, broad and effective lettering,and to go as far towards mitigating its obtrusive-ness as the publisher will permit ; but one cannothelp doubting whether the clever people whosebusiness it is to gauge the public taste do notover-estimate its vulgarity.

Advertisement, into which lettering enters,and must always enter, largely, affords but littlescope for artit is a game of brag ; but publishersand others who have an interest in announcing not

mtmamfmCITYSOFiLIVERPOOLSCHOOLlOFpARCHIUREfANDSPLIEDfeVRT

SCLASSESeKARCHITECTUREIODELLINGS

,AINTINGSANDDRAWINGSCARVINGJINSWOOL,~SSTONE*ORJAMENTALMtOUGHT*IRON

WORKsETCETC_?DIRECTORI

UNTVE1

I. POSTER BY R, ANNING BELL,

28

merely what they have to sell, but the beauty andrefinement of the things, might well trust some-thing to the efficacy of tasteful announcement.Where, by chance, the responsibility for an ad-vertisement sheet is in the hands of people not somuch concerned about trade as about art, andthey entrust its design to a competent artist, as inthe case of Mr. Anning Bell's announcement ofthe Liverpool School of Art, the result, though byno means legible at a glance, is something which,by its very distinction from the common run offlaring posters, attracts attention and holds it.For the rest, the only chance of the decorativeartist in the direction of advertisement rests withthe poster-humorist, who has found his oppor-tunity, and makes good use of itif not of letteringalways.

To return, however, to the wider subject of theprinted page, all that is here claimed on behalfof art is, due regard to its appearance. In theprinting of books the ruling consideration is notbeauty, but the sense of the author's words. Theonly question open to serious dispute is, how bestto make that clear, and easy reading, with leastviolence, if any, to the sense of proportion andbeauty.

ig. ALFONSO THE WISE, HIS MARK. A.D. I254.

III. THE WRITTEN PAGE.The written page is naturally set out very much

on the lines of printitself, of course, originally

modelled upon manuscript. In so far as typeand manuscript seek the same end, they aresubject to the same laws ; but only to that extent

;

and the aim of the two is not identical.The scribe of old was not so bent upon rapid

writing that he had no time to consider its form,nor so intent upon ready reading that he dared notmake the slightest demand upon the attention of

3o

the reader. You may see that in Don Alfonso hismark (19). And to-day also when a page is pennedit is not with a view to conveying the author's mean-ing in the plainest and most unmistakable way.The craft of the scribe (as distinguished from

the fluent correspondent) is not so utilitarian asthat of the printer. The writer is free to indulge inluxuries of art which the printer cannot afford, attimes even to sacrifice something of plain speechto what might be called rhetoric ; he has, byright of his pen, a faculty of taking liberties withthe set form and mechanical order of letters,which the man of print has not, a power whichinsensibility only would neglect to exercise.When, as in the present day, caligraphy isemployed no longer in writing books uponparchment but in penning the text to accompanysome form of illustration (eventually to be incor-porated in the printer's process-block), the freeexercise of his power is the very occasion andexcuse of the artist for venturing into penmanship.He is in a sort compelled to make the venture ; forthe decoration of the page implies the sympatheticrendering of accompanying text.The art of lettering is one which the decorative

artist cannot afford to neglect ; not necessarily

ornamental script, but plain, simple lettering

something which, when he is decorating a book, hemay use in his designs, or with his designs, in placeof type. Type is only too ready to his hand; but

3i

CARlTAS COW CESANC IVLI .QVARZ FACVL7/tT ENTVOREPALMETTE BVKOVINA DACOBERT FVX SCHRIFT PSYCHE

20. INSCRIPTION BY JOSEPH PLECNIK, VIENNA.

when it comes to finding a fount which will go wellwith pen or brush drawing, the choice is well nighhopeless. Nothing seems to be quite right. If hewants something which shall not jar with his work,he must do it himself; and to do it satisfactorily hemust be master of at least one form of lettering.

It is true that many an artist who has felt theincongruity of type, and therefore penned his ownpage, has only escaped from one trouble into another." I hope," writes a distinguished author, aproposof the publication of his own poems, " it isn'tnecessary to put the verse into that rustic print-

ing. I am Philistine enough to prefer cleanprinter's type : indeed, I can form no idea of theverses thus transcribed by the incult and totter-ing hand of the draughtsman, nor gather anyimpression beyond one of weariness to the eyes."Who does not sympathise with this protest againstthe bad work of perhaps a good artist ? A manmay be an excellent draughtsman, and yet in thedirection of caligraphy no more expert than achild. But the choice is not between the bad

32

writing of the artist and the hard and fast type ofthe founder-of which two evils type may be thelesser ; there are at least two other alternatives

that the artist should learn to write, or that heshould get a sympathetic scribe to write for him.

Caligraphy is a term we use in speaking of theancient or mediaeval scribe, because he it was whowrote beautifully. The scribe who cultivates the artof writing is to-day rare, but the species is happilynot extinct ; and there is, at all events in somequarters, a rather general desire to master script,

consequent upon the realisation of its use in design.An artist may have no desire to deviate into

ornament, and yet appreciate the advantages ofpenning his own lettering, or seeing it writtenunder his own eye. It gives him, even if heaccepts the alphabet as it is, in all its severesimplicity, the opportunity, not only of shaping itto suit himself, but of placing the letters where andas he likes ; and, if he should want an even effect,of spacing them more perfectly than print allows.He can put letters just as close together or just asfar apart as may seem fit to him, can spread,contract, persuade them even, by some slightestmodification of the letter-shapes, to accommodatethemselves one to another as ready-cast type can-not possibly do. He can give to capitals theirrelative importance, and emphasise his words inother ways than by the use of italics. In short,he can have his own way instead of going the way

33

BftYF.RD:2ffllBfiRZRffl)RlBHIEHIEEMEtE2f.(lfl.:RSYr.H6!T/l(lW6KKBHEEnaMEBnEDamKHniffixppopHflneflDKOOEDKlflftOMRKaH

21. INSCRIPTION BY OTTO HUPP, MUNICH.

of the machineonly he must have command ofhis implement, pen or brush or whatever it be :his writing must be adequate.The writer does wrong to form himself, as he

often does, upon printed type (his obvious model ismanuscript, upon which that itself is formed), andespecially wrong to emulate the regularity of print.He can get with the pen or brush qualities of moreaccount than mechanical precision (in aiming atwhich he is at a disadvantage as compared with themachine), qualities beyond the scope of printing,and of a kind which differentiate his work from it.

It may be as well to exemplify the sort of even-ness of distribution to be obtained in penmanshipand not in printing. The writer has only to pro-long a stroke to occupy the gap of white whichoccurs between two such letters as RT, or EV

l.o. d

34

Or the gap may be avoided by the choice of adifferent type of letter; it will be seen (diagram 22)how the choice of the straddling M fills up thespace left at the foot of the letter F, and how itwidens the breach after the letter A.

Writers of old never seem to have been boundhard and fast to one type of letter. Even in thesame phrase various forms of the same letter occur,as if it happened so, much to the enlivenment ofthe page. And such variation shows regard (con-scious or unconscious) to the way the various shapescompose. The playful variety of old lettering isone of the charms we find in it. How pleasantthe surprise of the rectangular C occurring onceonly in the word ECCE, as we find it on thedoors at Le Puy (diagram 22). One has lesssympathy nowadays with the turning about ofa letter to make it fit a space. That was all verywell when writers were not particular as to whetherthe bar of the N slanted this way or that. Weare no longer at liberty to make a P or S face back-wards; it is a device belonging to a stage of letter-ing more elementary than the one we have reached.The same objection does not apply to the liberty

taken on occasion with the size of individual letters;but there should be occasion for it. It should bedone with deliberate purpose for the sake ofcompression, composition, emphasis, not out ofmere wilfulness. It is reasonable enough to reducethe size of a letter in order to bring it into the desired

35

compass, to make it. for example, occupy the blankspace which always follows the letter L observethe compactness of the letters LOD and the wantof it in LOI (diagram 22)but to reduce an unfor-tunate vowel always to proportions at which it

looks more like a stop than a letter, does not seem

to justify itself on any ground of taste or expe-

FMFM E)(5)VAMA/A ELCE115DLOI MA^V

22. DIAGRAM.

diency, except that it enables the writer to shirk

the difficulty of penning a bold round Oa paltryexcuse for pretended artistry.One is apt to resent mere wilfulness on the part of

the scribevariations, that is to say, not suggestedby conditions of the case. We accept them readilywhen there is reason for them, and all the morereadily when the writer consistently carries throughthe idea of compression, or whatever his motivemay be. Old writers often saved space byenclosing one letter within another, as in thecombinations DI, ON, VS (diagram 22).

36

Once in a while we are able to express by theproportions of a letter something not otherwiseeasily to be conveyedas, for example, by reducingthe size of a letter in the word MARY to indicatea pet name in which the R is familiarly dropped.A useful rule of writing has been laid down by Herr

v. Larisch, from whose " Beispiele KunstlerischerSchrift " two very different instances are given

(20 and 21), to the effect that the letters of a wordshould be so contrived that the ground-spacebetween them is always equal (not the distancebetween their extremities) ; but that is possibleonly on condition of taking occasional liberties ofthe kind already mentioned. The Viennese artist,it will be seen (20), adopts the old Germandevice of writing the double T in GOTT as oneletter, and the Bavarian (21) dwarfs a Z when hiscomposition requires it.When it comes to the modification of the letter-

shape, in what is ostensibly plain lettering, thepenman is on rather dangerous ground ; but hemay safely lengthen the limbs of letters, or other-wise extend or compress them, so long as no im-pression is conveyed of torturing them, or of triflingwith a script which has serious business to do.The impression of affectation is easily producedby undue liberties with the proportion of letters.The bar of the A or of the H is not once and forall fixed ; it may be shifted a trifle higher or lowerwithout hurt ; but the fashion, not merely of high-

37

waisted letters, but of waists gradually rising almost

to their necks, becomes absurd. It is one thing todepart from orthodoxy, another to go beyond thebounds of all moderation. It is only in modera-tion that freedom of hand is here claimed, andonly on this ground : that the proportion of the

B1

-

'S. =:*

5

^\** 1'

23. DIAGRAM TO SHOW CONSTRUCTION OF LETTERS.

letter itself is of less moment than the aspect ofthe word, the line, the page, in favour of whichthe letter must be sacrificed.The variety which is the charm of handwork

comes naturally to the writer who is ready withhis pen or brush ; and, if for its sake only, it isincumbent upon the decorator, and especially uponthe ornamentist, to master the art of lettering.He need not be adept in lettering of all kinds, butat least he should take some one character, Roman,

3*

Gothic, or whatever may best suit his style of work(of course, a fine type of letter, not common

newspaper print), and master that, make it his,get as expert in it as in writing a running hand.Let him acquire, in short, a hand of his own

;

it need be no more like print than his epistolaryhand is like a writing master's ; it should be inevery sense his own handwriting.

Elaborate diagrams (23) have been devised toshow the geometric plan on which letters are sup-posed to be built. These are of some use in helpingto explain the exact proportion of their parts ; buta draughtsman should be able to draw without allthat amount of compass-work. The construction ofthe alphabet appears to have been first worked outin the fifteenth century by an Italian, one FeliceFeliciano ; after him followed Fra Luca Paccioli

;

but the best known diagrams are those of Diirer,who in his book on proportion (1525) gave twenty-two pages to them, and yet the types of letter headopted are by no means unimpeachable.The fact is, all this mathematical jugglery is

beside the question of art, and especially of design.It is not so that letters are designed, nor anythingelse. The artist must learn to write

painfully if

he should have no turn that way ; but when itcomes to lettering, he must do it straight off;that is necessary to spontaneity, without whichit will never be anything but cramped. There areoccasions when exceptional care is necessary, and

39

eCIMGNSOF:MeOI7EVRLARcniTecTURecmeFLYiseLecTeqFR0M:eXRMPL6SOF:The:i2!KNo:i5^ceNTURies:iN:FRANCe:^:iTKLYano:orrwn:byweoGNiNesFieioRRChIT6CT?LONO0rJPUBLisfreoiBYOXYRno.-sorczvrOATeiSTReGTlNeKRILINCOLN'SN N .' FI6LD SoJftNU2SRY:KO\ 1562 im

24. TITLE PAGE BY W. EDEN NESFIELD.

a high degree of finish and exactness ; but thereis no middle course between direct penmanshipor brushwork and most carefully drawn lettering.There is not much to be done in the way of touch-ing-up letters which have been freely put in. Itmust be one thing or the other.

Spontaneity, it should be explained, does notimply rashness in setting out writing, or careless-ness in penning it. The lines should be straight,of equal length, and at equal distances. The soulof the scribe must not be beyond measurement orcalculation. It is not till he has taken the neces-sary precautions, mechanical and other, that hecan safely go ahead and write freely.

r#^anrcnfefopiiD#1$ terII il

25. BRONZE ON THE GRAVE OF VEIT STOSS.

IV. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS.What has been said of manuscript applies in

great part, and often with even more force, to thekind of inscription designed rather to be a recordfor those who care to search for it, than to serveas an announcement to the worldnot so much anadvertisement as a confidence.The architectural carver, or the monumental

engraver, has no less absolute control of his letter-shapes than the penman. He is himself controlledby the serious purpose and position of his work

;

and in proportion to these must be the severity ofhis lettering, as well as the stateliness with whichit is ordered.

Nesfield's lettering in the title page of his" Specimens of Mediaeval Architecture " (24)

4*

is unmistakably very much what he would havedesigned for a brass. There is a dignified austerityabout it not usually to be found either in theprinting or the penmanship of his day.Of such importance may be the dignity of letter

design, that some facility in reading is readily tobe sacrificed to it. It is not imperative that an

26. BACK OF CARVED PINE CH. STALL, I5IO.

inscription should be read as you run ; enough ifit is apparent that there is an inscription which,if you care to pause and study it, you may read.

Accordingly, the rules which apply to print ormanuscript may in monumental inscription be re-laxed. It is no longer necessary to keep the lines oflettering wide apart so as to form horizontal bars oftext ; they may follow closely one upon the other,and the words themselves may be closed up to forma compact mass. In place of orthodox punctuation,

42

and oftheordinary division into sentences, the artistmay mark the pauses in his own way. Should it beby the interpolation of flowers, badges, or otherornaments, these may now be, and usually will be,of equal weight with the lettering, it being no longerso necessary to make reading easy as to present adignified inscription. The utmost the reader has aright to ask of him is that there shall be no possiblemistake about it when he comes to study it.

Architectural dignity is best preserved by theadoption of the simplest and severest character,and by distributing the lettering in the evenest andmost formal way. The style of it must depend uponthat of the architecture ; but straight-lined charac-ters, Roman or Gothic (27, 28), seem always totake their place in a building more as if theybelonged to it than any florid writing ; and this isespecially the case with carving in stone or engravingin metal ; anything in the nature of a flourish ismore appropriate to the pen or brush. There is nopossible rule, however ; an artist is guided by hisfeeling in such matters, and if he has taste it willguide him aright. The beautiful panel of lettering,well deserving its place of honour in the tomb ofMary of Burgundy, at Bruges (28), shows that itonly needs the competent artist, and he can, with-out offence, give play to his fancy even in seriousmonumental design. It will be seen that hereserves in this instance the more fantastic flourish-ing of the letters for the base of the panel, wheretheir work is over and they may safely be playful.

43

27- RAISED LETTERS IN MARBLE.

Inscriptions are written by common consent inhorizontal lines. It is not so universally concededthat the lines should be of equal length, and form

44

therefore a compact rectangular mass of lettering.This may not be possible in the case of an ampleinscription within, let us say, a wreath, which was atone time common enough (29). The lettering mustoften in that case perforce follow the lines enclosingit. But similar or other fanciful distribution of thewords occurs also where there is no such reasonfor it, where no framing lines constrain the writer.In that case he loses something of the dignity anddecorative value of inscription by straying fromthe straight line : there is virtue in its verticality.

Even should there be some reason against a simplefour-sided patch of lettering, the lines may withadvantage be grouped so as to give at least arectangular figure. An edge meandering in andout unmeaningly, or following a florid framingline, is a thing to avoid. And if the frame compelsit, the fault was in designing a frame so ill-adaptedto its purpose. The rectangular space is invariablysatisfactory (30). Given a frame to fill, thedesigner of an inscription must do his best ; and acompetent artist will make the best of even a verybad job ; but, clearly, the better way to set aboutlettering in decoration is, to set out the inscriptionbefore designing a tablet or setting of any kind foritto design, in fact, the frame for the lettering,not adapt the lettering to the frame.To the inexpert a word or two may be accept-

able as to the setting out of an inscription. Theremay be many ways of doing it. Mine is one whichworks out satisfactorily. It is this:

28. FROM THE MAUSOLEUM OF MARY OF BURGUNDY,BRUGES, l6TH CENTURY.

46

I. Imagine about how you think the inscriptionwould subdividesay into so many lines (long orshort according to your scheme of design).

29. INCISED MARBLE, LUCA DELLA ROBBIA.

2. Write one line as it comes.3. Count the number of letters in the line

(reckoning the space between word and word asequivalent to one letter).

4. Reckon to how many lines your inscription

47

- y.-rr-

30. EMBOSSED IN SILVER-GILT. DALMATIA.

will run, and how this number of lines will suityour space.

5. If it does not accommodate itself, you mayhave to begin again ; but each successive guess islikely to be nearer the mark than the last.

6. Having determined that your inscriptionshall be in so many lines, averaging so manyletters, at such or such a distance apart, the nextstep is to note (upon the rough copy of the words)where the lines would end, and how the wordswould be broken.

7. You will probably find that, by a littlereadjustment, taking a letter or two from one lineand including it in another, you can divide yourinscription into lines containing each a number

48

vtchm31. CAST IRON FROM A GRAVE SLAB.

of letters which, by a little compression in onecase and a little distension in another, will givelines of equal length, without the necessity ofbreaking any word awkwardly. Very awkwardwords might possibly involve a reconsideration ofthe whole scheme.

8. Having determined finally the words whichshall occupy each line, you sketch in the letters,lightly of course, because only tentatively. It isnot until you have quite satisfied yourself as tothe spacing of the words, that it is safe to beginwith the pen, brush, or chisel. A false start is fatal.

9. In finally adjusting the letters, some compres-sion or distension of the words may, it was said, benecessary ; but it is the line that has to be closed upor spread out ; there is not much to be done with aseparate word or two, without danger of disfiguringthe text. It must seem as if the lines were ofequal length ; any clear evidence of a word beingsqueezed in, or long drawn out, tells against thewriter. The possibilities of contraction within thecompass of a single word are greater when theartist is free to use conjoint letters (p. 109), orotherwise take liberties with the form and propor-tion of individual letters. A rather extreme instance

40

HNffllfflDTOMSBfS. JACOBI, LL'BECK, 1 599.

of making free with the normal letter-shapes isgiven above (31).

Apart, of course, from the style of letter deter-mined by the architecture of a building or monu-ment, is the character which comes of its executionin stone (zy), or metal (30), and of its standingup in relief upon a sunken ground (27), or being cutinto the surface (29). The face of the letters may,indeed, be carved, and sometimes is, especially inwood ; it may be modelled, and sometimes is, inclay ; and there is no precise limit to the relief ormodelling in which the artist may on occasionindulge ; but it is not often that it is desirable tointerfere with the flat surface of lettering ; there isa danger of frittering away the valuable surfaceof the material; and the forms of most lettersexpress themselves sufficiently by their outlinealone. Even the so-called ribbon letters (32),in which the turnover of the ribbon needs to beexpressed, want little more than one sharp cut toexpress the fold. To insist upon nearer resemblanceto ribbon is to indulge in a florid form of letter-ing remarkable, not for architectural dignity,but for a certain playfulness, pleasing indeed, butill-suited to very serious and sober decoration : it

L.O. E

5o

32. RIBBON-LIKE GOTHIC

is not so much lettering in ornament as ornamentalletteringwhich is not the subject of this chapter.There is less occasion, then, in architecture for

actually modelled lettering than for letters cut intothe ground or left in flat relief upon it. Eitherexpedient is in its place equally perfect. In incisedlettering the surface of the slab is preserved ; butthe simple " grounding out " of the letters, leavingthe metal, stone, or wood intact, to form their face,is also a sure way of preserving their breadth ofsurface. It is quite commonly employed in brassand bronze, plain strips of metal (measuring perhapsas much as twice the thickness of the strokes ofthe letters) being left between the rows of writing,broken only by the tops and tails of tall letters

them, and by an occasionalengraved across

5i

INSCRIPTION FROM A FLEMISH BRASS.

initial (34). This expedient of the band was, infact, almost necessary for the accommodation ofthe projecting parts of the minuscule letters

;

certainly it has invariably a good effect.The grounding-out of letters upon brass was

sometimes done with a view to filling- in the spacewith black or coloured mastic ; but the sunkenparts, being beyond the reach of the polisher,soon tarnish in any case, and deepen of themselvesin colour, with the result that the letters tell lightand bright upon it.

So in the case of wood or stone, the surface ofthe raised letter is apt to get in time a polishwhich the ground does not. A sunken groundis commonly adopted in black letter inscriptions,in which the upright strokes come close together

;

E 2

52

and there is seldom any broad surface of groundbetween. In the case of Roman letters, or Gothicletters more or less of the Roman type, there areapt to be gaps in the ground, which give rise tothe occasion, if not the need, for ornament ofsome kind, in order to preserve the evenness of

the inscription. The danger may, however, beevaded by closing the letters up and minimis-ing the space between them, especially if theinscription is in channels with plain raised bandsbetween. A similar plan of crowding out thebackground may be employed with good effectby the penman or painter. By

.

merely draw-ing his letters in outline as close together ashe can and filling in the background, he getsa character in his lettering (33) quite different

from that which would result from painting lightletters upon a dark band. In the case of blackletter inscriptions, the engraver of the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries often, as before said, madeincisions in them to suggest the turn-over of a strapor ribbon, playing indeed slight variations uponthat simple idea with admirable effect ; but hewas happiest when he was content to suggest aturnover and did not want to imitate it.

33. DIAGRAM.

53

34- SANDSTONE SLAB, REGENSBURG.

The flaw in black letter inscription is the incon-gruity of the capitals used with it. They break theline perhaps happily, and relieve the monotony ofan exceptionally rigid form of minuscule ; butthey rarely seem to belong to it (35). Thecapitals above (34) are much more in keeping

54

fiuiW^^Mp

35. BRONZE FROM A GRAVE AT NUREMBERG.

with the other letters than those on this page (35)

;

but really satisfactory capitals to go with blackletter have never been, and are perhaps not to be,designed. This is a matter of less practical im-portance to us, seeing that the days of thatparticular character are, except for occasionalpurposes, already passed.There is no reason why grounding out should

not more often be employed in stone or marblewhen the scale allows it ; it is employed to ad-mirable effect in the wooden pew-end opposite(36), and in the inscriptions upon the muchearlier doors of the cathedral at Le Puy (39).

Small lettering is more naturally cut into

stone, as the cuneiform and Greek and Roman

55

inscriptions invariably were. In the little Byzan-

tine iron shield at the end of the chapter (37) theincised lettering is filled in with silver. Betweensunken lettersand letters in re-lief, the choiceis determinedpartly by theconsiderationas to which isthe easier to do,

partly by whichwill be the moresecure from in-jury; when nei-ther would bedifficult andeither would besafe, it becomesa question mere-ly of effect. Thelasting charac-

ter of lettering

on a sunkenground, in metal, is witnessed by numberlessmediaeval monumental brasses, in which thedecorative use of lettering is shown trium-phantly. We have only to compare these withthe tombstones of a later date to see howmonumental lettering may be used to artisticand to ineffective purpose. Which of the two it

mmmm8SHSSmmmJBBSi

r

36. OLD ENGLISH PEW-END.

might be, was in the past very much a question ofperiod: engravers of the seventeenth and eighteenthand especially the nineteenth centuries fell on evildays for design : with us it is a question of taste.We have lost hold of tradition, but we have freerchoice ; and out of our eclecticism, may I call it,better things should comeif we but take thepains to inform ourselves. The work of a manwho knows what master workmen before himhave done, must needs be better than anythinghe could spin out of his own ignorant imagining.

37- IRON INLAID WITH SILVER. BYZANTINE,

38. IVORY CARVINGOF THE TENTH CENTURY

V. DECORATIVE LETTERING.

Many and various were the methods of intro-ducing inscription into decorative design. Itfound its way even into picture, until the timewhen the pictorial ideal ceased to include decora-tive effect. Long inscriptions claimed for them-selves, as a rule, a place apart ; shorter ones were

used sometimes to frame the picture, sometimesto form part of it.

In introducing lettering into decoration, peopleaccustomed to write in horizontal lines from leftto right naturally adopted that direction. Theymight occasionally be led by considerations ofdesign to scheme an inscription otherwise ; but,in the main, decorative lettering takes the hori-zontal direction. Such, in fact, is the decorative

58

use of some such horizontal band as letteringgives, that one is inclined to suspect that in-scriptions have often been introduced into designquite as much for the line they gave as for theinformation it was desired to convey in them.About the earliest and most uncompromising use

of inscription that we know of is seen in the well-known bas-reliefs from Nineveh (eighth and ninthcenturies B.C.), in which broad belts of cuneiformlettering deliberately cross the picture in a waywhich, brutal as in a sense it must be called, isnot sheer brutality, so useful is it in the com-

position, and so little hurt is there to broadlyconventional sculpture of that kind in a treatmentwhich, applied to more delicate workmanship,would be downright cruel. We find indeed some-thing of the same kind in quite late Gothictapestry and wall-painting, where the names ofthe personages represented are sometimes writtenstraight across their drapery.

The gentler treatment is to write only upon thebackground to the figures, where the horizontalbands or belts of lettering are of use in crossingnarrow upright spaces between the figures orbetween the figure and its frame, and in bindingthe parts of the composition into one.

Another use to which bands of inscription arecommonly put is to separate tiers of small picturepanels one from the other, as, for example, in thenarrow lights of tall Gothic windows, which theyhold together in a most satisfactory manner. A

u 4ft .% mm

.CM jug*. A,j

39. PART OF A DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL AT LE PUY,

6o

very pronounced use of bands of lettering to sepa-rate little figure subjects is made in the doors of thecathedral at Le Puy, of which a portion is illus-trated (39). The lettering there is on a pro-portionately very large and important scale ; butit holds its own perfectly both with the ornamentalborders and with the figure subjects. The carvingis of the simplest kind, mere flat "grounding out,"but the effect is singularly rich ; and certainly notthe least interesting part of the design, when youexamine it in detail, is the lettering. It proves tobe Latin hexameters, explanatory, of course, of theincidents depicted, running right across the fourdivisions of the doors. The upright post betweenthe two doors (to the right of the illustration),shows another use of lettering. Clearly, where allabout it was so full of pattern, that called out forenrichment. Why should not the carver makeuse of it to sign his name ? And who is notgrateful to Master Godfrey for the wTay he hasdone it ? He could hardly have devised ornamentmore effective or more fitting.

There is no need to multiply instances ofpictures kept apart by interspaces of lettering.The mediaeval decorator delighted in a multitudeof little figure groups, and he knew no better waythan this of separating themnor do we for thatmatter, though nowadays we are not so fond oflettering.

It is no uncommon thing to find in one and thesame mediaeval composition inscriptions treated

^^s^&mmatei - --;--*/** ,: ^T, BOfiHAJlK-KT^T^O^'K^I^

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m Spill6ft

P^ ,Ujf3lsJ*fr&6&mJm& ' ' '^^l^'^'^V^

1:":'.

ra-f1 : *;

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40. SILVER-GILT COVER TO A COPY OF THE GOSPELS WITHSLAVONIC INSCRIPTIONS, 1519.

62

in a variety of ways. The designer had the witat the same time to diversify his design and tomake his meaning as explicit as might beafterall, words are the most explicit form in which toconvey itand he succeeded in making themsubserve an artistic purpose also (40). Thereis a Flemish tapestry at the Victoria and AlbertMuseum representing the Seven Deadly Sins(14851520), in which the names of Jeremiah,Justice, Pity, etc., are written across their bodies,whilst the words of the prophet occupy a scroll.

It is a rather important point in design that ina single composition different forms of inscriptionshould be adopted only to convey different kindsof information ; and that, vice versa, differentkinds of information should be conveyed in dif-ferent ways. What is necessary to intelligibilitymay be made so, to contribute to decorative effect.Of old it did not occur to the writer to intro-

duce all manners of writing into his design ; heconfined himself habitually to one form of letter,varying perhaps in scale, or in the manner of itsrendering, but in its main lines the same through-outfor the simple reason, it may be, that no otherwas familiar to him. To-day we turn our know-ledge of many types to the worst possible accountin mixing them together. Our scraps of know-ledge lead us continually into danger. It is oftendesirable, and even necessary, to make

.

some

words stand forth in a design, and others toshrink back; it is the business of a designer to give

63

such words as he may introduce their due andprecise value, to make some perhaps larger thanothers, some more solid, to reduce certain of themto relative insignificance ; but reason and art alikedemand that all should be in one handwriting.

Natural as it is to write from left to right, anduseful as cross bands of lettering are in counter-acting the upright lines in figure composition, the

41. ENGRAVING ON COPPER BY H. S. BEHAM, 1542.

artist has always felt himself free to depart fromthe usual practice when that did not suit hispurpose. If he had no need of any definite line,he preferred perhaps merely to break the surfaceof the background with quite irregular lettering.He made bold, if need wrere, to place the letters ofthe words in vertical instead of horizontal order, orto scatter them about the ground more in the formof a diaper; perhaps he preferred to write them ona tablet or a scroll (41) designed to receive them,

42. STONE GRAVE SLAB, GOTLAND, 1316.

or to introduce them into the details of the pictureitself. The nimbus of a saint was, for example, soconvenient to his hand, that it seems almost as ifit must have been designed to be inscribed withhis name. The mere writing of the letters in aring round his head was enough to indicate a halo.

43. OLD STAFFORDSHIRE EARTHENWARE.

A device employed in tapestries and stained glasswindows was to introduce the name of a personagein the hem or border of his garment, or as apattern in the stuff, as though it had been wovenin it or embroidered on it ; but the limits of thatkind of thing are soon reached.The horizontal band, so common on flat sur-

faces, becomes, in the case of a vessel circular inplan, a belt of inscription, very valuable always in

l.o. F

66

emphasising the roundness of a vase, and some-times in correcting its proportions. Quite rudeinstances of this occur in the mugs and othercommon earthen pots decorated in "slip" after aStaffordshire fashion of the end of the seventeenthcentury (43). More refined examples occur in oldGreek vases ; but there the inscriptions are so deli-cate that, reduced to the scale of our illustrations,they would hardly be seen. They are, in fact, soinconspicuous that, but for the fact (pointed out tome by Mr. Cecil Smith) that they occupy a positionof honour in the scheme of Greek vase painting,one might take them to be an afterthought of thedesigner.

The lip, the neck, the shoulder of a vase mayeach in turn conveniently be decorated in this way,the words engraved on silver, painted on pottery,enamelled on glass. Successive rings of letter-ing, with or without other ornament between,make excellent decoration, which, as thewording is never seen all at once, does notassert its meaning. The Hispano- Moresquepotters frequently introduced bands of mockArabic inscription into their lustred earthenware,preferring, it is said, not to profane the name

of the Prophet by putting it upon the infidelmarket. They also hashed up into ornament theRoman and Gothic character, not perhaps know-ing the havoc they were working with its sense.The practice speaks for the value of lettering inornament ; but it does not justify mock inscrip-

44- PART OF A MOORISH DOOR, WITH GOTHIC INSCRIPTION.

F 2

68

tion, for which there is no honest place in decora-tion. If something like lettering is wanted wherethere is a reason why real words should not beused, it should be within the power of an artist todesign ornament having nearly enough the valueof lettering without ever making any pretence tobe inscription.

Lettering makes a very good bordernot merelyin connection with ornament, though there is scopefor that too in very broad borders, but by itself,as may be seen in many a grave slab (42) andold brass, where it frames a monumental effigy orheraldic device as effectively as any pattern woulddo. The letters make, in fact, pattern enough,excellent and appropriate in proportion to itsseverity. The formality and rigidity of lettersmake for that steadiness which is so desirablein a border ; the parallel upright strokes ofGothic black-letter, of which an orientalisedversion is given (44), fulfil very much thesame purpose as the rectangular lines of a Greekfret ; but it is seldom that lettering comes amiss.The one objection to a border of lettering is, thedifficulty there is likely to be in reading it from oneposition. That, however, does not apply to brassesand tombstones which you can walk round, or to athing like a book cover, which you take in yourhand and turn about. Moreover, the difficulty is ingreat measure got over, say in the case of a door,

by making the inscription run uninterruptedlyround only three sides of the thing, and on the

45- PART OF AN IRON DOOR IN TOLEDO CATHEDRAL.

70

fourth (or bottom border) making it read as in thetop one. This is seen in a portion of an iron doorfrom the cathedral at Toledo (45).

In a circular disc, where the ring of inscriptionis precisely analogous to the rectangular frameto a slab, the lettering naturally follows round,in case the thing is small enough to be handled.In case it is not, the difficulty of changing thedirection is not always very happily managed,

GREEK COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

as may be seen in the mark of Alfonso theWise (19) ; nevertheless the lettering in it is good.

For coins, seals, medals and so forth, letteringproves to be the absolutely perfect border.Enclosed within marginal lines or without them,incised or in relief, singly or in double row, itframes the portrait or the coat of arms effectively,giving weight to the design just where it is wanted.Not the least serviceable use of it is where itis made to pass, as it were, behind the image,forming something between a border and a back-ground to it. Boldly used it never comes amiss.It is only the mean lettering of an artist who doesnot value it, would rather not use it, and is in fact

Vhalf afraid of it, that is uninteresting. The greatmedallists who have given it the importance itdeserves have never had cause to repent it.

For all the value of the ring of inscription on a

GREEK COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

coin or medal, the scope of the designer does notend there : that is one way of doing it, but not theonly one. It is the hard and fast rule we haveadopted in modern days ; but the Greeks, whowere our masters in art, and the medallists of theRenaissance, knew better than to act on any one

72

mechanical idea. The Greeks, it will be seen(46, 47), wrote the inscription across the coin,or in an upright line, or in two such lines,

48. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.

or in one horizontal line (as a base for thefigure), and lines at the two sides of the coin,and even in four straight lines giving a squarewithin the circle. Framed in double lines ofinscription (47) the figure is, as it were, set in

73

a diaper of lettering. Other devices are wherethe ground between the symbolic creature and itsencircling wreath is diapered with lettering (47),where the inscription is confined to a rectangular

49- ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.

frame within the circle, and where single lettersare used to balance the composition (46)and allthis during the finest period of design. Anotherbeautiful use of single letters is seen in the ivorycarving of a later period (38).The medallists of the Renaissance, as well as

74

the Greeks, often wrote inscriptions across the

background to a portrait head (48, 49). A secondring of incised lettering, within the outer bandin relief (50), is a convenient means of occupyingthe field of a medal without either confusing twoseparate inscriptions or calling undue attentionto the less important of them.Some modern medallists make good and charac-

teristic use of lettering, but they employ sometimestoo much of it to keep it bold enough. Its pro-portion in the design of so small a thing as acoin or medal is all-important. The temptationappears to be to make it too small ; but it seemsto have been the constant endeavour of the greatmedallists to keep it as large as possible.

50. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MEDAL.

VI. SCROLLS OR LABELS.A device from which very happy effects of

decoration have resulted is that of a label, scroll,or ribbon, to bear an inscription. It is a meansat once of giving dis-

tinction to it and ofintroducing into the com-position lines invariably

useful.

Its origin is not far to

seek. A strip of parch-ment made a convenientticket on which to writea name or description.

Such labels must oftenhave been attached tothings upon which theywere more or less a dis-

figurement. The artistnaturally preferred to

paint, or carve, or weave, his own label ; and itseemed to him to give actuality to the thing ifhe represented also the buckling and the curlingover of the ends of parchment, an accident sureto occur to it in the end. When he found that the

51. GOTHICGLASS : THELETTERSSCRATCHEDOUT OF THESOLID PAINT

76

turning over of the ends led to a characteristicform of ornament, he naturally developed the idea;and so we get the ornamental label, severe at first,eventually, as taste became more florid, twistingabout in the most fantastic fashion. It takes,finally, the fluttering form of ribbon; but the effectwas happier when it was less flimsily conceived, inthe likeness, that is to say, of more robust strapwork.

Labels of the squarer ticket-l