NOTE.--_A given margin looks larger the heavier the mass of the text_,[63] and _smaller the lighter the mass of the text_. And, therefore, if lettering be spread out, as in "Fine Writing," the margins should be extra wide to have their true comparative value. The space available for a given inscription may in this way largely determine the arrangement of the lettering, comparatively _small_ and _large_ spaces suggesting respectively "_Massed Writing_" and "_Fine Writing_" (see p. 262).
In _certain decorative inscriptions_, where letters are merely treated as decorative forms--readableness [p267] being a matter of little or no moment--the treatment of the spacing is adapted to a particular surface; and, for example:--
The above discussion of theories and "rules" for the construction and arrangement of good lettering is intended to suggest some useful methods--not to provoke excessive fitting or planning, but rather to avoid it. Straightforwardness is perhaps the greatest virtue in a craft, and whatever "rules" it may break through, it is refreshing and charming.
An excellent example for the scribe or inscription maker is the method of an early printer, who had only four or five sorts of type--say, "Small-Letters" and "Capitals" (Roman and Italic) and "Large Capitals," and who, without any elaborate "design," simply put his types into their proper [p268] places, and then pulled off his pleasant sheets of "commonplace" printing.
The scribe should choose the best and simplest forms and arrangements, and master them before going further; he should have a few definite types "at his finger tips," and, for everyday use, a matter-of-course way of putting them down on paper.
Ambiguity is one of the greatest faults in a craft. It comes often from vague ambitions. One may be inspired by good ambitions, but the immediate concern of the craftsman is to know what he is capable of doing at the present, and to do it.
Let the meaning of your work be obvious unless it is designed purely for your own amusement. A good craftsman seeks out the _commonplace_ and tries to master it, knowing that "originality" comes of necessity, and not of searching.
CHAPTER XV THE ROMAN ALPHABET & ITS DERIVATIVES