Classic, refined treatment, for art and literary purposes ]
The typographer who prefers freedom from care, and the blissfulness of ignorance, is a poor member of society. He should line up among the world’s workers and accept some of the responsibilities. The first things he observes, should he become a student, are the imperfections of his own product. Work that before looked good to him, now, viewed in a new light, is defective, and finally the old verdict is reached, “There is none perfect, no, not one.” While to the experienced art-printer expectations of absolutely perfect results are known to be futile, he tries for one hundred per cent just the same. A man lacks something in his make-up when he is satisfied to be rated as a twenty-five or fifty per cent printer.
Tickets, altho only a minute part of the printing-office product, afford opportunity for the practice and development of art printing. In typography there are many themes and styles and their incorporation into type-designs is an interesting and instructive study. The compositor or layout man should know and understand these various styles, that he may be able to adapt himself to any demand made for “something different.” Resourcefulness is a valuable characteristic for any printer to possess, and close examination of the nineteen ticket forms, and careful reading of what follows, should serve to develop that quality. These forms were designed by the author especially for this chapter.
EXAMPLE 256.—It is fitting, in commencing a series of type arrangements, first to show one based upon a classic motive. The design is old to students of art, yet may be new to printers in general. The arrangement has been used for many years by leading architects on inscription tablets, and the idea itself comes from ancient Rome. The egg-and-dart border is a standard embellishment in architectural designing. The roman type-face is historically proper, especially the adherence to capitals, as originally there was none but what we call capitals, the small “lower-case” or minuscule letters having been evolved during the Middle Ages. The letters of roman type-faces usually set very close together and to get certain results the capitals should be slightly spaced. One-point spaces have been used in this example. White cardboard is preferable to a colored one on which to print this design.