General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.
+``` + +Your span must contain at least two elements: +- **a class**: this class is common to all index span elements of your document, you can name it as you wish +- **a data attribut**: this data attribut must be named `data-book-index`, it indicates the word(s) that will appear in the index +- you can also add an id if you want but it's not required + +About the data attribute: +- all data attributes containing the same word will be combined in a single line in the index, so you can use the same data attribute several times in your document +- it is possible to use spaces, capital letters and dashes in the data attribute, like this for example: `data-book-index="Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart"` +- it is also possible to format the text with the `` en `` elements (only): `data-book-index="String Quartet in C major"` + +Finally, you must add somewhere in your HTML an element in which the book index will be generated. It can be a section or a div but it must be indicated by an id (that you name as you wish): + +```HTML + +``` + + +## Use the script with paged.js + + +1. Add the `async` property to the paged.js script: +* if you use paged.js with npm: `` +* if you use the online script of paged.js: `` + +2. Add the book index script: +```html + +``` + +3. Call the book index script: + +The book index need to be generated before that paged.js fragmented the content into pages. You need to the hook `before` to call the script. +Add this code in the `head` of you html document: + +```html + +``` + +4. Use the print CSS properties in your stylesheet file to target the pages where the index elements appears: + +```CSS +.link-page a::after{ content: target-counter(attr(href), page); } + +.link-page::after{ content: ", "; } + +.link-page:last-of-type::after{ content: none; } + +.index-value::after{ content: " – "; } +``` + + +## Configuring the script +* `spanClassIndex`: define the id element where the toc list will be create +* `indexElement`: define the id element where the toc list will be create +* `alphabet`: choose if you want the alphabetical elements (`true`) or not (`false`) + + + +## Styling the book index + +The script generates a list whith items you can style. Here is an example of a book index generated: + + + +```HTML +London
+Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C.
+1887
+We have laid before the + reader, in the Introductory Chapter, such facts and + conjectures as it is possible to gather together respecting + the processes and appliances adopted by the first + letter-founders, and shall, with a view to render the + particular history of the English Letter Foundries more + intelligible, endeavour to present here, in as concise a + form as possible, a short historical sketch of the English + type bodies and faces, tracing particularly the rise and + development of the Roman, Italic, and Black letters before + and subsequent to their introduction into this country; + adding, in a following chapter, a similar notice of the + types of the principal foreign and learned languages which + have figured conspicuously in English typography.
+ +The origin of type-bodies and the nomenclature which has grown around + them, is a branch of typographical antiquity which has always been shrouded in + more or less obscurity. Imagining, as we do, that the moulds of the first printers + were of a primitive construction, and, though conceived on true principles, were + adjusted to the various sizes of letter they had to cast more by eye than by rule, + it is easy to understand that founts would be cast on no other principle than that + of ranging in body and line and height in themselves, irrespective of the body, + height and line of other founts used in the same press. When + two or more founts were required to mix in the same work, then the necessity of a uniform + standard of height would become apparent. When two or more founts were + required to mix in the same line, a uniformity in body, and if possible in + alignment, would be found necessary. When initials or marginal notes required + to be incorporated with the text, then the advantage of a mathematical proportion + between one body and another would suggest itself.
+ +At first, doubtless, the printer would name his sizes of type according to the + works for which they were used. His Canon type would be the large character + in which he printed the canon of the Mass. His Cicero type would be the letter + used in his editions of that classical author. His Saint Augustin, his Primer, his + Brevier, his Philosophie, his Pica type, would be the names by which he would + describe the sizes of letter he used for printing the works whose names they + bore. It may also be assumed with tolerable certainty that in most of these + cases, originally, the names described not only the body, but the “face” of their + respective founts. At what period this confused and haphazard system of + nomenclature resolved itself into the definite printer’s terminology it is difficult + to determine. The process was probably a gradual one, and was not perfected + until typefounding became a distinct and separate trade.
+ +The earliest writers on the form and proportion of letters, — Dürer + in 1525, Tory in 1529, and Ycair + in 1548,—though using terms to distinguish the different + faces of letter, were apparently unaware of any distinguishing names for the + bodies of types. Tory, indeed, mentions Canon and Bourgeoise; but in both + cases he refers to the face of the letter; and Ycair’s distinction of “teste y glosa” + applies generally to the large and small type used for the text and notes + respectively of the same work. + +
In England, type-bodies do not appear to have been reduced to a definite + scale much before the end of the sixteenth century. Mores + failed to trace them + further back than 1647; but in a Regulation of the Stationers’ Company, dated + 1598, Pica, English, Long Primer, and Brevier are mentioned by name as apparently + well-established bodies at that time; and in a petition to the same Company + in 1635, Nonpareil and “two-line letters” are mentioned as equally familiar.
+ +Moxon, our first writer on the subject, in his Mechanick + Exercises, in 1683, + described ten regular bodies in common use in his day, and added to his list the + number of types of each body that went to a foot, viz.:―
+ +“We have one body more,” he adds, “which is sometimes used in England; + that is, a Small Pica: but I account it no great discretion in a master-printer to + provide it, because it differs so little from the Pica, that unless the workmen be + carefuller than they sometimes are, it may be mingled with the Pica, and so the + beauty of both founts may be spoiled.”
+ +In this sentence we have the first record of the introduction of irregular + bodies into English typography, an innovation destined very speedily to expand, + and within half a century increase the number of English bodies by the seven + following additions. + +
The origin of these irregular bodies it is easy to explain. Between Moxon’s + time and 1720 the country was flooded with Dutch type. The English founders + were beaten out of the field in their own market, and James, in self-defence, had + to furnish his foundry entirely with Dutch moulds and matrices. Thus we had + the typefounding of two nations carried on side by side. An English printer + furnished with a Dutch fount would require additions to it to be cast to the + Dutch standard, which might be smaller or larger than that laid down for + English type by Moxon, and yet so near that even if it lost or gained a few + types in the foot, it would still be called by its English name, which would + thenceforth represent two different bodies. If, on the other hand, a new fount + were imported, or cut by an ill-regulated artist here, which when finished was + found to be as much too large for one regular body as it was too small for + another, a body would be found to fit it between the two, and christened by a + new name. In this manner, Minion, Bourgeois, Small Pica, Paragon, and two-line + Pica insinuated themselves into the list of English bodies, and in this manner + arose that ancient anomaly, the various body-standards of the English foundries. + For a founder who was constantly called upon to alter his mould to accommodate + a printer requiring a special body, would be likely to cast a quantity of the + letter in excess of what was immediately ordered; and this store, if not sold in + due time to the person for whom it was cast, would be disposed of + to the first comer who, requiring a new fount, and not particular as to body, provided the + additions afterwards to be had were of the same gauge, would take it off the + founder’s hands. Facilis descensus Averni ! Having taken the one downward + step, the founder would be called upon constantly to repeat it, his moulds would + remain set, some to the right, some to the wrong standard, and every type he + cast would make it more impossible for him or his posterity to recover the simple + standard from which he had erred.
+ +Such we imagine to have been the origin of the irregular and ununiform + bodies. Even in 1755, when Smith published his Printer’s Grammar, the mischief + was beyond recall. In no single instance were the standards given by him identical + with those of 1683. Indeed, where each founder had two or three variations of + each body in his own foundry it is impossible to speak of a standard at all. + Smith points out that, in the case of English and Pica alone, Caslon had four + varieties of the former, and the Dutch two; while of the latter, Caslon had + three, and James two. Nevertheless, he gives a scale of the bodies commonly + in use in his day, which it will be interesting to compare with Moxon’s on the + one hand, and the standard of the English foundries in 1841 as given by Savage, + on the other.
+ +This list does not include Trafalgar, Emerald, and Ruby, which, however, + were in use before 1841. The first named has disappeared in England, as also + has Paragon. The Printer’s Grammar of 1787 mentions a body in use at that + time named “Primer,” between Great Primer and English.
+ +It is not our purpose to pursue this comparison further or more minutely; + nor does it come within the scope of this work to enter + into a technical examination of the various schemes which have been carried out abroad, and + attempted in this country, to do away with the anomalies in type-bodies, and + restore a uniform invariable standard. The above table will suffice as a brief + historical note of the growth of these anomalies.
+ +As early as 1725, in France, an attempt was made to regulate by a public + decree, not only the standard height of a type, but the scale of bodies. But the + system adopted was clumsy, and only added to the confusion it was designed to + remove. Fournier, in 1737, invented his typographical points, the first successful + attempt at a mathematical systematisation of type-bodies, which has since, with + the alternative system of Didot, done much in simplifying French typography. + England, Germany, and Holland have been more conservative, and therefore + less fortunate. Attempts were made by Fergusson in 1824, + and by Bower of Sheffield about 1840, + and others, to arrive at a standard of uniformity; but their + schemes were not warmly taken up, and failed.
+ +Before proceeding to a brief historical notice of the different English type-bodies, + we shall trouble the reader with a further table, compiled from specimen-books + of the 18th century, showing what have been the names of the corresponding + bodies in the foundries of other nations,—premising, however, that these + names must be taken as representing the approximate, rather than the actual, + equivalent in each case. + + +
A few notes on the origin of the names of English type-bodies will conclude + our observations on this subject.
+ +The Canon of the Mass was, in the service-books of the Church, + printed in a large letter, and it is generally supposed that, this size of letter being + ordinarily employed in the large Missals, the type-body took its name accordingly: + a supposition which is strengthened by its German name of Missal. Mores, + however (who objects equally to the epithets of Great or French as unnecessary + and delusive), considers this derivation to be incorrect, and quotes the authority + of Tory, who uses the term Canon to apply to letter cut according to rule—lettres + de forme—as distinguished from letters not so cut, which he terms lettres bastardes. + So that the lettre qu’on dict Canon was originally a generic term, embracing all + the regular bodies; and subsequently came to be confined to the largest size in + that category. The theory is ingenious and interesting; but it seems more + reasonable to lay greater stress on the actual meaning of a word than on its + equivocal interpretation. In other countries two-line Great Primer was commonly + called Canon, and our French Canon was called by the Dutch Parys Kanon; by + which it would seem that both England and Holland originally received the + body from the French. In modern letter-founding the name Canon applies + only to the size of the face of a letter which is a three-line Pica cast on a four-line + Pica body.
+ +Passing the next four bodies, which with us are + merely reduplications, we note that―
+ +which at present is Double Small Pica, was in Moxon’s day, + what its name denotes, a two-line Pica. When the irregular Small Pica was + introduced, Double Pica was the name given to the double of the interloper, the + double of the Pica being styled two-line Pica. In Germany, Double Pica was called + Text or Secunda—the former name probably denoting the use of this size in the + text of Holy Writ, while the latter indicates that the body was one of a series, + the Doppel Mittel, corresponding to our two-line English, being probably the + Prima.
+ +The double of Long Primer, though a body unnamed in Moxon’s + day, was a size of really old institution; it having been a favourite body with + many of the earliest printers, and particularly affected by Caxton in this country. + Its name points to a French origin; and, like most of the other fanciful names, + proves that the appellation had reference in the first instance, not to the depth + of its shank, but to the supposed beauty of the letter which was cut upon it. It + was a body which did not take deep root in this country, and + for the most part + disappeared with the first quarter of the present century. It is noteworthy that + Paragon and Nonpareil are the only bodies which have preserved their names + in all the countries in which they have been adopted.
+ +For this body, Mores claims an indisputable English + origin. He considers it possible that it may date back to before the Reformation, + and that it was the body on which were printed the large Primers of the early + Church. This derivation + would be more satisfactory were it found that these + works, or the school primers of a later date, were, as a rule, printed in type of + this size But this is not the case. Primers, Pyes, and Breviaries + occur printed + in almost all the regular bodies. Great Primer was a favourite body with the old + printers, and having been adopted by many of the first Bible printers, was + sometimes called Bible Text. The French called it Gros Romain; and the + “Great Romaine letter for the titles,” mentioned in Pynson’s indenture in 1519, + may possibly refer to an already recognised type-body of this size. In Germany + it was called Tertia, being the third of the regular bodies above the Mittel. + In Holland, Italy, and Spain it was called Text.
+ +English is also a body which undoubtedly belongs to us. Until the end of + last century the name served not only to denote a body, + but the face of the English Black-letter; and many of the + old founts used in the law books and Acts of Parliament + were English both in body and face. As in Germany, where + it is called Mittel, English was the middle size of the + seven regular bodies in use among us: the Great Primer, + Double Pica, and two-line English (the Tertia, Secunda, + and Prima of the Germans) being on the ascending side, + and Pica, Long Primer, and Brevier on the descending. The + French call it St. Augustin, and the Spaniards Atanasia, apparently + from its use in printing the works of these Christian + Fathers. Although the middle body, its standard has been + subject to much variation, particularly in France and + Germany, where large and small English are two distinct + bodies.
+ +This important body, now the standard body in English typography, + presumably owes its name to its use in printing the ordinal of the services of + the early Church, and is coeval with Great Primer. “The Pie,” says Mores, of + which this is the Latin name, “was a table showing the course of the service in + the Church in the times of darkness. + It was called the Pie because it was written + in letters of black and red; as the Friars de Pica were so named from their party-coloured + raiment, black and white, the plumage of a magpie.” “The number + and hardness of the rules of this Pie” is referred to in the preface to our Prayer-book; + and it will be remembered that Caxton’s famous advertisement related to + “Pyes of Salisbury use.” But as a larger type-body than Pica was generally + used to print these, it is possible the name may refer to nothing more than the + piebald or black-and-white appearance of a printed page. Some authorities + derive Pica from the Greek πίναξ, a writing tablet, and, hence, an index. The + name was, in fact, applied to the alphabetical catalogue of the names and things + in rolls and records. In France and Germany the body was called Cicero, + on account of the frequent editions of Cicero’s Epistles printed in this size + of letter. + It was the Mediaan body of the Dutch.
+ +Small Pica as already stated, was an innovation in Moxon’s day, and was + probably cast in the first instance to accommodate a foreign-cut letter, too + small for pica and too large for long-primer. It subsequently came into very + general use, one of the first important works in which it appeared being + Chambers’s Cyclopædia, in 1728. The French called it Philosophie, and appear to + have used it as a smaller body on which to cast the Cicero face. The Germans + called it Brevier, the Dutch (it being one body below the Mediaan) called it + Descendiaan, and the Italians, when they had it, followed the French, and + called it Filosofia.
+ +Mores suggests, was another of the old English bodies + employed in liturgical works. He explains the use of the + word Long to mean that Primers in this size of type were + printed either in long lines instead of double columns, + or that the length of the page was disproportionate to + the width, or more probably, that they contained the + service at full length a long, or without contraction. These + Primers, however, are rarely to be met with in this + body. The French named the body Petit Romain, preserving + a similar relationship between it and their Gros Romain, as we + did between our Long Primer and Great Primer. The other + countries evidently attributed the body to France, + and named it after Claude Garamond, the famous French + letter-cutter, pupil of Tory, one of whose Greek founts, + cut for the Royal Typography of Paris, was on this body. + The Germans, however, also called the body Corpus, on + account of their Corpus Juris being first printed in this + size.
+ +This irregular body betrays its nationality in its name, which, + however, is probably derived, not from the fact that it was used by the bourgeois + printers of France, but from the name of the city of Bourges, which was the + birthplace of the illustrious typographer, Geofroy Tory, about the year 1485. + Tory originally applied the term bourgeoise to the lettre de somme, irrespective + of size, as distinguished from the lettre Canon. The French call the body + Gaillarde, probably after the printer of that name, + although it is equally possible the name, like Mignon or Nonpareille, may be fanciful. As a type-body, + Bourgeois did not appear in England till about 1748, and Smith informs + us that it was originally used as a large body on which to cast Brevier or + Petit.
+ +he smallest of the English regular bodies claims equal + antiquity with Great Primer, Pica, and Long Primer. The conjecture that it + was commonly used in the Breviaries of the early Church is not borne out by an + examination of these works, most of which are printed in a considerably larger + size. The name, like the French and German “Petit,” may mean that, being + the smallest body, it was used for getting the most matter into a brief space. + The Germans, when they cut smaller-sized letters, called the Petit Jungfer, or + the Maiden-letter.
+ +Nonpareilnow an indispensable body, because the half of Pica, was + introduced as a peerless curiosity long before Moxon’s day, and has preserved its + name in all the countries where it has gone. It is said first to have been cut by + Garamond about the year 1560. Mores supposes that, because the Dutch + founders of Moxon’s day called it “Englese Nonpareil” in + their specimens, the + body was first used in this country. The Dutch name, however, evidently + refers to the face of the letter, cut in imitation of an English face, or adapted to + suit English purchasers. Paulus Pater + says that on account of its wonderful + smallness and clearness, the Dutch Nonpareil was called by many the “silver + letter,” and was supposed to have been cast in that metal. + +
Pearl though an English body in Moxon’s day, appears to have been + known both in France and Holland at an earlier date. In the former country it + was celebrated as the body on which the famous tiny editions at Sedan were + printed. The Dutch Joly corresponded more nearly to our modern Ruby than to + Pearl. But Luce, in 1740, cut the size for France, and provoked Firmin Didot’s + severe criticism on his performance—“Among the characters, generally bad, which + Luce has engraved, . . . is one which cannot be seen.”
+ +Diamond was unknown in England until the close of last century, when Dr. + Fry cut a fount which he claimed to be the smallest ever used, and to get in + “more even than the famous Dutch Diamond.” This Dutch fount was of + some antiquity, having been cut by Voskens about 1700. Previous to this, + Van Dijk had cut a letter on a body below Pearl, called Robijn, a specimen of + which appears on Daniel Elzevir’s sheet in 1681. M. Henri Didot, however, + eclipsed all these minute-bodied founts by a Semi-nonpareil in 1827.
+ + +It now remains to trace briefly the origin and development of the leading + type-faces used in English Typography.
+ +To trace the history of the Roman character would almost require a résumé + of the works of all the greatest printers in each country of Europe. It must + suffice to point out very briefly the changes it underwent before and after reaching + England.
+ +The Italian scribes of the fifteenth century were famous for their + beautiful manuscripts, written in a hand entirely different from the Gothic of + the Germans, or the Secretary of the French and Netherlands calligraphers. + It was only natural that the first Italian printers, when they set up their + press at Subiaco, should form their letters upon the best model of the national + scribes. The Cicero de Oratore of 1465 + is claimed by some + as the first book printed in Roman type, although the character shows that the German artists + who printed it had been unable wholly to shake off the traditions of the pointed + Gothic school of typography in which they had learned their craft. The type + of the Lactantius, and the improved type of the works subsequently printed by + Sweynheim and Pannartz at Rome, as well as those of Ulric Hahn, were, in fact, + Gothic-Romans; and it was not till Nicholas Jenson, a Frenchman, in 1470, + printed his Eusebii Præparatio at Venice, that the true Roman appeared in Italy, + which was destined to become the ruling character in European Typography. + Fournier and others have considered that Jenson derived his Roman letter from a + mixture of alphabets of various countries; + but it is only necessary to compare the + Eusebius with the Italian manuscripts of the period, to see that no such elaborate + selection of models was necessary or likely. The claims of Italy in the matter + of Roman type have of late years been somewhat seriously challenged by the + researches of M. Madden, who in a series of remarkable studies on the typographical + labours of the Frères de la Vie Commune at Wiedenbach, near Cologne, + contends that the Roman type known as the fount of the bizarre,” on account + of the peculiar form of that capital letter, was used in that monastery in 1465; + and that among the typographical fugitives from Mentz at that time dwelling in + Cologne, there is little doubt that Jenson was here initiated into the art which he + subsequently made famous. The close resemblance between the Roman of the + Wiedenbach monks and that of the Eusebius is, M. Madden considers, clear + evidence that the same hand had trained itself on the one for the marvellous + perfection of the other. + Jenson’s fount is on a body corresponding to English. + The form is round and clear, and differing in fashion only from its future + progeny. The capital alphabet consists of twenty-three letters (J, U, and W + not being yet in use); the “lower-case” alphabet is the same, except that the + “u” is substituted for the “v,” and in addition there is a long ſ, and the diphthongs + æ and œ. To complete the fount, there are fifteen contractions, six + double letters, and three points, the . : ? making seventy-three punches in all. + Jenson’s Roman letter fell after his death into the hands of a “firm” of which + Andrea Torresani was head. Aldus Manutius subsequently + associated himself with Torresani, and, becoming his son-in-law and heir, eventually inherited his + punches, matrices, and types. The Roman founts of Aldus were eclipsed by his + Italic and Greek, but he cut several very fine alphabets. Renouard + mentions eight distinct founts between 1494 and 1558.
+ +Whether the fount of the Wiedenbach monks was the progenitor + of the Venetian Roman, or whether each can claim an independent origin, there + seems little doubt that the fount of the bizarre” + is entitled to rank as the first + Roman letter in Germany. The accompanying facsimile from the Sophologium + will give a good idea of the form and size of this most interesting fount, + and will at the same time show how slightly the form of the Roman alphabet has + changed since its first introduction into Typography.
+ +Roman type was adopted before 1473 by Mentelin of Strasburg, whose + beautiful letter placed him in the front rank of German printers. Gunther + Zainer, who settled at Augsburg in 1469, after printing some works in the round + Gothic, also adopted, in 1472, the Roman of the Venetian School, founts of + which he is said to have brought direct from Italy. The German name of + Antiqua, applied to the Roman character, has generally been supposed to imply + a reluctance to admit the claim of Italy to the credit of introducing this style of + letter. As, however, the Italians themselves called the letter the “Lettera + Antiqua tonda,” the imputation against Germany is unfounded.
+ The French, + Dutch, and English called it “Roman” from the first. + +The French received printing and the Roman character at the + same time, the first work of the Sorbonne press in 1470 being in a handsome + Roman letter about Great Primer in size, with a slight suggestion of Gothic in + some of the characters. Gering, a German himself, and his associates, had learned + their art at Basle; but cut, and probably designed, their own letter on the best + available models. Their fount is rudely cast, so that several of their words appear + only half-printed in the impression, and have been finished by hand. It has been + stated erroneously, by several writers, on the authority of Chevillier, that their + fount was without capitals. The fount is complete in that respect, and Chevillier’s + expression, “lettres capitales,” as he himself explains, refers to the initial letters + for which blank spaces were left to be filled in by hand. Besides the ordinary + capital and “lower-case” alphabets, the fount abounds in abbreviations. This + letter was used in all the works of the Sorbonne press, but when Gering left + the Sorbonne and established himself at the “Soleil d’Or,” in 1473, he made + use of a Gothic letter. In his later works, however, new and greatly improved + founts of the Roman appear. Jodocus Badius, who by some is erroneously + supposed to have been the first who brought the Roman letters from Italy to + France, did not establish his famous “Prelum Ascensianum” in Paris till + about 1500, when he printed in Roman types—not, however, before one or + two other French printers had already distinguished themselves in the same + direction.
+ +The Roman was introduced into the Netherlands by + Johannes de Westfalia, who, it is said, brought it direct from Italy about the year + 1472. He settled at Louvain, and after several works in semi-Gothic, published in + 1483 an edition of Æneas Silvius in the Italian letter. His fount is elegant, and + rather a lighter face than most of the early Roman founts of other countries. + This printer appears to have been the only one in the Low Countries who used + this type during the fifteenth century; nor was it till Plantin, in 1555, established + his famous press at Antwerp, that the Roman attained to any degree of excellence. + But Plantin, and after him the Elzevirs, were destined to eclipse all other artists + in their execution of this letter, which in their hands became a model for the + typography of all civilisation. It should be mentioned, however, that the + Elzevirs are not supposed to have cut their own punches. The Roman types + which they made famous, and which are known by their + name, were cut by Christopher Van Dijk, + the form of whose letter was subsequently adopted by the + English printers.
+ +Switzerland early distinguished itself by the Roman letter of Amerbach of + Basle, and still more so by the beautiful founts used by Froben of the same city, + who between 1491 and 1527 printed some of the finest books then known in + Europe. His Roman was very bold and regular. Christopher Froschouer of + Zurich, about 1545, made use of a peculiar and not unpicturesque form of the + Roman letter, in which the round sorts were thickened, after the Gothic fashion, at + their opposite corners, instead of at their opposite sides.
+ +The Roman + did not make its appearance in England till 1518, when + Richard Pynson printed Pace’s Oratio in Pace Nuperrimâ, + in a handsome letter, of which we show a facsimile at p. + 93. + This printer’s Norman birth, and his close relationship + with the typographers of Rouen, as well as his supposed + intimacy with the famous Basle typographer Froben, make + it highly probable that he procured his letter abroad, + or modelled it on that of some of the celebrated foreign + printers of his day. The fount is about Great Primer in + body, and though generally neat and bold in appearance, + displays considerable irregularity in the casting, + and, like most of the early Roman founts, contains + numerous contractions.
+ + + +The Roman made its way rapidly in English typography during the first + half of the sixteenth century, and in the hands of such artists as Faques, Rastell, + Wyer, Berthelet, and Day, maintained an average excellence. But it rapidly + degenerated, and while other countries were dazzling Europe by the brilliancy + of their impressions, the English Roman letter went from good to bad, and from + bad to worse. No type is more beautiful than a beautiful Roman; and with + equal truth it may be said, no type is more unsightly than an ill-fashioned and + ill-worked Roman. While Claude Garamond + in France was carrying out into + noble practice the theories of the form and proportion of letters set out by his + master, Geofroy Tory; while the Estiennes at Paris, Sebastian Gryphe at Lyons, + Froben at Basle, Froschouer at Zurich, and Christopher Plantin at Antwerp, + were moulding and refining their alphabets into + models which were to become {45} + classical, English printers, manacled body and soul by their patents and monopolies + and state persecutions, achieved nothing with the Roman type that was + not retrograde. For a time a struggle appears to have existed between the + Black-letter and the Roman for the mastery of the English press, and at one + period the curious spectacle was presented of mixed founts of the two. We + present our readers with a specimen of English printing at a foreign press in this + transition period, as illustrative not only of the compromise between the two + rival characters, but of the average unappetising appearance + of the typography {46} + of the day. Always impressionable and unoriginal, our national Roman letter, + in the midst of many admirable models, chose the Dutch for its pattern, and tried + to imitate Plantin and Elzevir, but with very little of the spirit of those great + artists. No English work of the time, printed in English Roman type, reproduces + within measurable distance the elegant embonpoint, the harmony, the + symmetry of the types of the famous Dutch printers. The seeker after the + beautiful looks almost in vain for anything to satisfy his eye in the English + Roman-printed works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A few exceptions + there are86; and when the English printers, giving up the attempt to cut + Roman for themselves, went to Holland to buy it; or when, as in the case of + Oxford and Thomas James, the English foundries became furnished with Dutch + matrices, our country was able to produce a few books the appearance of which + does not call forth a blush.
+ +The first English Bible printed in Roman type was Bassendyne’s edition + in Edinburgh, in 1576. We have it on the authority of Watson87 + that, from the + earliest days of Scotch typography, a constant trade in type and labour was + maintained between Holland and Scotland; and he exhibited in his specimen + pages the Dutch Romans which at that day were the most approved letters in + use in his country.
+ +Utilitarian motives brought about one important departure from the first + models of the Roman letter in the different countries where it flourished. The + early printers were generous in their ideas, and cut their letters with a single eye + to artistic beauty. But as printing gradually ceased to be an art, and became a + trade, economical considerations suggested a distortion or cramping of these + beautiful models, with a view to “getting more in.” In some cases the variation + was made gracefully and inoffensively. The slender or compressed Roman + letters of the French, Italian, and in some cases the Dutch printers, though not + comparable with the round ones, are yet regular and neat; but in other cases, ours + among them, there was little of either delicacy or skill in the innovation. The early + part of the seventeenth century witnessed the creation abroad of some very small + Roman faces, foremost among which were those of the beautiful little Sedan + editions of Jannon,88 + which gave their name to the body of + the microscopic letter {47} + in which they were printed. Van Dijk cut a still smaller letter for the Dutch in + Black-letter, and afterwards in Roman; and for many years the Dutch Diamond + held the palm as the smallest fount in Europe. England followed the general + tendency towards the minute, and though it is doubtful whether either Pearl or + Diamond were cut by English founders before 1700, an English printer, Field, + accomplished in 1653 the feat of printing a 32mo Bible in Pearl. + Among + English printers in the seventeenth century who did credit to their profession, + Roycroft is conspicuous, especially for the handsome large Romans in which he + printed Ogilby’s Virgil,90 + and other works. Yet Roycroft’s handsomest letter—that + in which he printed the Royal Dedication to the Polyglot of 1657—was the + fount used nearly a century before by Day,91 + whose productions few English + printers of the seventeenth century could equal, and none, certainly, could excel. + Of Moxon’s attempt in 1683 to regenerate the Roman letter in England, we shall + have occasion to speak elsewhere. His theories, as put into practice by himself, + were eminently unsuccessful; and though the sign-boards of the day may have + profited by his rules, it is doubtful if typography did. His enthusiastic + praise of the Dutch letter of Van Dijk may have stimulated the trade between + England and Holland; but at home his precepts fell flat for lack of an artist + to carry them out.
+ +That artist was forthcoming in William Caslon in 1720, and from the time + he cut his first fount of pica, the Roman letter in England entered on a career of + honour. Caslon went back to the Elzevirs for his models, and throwing into his + labour the genius of an enlightened artistic taste, he reproduced their letters with + a precision and uniformity hitherto unknown among us, preserving at the same + time that freedom and grace of form which had made them of all others the most + beautiful types in Europe. Caslon’s Roman became the fashion, and English + typography was loyal to it for nearly 80 years. Baskerville’s exquisite letters + were, as he himself acknowledged, inspired by those of Caslon. They were sharper + and more delicate in outline, and when finely printed, as they always were, were + more attractive to the eye.92 + But what they gained in brilliance they missed in + sterling dignity; they dazzled the eye and fatigued it, + and the fashion of the {48} + national taste was not seriously diverted. Still less was it diverted by the + experiments of a “nouvelle typographie,” which Luce, Fournier, and others were + trying to introduce into France. The stiff, narrow, cramped Roman which + these artists produced scarcely finds a place in any English work of the eighteenth + century. The Dutch type was now no longer looked at. Wilson, whose letter + adorned the works of the Foulis press, and Jackson, whose exquisite founts helped to + make the fame of Bensley, as those of his successor Figgins helped to continue it, + all adhered to the Caslon models. And all these artists, with Cottrell, Fry, and + others, contributed to a scarcely less important reform in English letter-founding, + namely, the production by each founder of his own uniform series of Roman + sizes,—a feature wofully absent in the odd collections of the old founders before + 1720. Towards the close of the century the Roman underwent a violent + revolution. The few founders who had begun about 1760 in avowed imitation + of Baskerville, had found it in their interest before 1780 to revert to the models + of Caslon; and scarcely had they done so, when about 1790 the genius of Didot + of Paris and Bodoni of Parma took the English press by storm, and brought + about that complete abandonment of the Caslon-Elzevir models which marked, + and in some cases disfigured, the last years of the eighteenth century. The + famous presses of Bensley and Bulmer introduced the modern Roman under the + most favourable auspices. The new letter was honest, businesslike, and trim; + but in its stiff angles, its rigid geometrical precision, long hair-seriffs, and sharp + contrasts of shade, there is little place for the luxuriant + elegance of the old style. + In France, the new fashion, even with so able an exponent as Didot, had a competitor + in the Baskerville type, which, rejected by us, was welcomed by the French + literati. Nor was this the only instance in which the fashion went from England + to France, for in 1818 the Imprimerie Royale itself, in want of a new + typographie of the then fashionable Roman, came to London for the punches.
+ +The typographical taste of the first quarter of the present century suffered + a distinct vulgarisation in the unsightly heavy-faced Roman letters, which were + not only offered by the founders, but extensively used by the printers; and the + date at which we quit this brief survey is not a glorious one. The simple + uniformity of faces which characterised the specimens of Caslon and his + disciples had been corrupted by new fancies and fashions, demanded by + the printer and conceded by the founder,—fashions + which, as Mr. Hansard {49} + neatly observed in 1825, “have left the specimen of a British letter-founder + a heterogeneous compound, made up of fat-faces and lean-faces, wide-set + and close-set, proportioned and disproportioned, all at once crying “Quousque + tandem abutêre patientia nostra?”
+ +Some of the coarsest of the new fashions were happily short-lived; and it is + worth transgressing our limit to record the fact that in 1844 the beautiful + old-face of Caslon was, in response to a demand from outside, revived, and has + since, in rejuvenated forms, regained both at home and abroad much of its old + popularity.
+ +It will not be out of place to add a word, before leaving the Roman, in reference + to letter-founders’ specimens. When printers were their own founders, the productions + of their presses were naturally also the published specimens of their + type. They might, like Schoeffer, in the colophon to the Justinian in 1468, + call attention to their skill in cutting types; or, like Caxton, print a special + advertisement in a special type; or, like Aldus, put forward a specimen of + the types of a forthcoming work. + But none of these are letter-founders’ + specimens; nor was it till letter-founding became a distinct trade that such + documents became necessary. England was probably behind other nations + when, in 1665, the tiny specimen of Nicholas Nicholls was laid under the Royal + notice. It is doubtful whether any founder before Moxon issued a full specimen + of his types. He used the sheet as a means of advertising not only his + types, but his trade as a mathematical instrument maker; and his specimen, + taken in connection with his rules for the formation of letters, is a sorry + performance, and not comparable to the Oxford University specimen, which that + press published in 1693, exhibiting the gifts of Dr. Fell and Junius. Of the + other English founders before 1720, no type specimen has come down to us; that + shown by Watson in his History of the Art of Printing being merely a specimen + of bought Dutch types. Caslon’s sheet, in 1734, marked a new departure. It + displayed at a glance the entire contents of the new foundry; and by printing + the same passage in each size of Roman, gave the printer an opportunity + of judging how one body compared with another for capacity. Caslon + was the first to adopt the since familiar “Quousque tandem” for his + Roman specimens. The Latin certainly tends to show off the Roman + letter to best advantage; but it gives an inadequate idea of its appearance in + any other tongue. “The Latin language,” says Dibdin, “presents to the + eye a great uniformity or evenness of effect. The m and n, like the solid + sirloin upon our table, have a substantial appearance; + no garnishing with useless + herbs . . to disguise its real character. Now, in our own tongue, by the + side of the m or n, or at no great distance from it, comes a crooked, long-tailed g, or + a th, or some gawkishly ascending or descending letter of meagre form, which + are the very flankings, herbs, or dressings of the aforesaid typographical dish, + m or n. In short, the number of ascending or descending letters in our + own language—the p’s, l’s, th’s, and sundry others of perpetual recurrence—render + the effect of printing much less uniform and beautiful than in the + Latin language. Caslon, therefore, and Messrs. Fry and Co. after him,”—and + he might have added all the other founders of the eighteenth century,—“should + have presented their specimens of printing-types in the English language; and + then, as no disappointment could have ensued, so no imputation of deception + would have attached.” + Several founders followed Caslon’s example by issuing + their specimens on a broadside sheet, which could be hung up in a printing-office, + or inset in a cyclopædia. Baskerville appears to have issued only specimens of + this kind; but Caslon, Cottrell, Wilson and Fry, who all began with sheets, found it + necessary to adopt the book form. These books were generally executed by a + well-known printer, and are examples not only of good types, but of fine printing. + Bodoni’s splendid specimens roused the emulation of our founders, and the + small octavo volumes of the eighteenth century gave place at the commencement + of the nineteenth to quarto, often elaborately, sometimes sumptuously got up. Mr. + Figgins was the first to break through the traditional “Quousque tandem,” + by adding, side by side with the Latin extract, a passage in the same-sized letter + in English. But it has not been till comparatively recent years that the + venerable Ciceronian denunciation has finally disappeared from English letter-founders’ + specimens.
+ +The italic letter, which is now an accessory of the Roman, claims an origin + wholly independent of that character. It is said to be an imitation of the handwriting + of Petrarch, and was introduced by Aldus Manutius of Venice, for the + purpose of printing his projected small editions of the classics, which, either in the + Roman or Gothic character, would have required bulky volumes. Chevillier informs + us that a further object was to prevent the excessive number of contractions + then in use, a feature which rendered the typography of the day often unintelligible, + and always unsightly. + The execution of the Aldine + Italic was entrusted + to Francesco da Bologna, + who, says Renouard, had already designed and cut the + other characters of Aldus’ press. The fount is a “lower-case” only, the capitals + being Roman in form. It contains a large number of tied letters, to imitate handwriting, + but is quite free from contractions and ligatures. It was first used in the + Virgil of 1501, and rapidly became famous throughout Europe. Aldus produced + six different sizes between 1501–58. It was counterfeited almost immediately in + Lyons and elsewhere. The Junta press at Florence produced editions scarcely + distinguishable from those of Venice. Simon de Colines cut an Italic bolder + and larger than that of Aldus, and introduced the character into France about + 1521, prior to which date Froben of Basel had already made use of it at his + famous press. Plantin used a large Italic in his Polyglot, but, like many other + Italics of the period, it was defaced by a strange irregularity in the slopes of + the letters. The character was originally called Venetian or Aldine, but subsequently + took the name of Italic in all the countries into which it travelled, + except Germany, which, acting with the same independence as had been displayed + towards the Roman, called it “Cursiv.” The Italians also adopted the + Latin name, “Characteres cursivos seu cancellarios.”
+ +The Italic was at first intended and used for the entire text of a classical + work. Subsequently, as it became more general, it was used to distinguish + portions of a book not properly belonging to the work, such as introductions, + prefaces, indexes, and notes; the text itself being in Roman. Later, it was used + in the text for quotations; and finally served the double part of emphasising + certain words + in some works, and in others, chiefly the translations of the Bible, + of marking words not rightly forming a part of the text.
+ +In EnglandEngland it was first used by De Worde, in Wakefield’s Oratio, in 1524. + Day, about 1567, carried it to a high state of perfection; so much so, that his + Italic remained in use for several generations. Vautrollier, also, in his New + Testaments, made use of a beautiful small Italic, which, however, was probably + of foreign cut. Like the Roman, the Italic suffered debasement during the + century which followed Day, and the Dutch models were + generally preferred + by English printers. These were carried down to a minute size, the “Robijn + Italic” of Christopher Van Dijk being in its day the smallest in Europe.
+ + +It is not easy to fix the period at which the Roman and Italic became united + and interdependent. Very few English works occur printed wholly in Italic, and + there seems little doubt that before the close of the sixteenth century the founders + cast Roman and Italic together as one fount. The Italic has undergone fewer + marked changes than the Roman. Indeed, in many of the early foundries, and + till a later date, one face of Italic served for two or more Romans of the same + body. We find the same Italic side by side with a broad-faced Roman in one + book, and a lean-faced in another. Frequently the same face is made to serve + not only for its correct body, but for the bodies next above or below it, so that + we may find an Italic of the Brevier face cast respectively on Brevier, Bourgeois, + and Minion bodies. These irregularities were the more noticeable from the + constant admixture in seventeenth and eighteenth century books of Roman and + Italic in the same lines; the latter being commonly used for all proper names, as + well as for emphatic words. The chief variations in form have been in the + capital letters, and the long-tailed letters of the lower-case. The tendency to + flourish these gradually diminished on the cessation of the Dutch influence, and + led the way to the formal, tidy Italics of Caslon and the founders of the + eighteenth century, some of whom, however, consoled themselves for their loss of + liberty in regard to most of their letters, by more or less extravagance in the + tail of the which commenced the Quousque tandem of their specimens. As in + the case of the Roman, Caslon cut a uniform series of Italics, having due relation, + in the case of each body, to the size and proportions of the corresponding + Roman. The extensive, and sometimes indiscriminate, use of Italic gradually + corrected itself during the eighteenth century; and on the abandonment, both + in Roman and Italic, of the long ſ and its + combinations, + English books were + left less disfigured than they used to be. + +
The + Gothic letter employed by the inventors of printing for the Bible, + Psalter, and other sacred works, was an imitation of the formal hand of the + German scribes, chiefly monastic, who supplied the clergy of the day with + their books of devotion. This letter, as a typographical character, took the + name of + LETTRE + DE + FORME, + as distinguished from the rounder and less regular + manuscript-hand of the Germans of the fifteenth century, which was adopted + by Schoeffer in the Rationale, the Catholicon, and other works, and which + became known as + LETTRE + DE + SOMME. + The pointed Gothic, or + LETTRE + DE + FORME, + a name generally supposed to have reference to the precision in the + figure of the old ecclesiastical character (although some authorities have + considered it to be a corrupt, rather than a standard form of handwriting), + preserved its character with but little variation in all the countries to which it + travelled. It is scarcely necessary to detail its first appearance at the various + great centres of European typography, except to notice that in Italy and France + it came later than the Roman. + In England it appears first in Caxton’s type + No. 3, + and figures largely in nearly all the presses of our early printers. De + Worde was, in all probability, the first to cut punches of it in this country, and to + produce the letter which henceforth took the name of “English,” as being the + national character of our early typography. De Worde’s English, or as it was + subsequently styled, Black-letter, was for two centuries and a half looked upon + as the model for all his successors in the art; indeed, to + this day, a Black-letter + is held to be excellent, as it resembles most closely the character used by our earliest + printers. The Black being employed in England to a late date, not only for Bibles, + but for law books and royal proclamations and Acts of Parliament, has never wholly + fallen into disuse among us. The most beautiful typography of which we as a + nation can boast during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, is to be found + in the Black-letter impressions of our printers. The Old English was classed + with the Roman and Italic by Moxon as one of the three orders of printing-letter; + and in this particular our obligations to the Dutch are much less + apparent than in any other branch of the printing art. Indeed, the English + Black assumed characteristics of its own which distinguished it from the + LETTRE + FLAMAND of the Dutch on the one hand, and the FRACTUR of the Germans on + the other. It has occasionally suffered compression in form, and very occasionally + expansion; but till 1800 its form was not seriously tampered with. Caslon + was praised for his faithful reproduction of the genuine Old English; other + founders, like Baskerville, did not even attempt the letter; the old Blacks were + looked upon as the most useful and interesting portion of James’s foundry at its + sale; and the Roxburgh Club, those Black-letter heroes of the early years of this + century, dismissed all the new-fangled founts of modern founders in favour of + the most venerable relics of the early English typographers. Of these newfangled + Blacks, it will suffice to recall Dibdin’s outburst of righteous indignation—“Why + does he (i.e., Mr. Whittingham), and many other hardly less distinguished + printers, adopt that frightful, gouty, disproportionate, eye-distracting and taste-revolting + form of Black-letter, too frequently visible on the frontispieces of his + books? It is contrary to all classical precedent, and outrageously repulsive in + itself. Let the ghost of Wynkin de Worde haunt him till he abandon it!”
+ + +The + LETTRE + DE + SOMME + of the Germans, which, as we have seen, was adopted + by Schoeffer in 1459, became in the hands of the fifteenth century printers a + rival to the Gothic. Whether, as some state, it was derived from the Gothic, or + was a distinct hand used by the lay scribes, we need not here discuss. Its name + has been generally supposed to owe its origin to the fact that among the earliest + works printed in this character was the Summa fratris S. + Thomas de Aquino. + Others derive the name from the carelessly formed letters used in books of + account. This letter developed in considerable variety among the early presses + of the fifteenth century. Its main characteristics being that of a round + Gothic, + or at least of a Gothic shorn of its angles, it lent itself readily to the influence of + the Roman, and we find it, as in the case of the first Italian books, merging into + that character; while in the case of many of the German and Netherlands presses + we find it occasionally absorbing that character, adopting its form frequently in + the capitals, and “Gothicising” it in the lower-case. But to arrive at an accurate + idea of the changes and varieties of the + LETTRE + DE + SOMME, + it is necessary to + study carefully the productions of the various presses and schools of typography + in which it was used. In England it appeared, as might be expected, in some of + the early works of the first Oxford press,107 + whither it was brought from Cologne. + But it never took root in the country, and was speedily rejected for the national + Gothic, only to reappear as an exotic or a curiosity.
+ +The Secretary, or + Gros-Bâtarde was the manuscript-hand employed + by the English and Burgundian scribes in the fifteenth century. It was, + therefore, only natural that Caxton, like his typographical tutor, Colard Mansion + of Bruges, should adopt this character for his earliest works, in preference to + the less familiar Gothic, Semi-Gothic, or Roman letter. The French possessed + a similar character, which, according to Fournier, was first cut by a German + named Heilman, resident in Paris about 1490. But several years before 1490 + the Gros-Bâtarde was in use in France; in some cases the resemblance between + the French and English types being remarkable. The Rouen printers, who + executed some of the great law books for the London printers early in the sixteenth + century, used a particularly neat small-sized letter of this character. Like + the Semi-Gothic, the Secretary, after figuring in several of the early London + and provincial presses, yielded to the English Black-letter, and after about 1534 + did not reappear in English typography. It developed, however, several curious + variations; the chief of which were what Rowe Mores describes as the + SET-COURT, + the BASE + SECRETARY, and the + RUNNING + SECRETARY. Of the first + named, James’s foundry in 1778 possessed two founts, come down from Grover’s108; + but as the old deformed Norman law hand which they represented was abolished + by law in 1733, the matrices, which at no time appear + to have been much used, + became valueless. The name COURT + HAND has since been appropriated for one + of the modern scripts. Its place was taken in law work by the ENGROSSING hand, + which Mores denominates as Base Secretary. Of this character, the only fount in + England appears to have been that cut by Cottrell about 1760.109 + The RUNNING + SECRETARY was another law hand, described by Mores as the law Cursive of + Queen Elizabeth’s reign. It was similar to the French Cursive, of which Nicolas + Granjon in 1556 cut the first punches at Lyons. Granjon’s letter at first was + called after its author, but subsequently became known as + LETTRE + DE + CIVILITÉ, + on account of its use, so Fournier informs us, in a work entitled la Civilité + puerile et honnête, to teach children how to write. Plantin possessed a similar + character in more than one size, which he made use of in dedications and other + prefatory matter. The English fount in Grover’s foundry appears to have been + the only one in this country.
+ + +The Script by which is meant the conventional copy-book writing hand, as + distinguished from the Italic on the one hand and the law hand on the other, is + another form of the Bâtarde, and is supposed to have originated with Pierre + Moreau of Paris, whose widow in 1648 published a very curious Virgil, the first + volume of which is printed in this character, in four or five sizes. The Dutch + founders copied it, and the curious founts in Grover’s foundry were probably most + of them of Dutch origin. + About 1760 Cottrell and Jackson both cut improved + founts of this character. The Script, which the French have called + LETTRE + COULÉE and + LETTRE + DE + FINANCE, + and the Germans GESCHREVEN + SCHRIFT, + has undergone a good many changes, especially during the present century. + M. Didot in 1815 introduced a series of ligatures, or connectors, which had the + effect of making the letters in each word join continuously; and at the same + time cast his letters on an inclined body, so as to fit closely together, and be + self-supporting. His system, however, involved a large number of combination-letters + and ligatures, which rendered it generally impracticable; and it was + eventually replaced by a square-bodied Script, contrived to unite all the + advantages, and obviate all the disadvantages, of his ingenious system.
+