Alphabets Old and New, for the Use of Craftsmen
The pattern
This still is filed under Direct-from-the-founder letter.
Define
A letter in one person's voice, written as if to one reader, signed by the person who owns the outcome.
Mechanism
Personal authority. The signature is the proof. The tone is the brand. A committee cannot write this and keep the mechanism.
Verdict
Trust sits on a person
Why it works
The caption system is the product. Stamping every plate with medium, place and date turns a pretty letterform into evidence a craftsman can cite and a period he can place, which is what makes the book usable rather than decorative. Day then breaks the scholar's rule on purpose and declares it in the preface: he draws in the letters the original never contained, because an incomplete alphabet is useless at a workbench. Naming the reader as artist and workman and disclaiming learning removes the intimidation that keeps practitioners out of historical sources. Splitting the material into two volumes, letters here and their decorative use elsewhere, makes the buyer who needs both buy both.
Steal this when
When you are building a reference product for practitioners rather than scholars, and completeness in use beats fidelity to the source. Caption every example with its origin, date and method so it can be trusted and reused, and state plainly where you departed from the original and why.