The Fleuron: A Journal of Typography, Number 1
The first issue of The Fleuron, a London journal of typography edited by Oliver Simon and printed at the Curwen Press in 1923.
What it is
The first issue of The Fleuron, a London journal of typography edited by Oliver Simon and printed at the Curwen Press in 1923. The lead article, by Francis Meynell and Stanley Morison, traces printers' flowers (small cast ornaments set together as borders) back to the arabesque of Islamic art: Cairo mosque ornament, the Alhambra, Arabic calligraphy and Qur'an manuscripts of 1313 and 1411. It follows the motif into Italian bookbinding through Venice after 1453, into European pattern books from 1529 and French printing in the 1530s, then through the typefounders to its revival at the Pelican Press in 1916. Other pieces: William Rothenstein on Cobden-Sanderson, Holbrook Jackson on the illustrator Claud Lovat Fraser, Percy J. Smith on initial letters, Simon on the title-page, Bernard Newdigate on photo-litho offset, D. B. Updike on a lost Caslon specimen of 1748, reviews, and advertisements from fine presses.
Why read it now
For a Gulf marketer the lead article is the reason to open this issue. It documents, with numbered plates and cited sources, that the ornament European printers used for four centuries began as Arabic and Persian design. A brand that works in Arabic can use that as a sourced heritage story instead of a borrowed Western one. The issue also shows how a craft sells itself through content: the journal is printed to the standard it argues for, its articles are signed by working printers, and its back pages advertise those printers' presses. The Westminster Press ad, "flowers by request, but usually very plain", is a positioning statement in seven words. What holds: Smith's point that initials and title-pages began as navigation aids, which matches how readers still scan pages and screens. What has dated: most of the hand-set ornament detail, the Orientalist wording ("Mussulman"), the footnoted theory that the evil eye shaped Islamic ornament, and the claim that the sixteenth century governs all good printing. Use: when building an Arabic identity, go to the arabesque and calligraphic sources this article cites rather than to Western revivals of them.
Passages worth keeping
The essential beauty and grace of the arabic script was a natural assistance, and was beautifully exploited by cunning calligraphers and miniaturists.
جمال الخط العربي نفسه ساعد على نشوء الأرابيسك، وقد استثمره الخطاطون والمزخرفون ببراعة.
Thus, to serve a useful purpose, initials were born.
الحرف الاستهلالي الكبير لم يولد زينةً، بل لحاجة عملية هي أن يجد القارئ بداية الفقرة بسهولة.
The first title-pages appear to have sprung from sheer necessity arising from the multiplication of printed books.
حين كثرت الكتب المطبوعة احتاج الناس إلى معرفة عنوان الكتاب بنظرة واحدة، فظهرت صفحة العنوان.
If the method is used for cheap and nasty work, it does not follow that the method itself is bad.
رداءة ما تُنتجه تقنية ما لا تعني أن التقنية رديئة، فالعبرة بطريقة استعمالها.
PRINTERS OF DISTINCTION / FLOWERS BY REQUEST / BUT USUALLY VERY PLAIN AND DISTINGUISHED WORK
المطبعة تعرض الزخرفة لمن يطلبها، لكنها تقدم نفسها على أنها مطبعة العمل البسيط الواضح، وهذا اختيار لموقع محدد في السوق.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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