Letters and Lettering: A Treatise with 200 Examples
A lettering treatise by Frank Chouteau Brown, published in Boston by Bates and Guild for architects, draughtsmen and designers; this scan is the fifth edition of 1906.
What it is
A lettering treatise by Frank Chouteau Brown, published in Boston by Bates and Guild for architects, draughtsmen and designers; this scan is the fifth edition of 1906. Five chapters carry more than 200 numbered figures. Roman Capitals explains the square skeleton, why thick and thin strokes follow an upright reed pen, how the serif came from the chisel, and the optical corrections: round letters and the points of V and W run past the guide lines, as type-founders drew them. It works from rubbings and photographs of the Arch of Constantine, the Forum and Santa Croce, then Renaissance writing masters such as Serlio, Tagliente and Durer. Later chapters cover modern roman letters and types (Caslon, Goodhue's Cheltenham), Gothic and blackletter, italic and script, with plates by Walter Crane, Will Bradley and Maxfield Parrish. The last chapter advises beginners on pens, paper and layout.
Why read it now
Brown's main claims hold. Legibility comes first and beauty second, and he places legibility in width, open white space and clear hairlines, not heavy strokes; modern legibility work broadly agrees that counters and spacing matter more than weight. His optical corrections (overshoot on round letters, extra white around the I) are built into every well-made typeface and logo. So is his refusal to turn spacing into rules: kerning is still finished by eye. What has dated: the pen-and-board tools, the view that the Roman thick-thin pattern cannot be improved, and the claim that blackletter is less legible by nature, when much of that is habit; German readers of his day read it daily. There is no section on sans-serif, which now carries most brand and screen type. His point that a letter's shape comes from its tool transfers to Arabic, where the angle of the qalam sets stroke contrast. Use: approve a logotype or lettered headline at final size in solid black, check round letters and spacing by eye, and stress a word with letter-spacing, not a second typeface.
Passages worth keeping
The whole problem of spacing is, however, one of such subtle interrelation and composition, that it can only be satisfactorily solved by the artistic sense of the designer.
المسافات بين الحروف تتأثر بكل حرف وجاره، فلا تحلها قاعدة ثابتة، بل عين المصمم وحسه.
It is important, nevertheless, that the designer should be reminded always to make allowance for the material in which a letter was originally executed.
الحرف المحفور في الحجر يختلف عن المرسوم بالقلم، ومن ينقل حرفًا من مادة إلى أخرى دون مراعاة ذلك يحصل على نتيجة مزعجة.
the beginner should guard against being too easily pleased with the effect thus obtained, as it is often due to the deceptive indefiniteness of line and pleasant gray tone.
المسودة بقلم الرصاص الناعم تبدو أجمل مما هي، لأن خطوطها غير حاسمة، وعيوبها تظهر فقط حين تُحبَّر بالأسود.
As a general rule, and within certain limits, the wider a letter the more legible it is likely to be. Blackness and boldness of stem alone will not make a letter readable.
الحرف الأعرض أسهل قراءة في الغالب، أما الثقل والسواد وحدهما فلا يجعلان الحرف واضحًا.
Finally, the draughtsman's first aim should be to make his lettering readable: after this has been accomplished he should strive to give it beauty.
أولوية من يرسم الحروف أن تُقرأ، ثم يأتي الجمال بعد ذلك، لا قبله.
What it teaches best
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