The Printing Art, Vol. II, No. 1 (September 1903)
The September 1903 issue that opened the second volume of The Printing Art, an illustrated monthly on printing edited by Henry Lewis Johnson and issued by the University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
What it is
The September 1903 issue that opened the second volume of The Printing Art, an illustrated monthly on printing edited by Henry Lewis Johnson and issued by the University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It teaches by example: each article sits beside exhibits printed on the papers it discusses. S. T. Prideaux's Edition Binding traces publishers' covers since about 1825 and argues for small leather editions stamped with finely cut brass dies. S. W. Marvin on book cloth pleads for plain covers over bright decoration. Typography of Advertisements puts American publicity spending near $600,000,000 a year and argues that blank space and one series of type beat mixed Gothics and heavy borders, citing Murphy Varnish and Macbeth lamp chimneys, with Caslon examples from House and Garden. The editorial Acquiring Style treats typographic style as a business asset. The ad pages include reason-why copy for Campbell's Century press and a Monotype testimonial.
Why read it now
The advertising article still holds on its main point: blank space and one type family make a headline easier to find than bold faces fighting for attention. Miles Tinker's later legibility tests support the reading side of that, and Jenni Romaniuk's work on distinctive assets supports the editorial's claim that a consistent style is how people recognise the sender. Its two-part test for any ad, make the reader want to buy or want to know more, is still a sharp brief. The editorial's case that design is a business matter matches McKinsey's 2018 Business Value of Design study, which found top design performers grew revenue faster, though that study shows correlation, not cause. What has dated: the binding and book cloth essays are Arts and Crafts taste presented as rules, and Marvin waves away the fact that a cover on a bookstall has to sell. The $600,000,000 figure is hearsay. Use: before an ad runs, check it has one type family, clear space around the headline, and a single job: sell now or earn the next step.
Passages worth keeping
Blank space, rather than large type of black letter, is necessary to make display lines prominent and legible.
الفراغ حول سطر العرض هو ما يبرزه ويسهّل قراءته، وليس تكبير الحروف أو تسويدها.
The direct purpose of advertising is either to influence the reader to want to buy or to want to know more about whatever he sees advertised.
للإعلان هدفان مباشران لا ثالث لهما: أن يدفع القارئ إلى الرغبة في الشراء، أو إلى الرغبة في معرفة المزيد عن المنتج.
Style is frequently attained by a continued use of a series of type, this practice giving a uniform and consistent quality to the product of the printing-office.
الأسلوب المميز يأتي من الالتزام المستمر بعائلة خط واحدة، فيصبح لكل ما تنتجه المطبعة طابع ثابت يعرف به.
The over elaboration of the decorative arts must inevitably produce a reaction sooner or later, very quickly for those who prefer restraint, more slowly for the majority of the public, to whom ornament is always synonymous with art.
الإفراط في الزخرفة يولّد نفورًا في النهاية، يأتي سريعًا عند أصحاب الذوق المقتصد وبطيئًا عند الجمهور الذي يرى الزخرفة والفن شيئًا واحدًا.
but we do not want the thing to keep on shouting on the table or on the library shelf.
الغلاف اللافت قد يفيد عند البيع في الكشك، لكنه يزعج حين يبقى في البيت، فما يجذب الانتباه لحظة الشراء غير ما يرضي المالك مع الوقت.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
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