Page:Historic printing types, a lecture read before the Grolier club of New York, January 25, 1885, with additions and new illustrations; by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914; Grolier Club.djvu/73

 STYLES OF OTHEK BRITISH TYPE-FOUNDEKS. 69 legible letters. They forgot that the perspicuity of letters depended quite as much on their well-balanced irregularity as on their uniformity ; that a certain degree of angularity and hardness or stiffness of form arrested the eye much more readily than a monotonous roundness. The new styles were admired, but only when the larger sizes were Ineffectiveness used in large books. They were never effective for com- of new styles. mon or ordinary books, or for newspapers. Feeble-faced types made ordinary printing seem gray, fuzzy, and indis- tinct, especially so when the printing was done, as much of it had to be done, with weak ink on poor paper. Old- fashioned printers, and readers with failing eyesight, called for blacker printing and bolder types. To meet this reasonable request, Robert Thorne of London introduced a new style, which has ever since About mo. been known as the Bold-face. It was almost as somber as the old Black Letter. The thickened body-marks made the page blacker, but blackness did not make it more readable. Indeed, it was not as readable as a page in the Caslon style, for the bold-faced types had no proper relief of white either within or without the letters. In spite of this grave fault, the Bold-face was a popular type for at least thirty years, Popularity of 7 the Bold-face. both in England and in America, but it was most pleasing when it was new or little worn. As first made, the serifs were in the French style long, thin, and without sup- port. Type-founders showed them as evidences of care- ful cutting and even lining. Printers showed them as