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/98

 94 HISTORIC FEINTING TYPES. Ronaldson Old Style. Old Style is best fitted for old books. capitals known to me, this style seems the closest approach to the simplicity of the early letters of ancient Rome. 1 The most characteristic of modern faces of old style is that of the Ronaldson series, from the foundry of the MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan Company, in which the angular features of the face are developed in the most pronounced manner. The characters are not so thick and black as those of the old founders, but they are much more symmetrical; they are squarer and more open, of sharper cut and of as clear and firm face. The "Ronaldson" is in all points a very read- able and durable letter. The continued popularity of the revived old style face shows that it is not a passing fashion. It has come to stay. But is it always judiciously used ? There -are men of letters who hold that there should be propriety in the dress of the book as in the dress of the man. Each should be of its own time. There are publishers and printers who say that the old style face should be restricted to reprints of old books, or to sober writings addressed entirely to the understanding and not to the imagination. The time may come when a new novel or poem will be adjudged as odd in old style types as the author would appear if he were clothed in the old style garments of the last century. 1 About thirty years ago an unknown type-founder of Lyons cut (or revived ?) a few sizes of old style Roman capi- tals, differing greatly from this xviith century style, but remarkable for its quaintness and for its close imitation of the mannerisms of the early Italian printers. Types of this style occasion- ally appear in the titles of a few recent French books, but I have been unable to get the types or even to learn the name of the founder.