Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/118

 York Herald. One old tradition is maintained: the paper or magazine that prints its own name in its text does so with small capitals.

Names of vessels, as the Kearsarge or the Alabama, are frequently put in italic. The intent of the italic is to differentiate the ships from the places.

Italic is often selected (too often unwisely) for the names of paintings and statues, and for characters in plays, apparently with intent to aid the reader to a better understanding of the subject. In the text of the ordinary book or periodical, Julius Caesar, the man of history, is always set in roman; but Julius Caesar as a personage in a play is usually set in italic. In these attempts to help, profuse italic defeats the purpose of the writer; it spots the text, disfigures the page, and irritates the reader.

Although italic often has been misused, it cannot be dispensed with. It can be made a help to good