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/179

 The difficulty of closely imitating the mannerisms of letter-writers is aggravated when the heading and the address are long and fill many lines.

NEW YORK, December 6, 1900.

To the Superintendent of the

Dear Madam:

To put this heading in type line for line as written or printed, the compositor will have to select a type of smaller size than that of the text of the letter, and this selection may break lines awkwardly or make them insignificant in any narrow measure. Name, location, and date may be unimportant in some letters, but in others they need prominence.

In the narrow columns of a magazine or newspaper, or in any form of compact composition, this imitation of the mannerisms of the penman who writes upon a broad quarto leaf will be found unsightly even when it is not impracticable. Three distinct series of characters for words that need no display make useless breaks in the harmony of composition. The matter in the heading above would be presented in a more orderly manner, and be