The contemporary title-page is a bleak affair; in nine out of ten cases the blank between the title and the imprint of the printer-publisher tends to be the most outstanding feature. When the device was first abandoned, the author, printer or publisher took advantage of the leisure of the reader and the blank at their disposal to draft a tediously long title, sub-title and indications of the author's qualifications, designed to fill the entire page. The present day publisher goes to the other extreme, reducing the title to as few short words as possible, followed with "by" and the author's name. A professional writer may insert, e.g., "Author of The Deluge" under his name, but three and sometimes four inches of space separate this from the first line of the imprint. Consequently unless the title be deliberately set in a size of type out of all relation to that of the remainder of the book, this space is over-conspicuous. It is clear that a volume in I2-point does not require a 48-point title unless it be a 3oo-page folio in double-column.
Care for the typography of a book means care for its unity. There is no reason for a title-page to bear any line in a type larger than twice the size of the text-letter. If the book be set in i2-point, the title need be no larger than 24-point—or even slightly smaller. It should be set in spaced capitals as a rule. The author's name, like all displayed proper names, should also be in capitals. The headings to the preface, table of contents, introduction, etc., should be in the same size and fount as the chapter heads; and should be dropped if they are dropped. The order of these pages remains unsettled, except that all begin on a recto page. The logical order of the preliminary pages is half title, title, dedication, contents, introduction, preface. This rule is applicable to most categories of books. Novels need neither table of contents nor list of chapters, though one or the other is generally printed. If it is decided to retain either, it would be reasonable to print it on the back of the half-title and facing the title page, so that the entire nature of the book will be indi cated to the reader at a single opening. Where the volume is made up of a few short stories, their titles can be listed in the blank centre of the title-page.
Another obvious difference is bulk, calculated in accordance with the publisher's notion, first, of the general sense of trade expectation, and, secondly, of the purchasing psychology of a public habituated to certain selling prices vaguely related to num ber of pages and thickness of the proffered volume. Inconsist
ently enough, weight does not enter into these expectations. These habits of mind affect the choice of fount and size of type, and may necessitate the adoption of devices for "driving out," i.e., making the setting take up as much room as possible. By putting the running headline between rules or rows of ornaments ; intro ducing unnecessary blanks between chapters ; contracting the measure ; exaggerating the spaces between the words and the lines; excessively indenting paragraphs; isolating quoted matter with picas of white space; inserting wholly unnecessary sectional titles in the text and surrounding them with space; contriving to drive a chapter ending to the top of a recto page so that the rest of it and its verso may be blank; using thick but not heavy paper; in creasing the depth of chapter beginnings and inserting very large capitals thereto; the volume can be inflated to an extra 16 pages —a feat which the able typographer accomplishes without showing his hand to the reader.
Limited editions of standard authors, or of authors who desire to rank as such, are commonly given a rubricated title. Under no circumstances, however, should red appear anywhere else in the work. Hand-made paper is generally used for editions-de luxe, and none but the brave among typographers will disregard the superstitious love of the book-buying classes for its un trimmed, ugly and dirt-gathering rough edges. There is another category of limited edition produced by typographers working freely, without the handicap of trade conditions. These books are rapidly increasing in number, and use a wide variety of format, of type, of illustration and of binding.
Because, rather than in spite of, mechanical methods and standardization, printing is more various to-day than ever before. Whereas English books of whatever category of 20 years ago were printed in only three designs of type, no fewer than eight founts are employed to-day. It has been necessary that most of these are reproductions of classic old-faces, but it may well be that the near future will witness a real renaissance of type design based upon a sensitiveness to rightly-controlled type forms, and not animated by an uninformed curiosity for the original and the bizarre. (S. Mo.) See bibliographies of PRINTING and PRINTrNG TYPE: also E. G. Gress, American Handbook of Printing (N.Y. 1907) ; H. Fournier, Traite de la Typographie (new ed., 1919) ; C. T. Jacobi, Printing (6th ed., 1919) F. Thibaudeau, La Lettre d'imprimerie (2 vols., 1921), and Manuel francais de typographie moderne (1924) ; G. Milchsack, Ge sammelte Aufsiitze iiber Buchkunst and Buchdruck (Wolfenbuttel, 1922) ; A. W. Unger, Die Herstellung von Biichern (Halle, 1923) ; L. E. Brossard, Le Correcteur typographe (Tours, 1924) ; S. Morison, The Art of the Printer (1925) ; F. C. Collins, Authors' and Printer? Dict. (6th ed., 1928) ; J. C. Oswald, Hist. of Printing (1928).