Manuscript having regular intervals between the spikes—may
Books be used. Or the ruling—of the writing lines—may
be simplified by using a stout card frame (internally
the size of the text-column) with strips glued across
it : for a common size of book this might be made
in stout tin or other metal. The lines are commonly
ruled with a ruling stylus (see figs. 72, 77), or a
sort of “rake ” may be made to rule six lines at
once.

Writings Colouring, Gilding, Binding (Chaps. II,
X, IX, XVI).

METHODS & PROPORTIONS

Having to make a manuscript book for a specific
purpose, the scribe formulates in his mind a general
plan of the work, and decides approximately the
respective sizes of page and of writing which seem
most suitable.

He endeavours to fashion the book in accord with
its use, and therefore allows the (most suitable) mate¬
rial, the subject-matter and the office of the book,
and the way in which it will be read and handled,
to determine as far as is possible the proportions of
its parts, and its treatment as a whole.

Its material may be vellum, parchment, or paper,
on which a variety of pens, brushes, and other tools,
with inks, colours, and metal foils, may be employed.
Its office may be “useful” or “ornamental”; its
contents may be long or short, weighty or light,
and of greater or less worth; it may be for public
or for private use; and the book may be intended
to be placed on a lectern, to be held in the hand, or
to be carried in a coat pocket.

In following out such natural indications, the

66

practised craftsman relies greatly on his working
methods, preferring a direct mode of treatment to
one which is too ingenious or subtle. In deciding
a doubtful point, a common-sense of proportion is
a sufficient guide, and one may generally assume
that great works are best “writ large,” and that
large letters read best on an ample page, and vice
versa.

The main proportions which have to be con¬
sidered are interdependent, and follow one another
in their natural order (see p. 220), thus—

1. The size and shape of the book.

2. The widths of the margins.

3. The size of the writing, See.

And the methodical scribe makes his books of certain
definite and regular sizes, each size having corre¬
sponding and regular proportions of margins and
writing. Though these may greatly depend on indi¬
vidual taste and experience, it is suggested that—like
all good designs—they should be allowed as far as
possible to settle and arrange themselves.

THE SIZE & SHAPE OF THE BOOK.

A book is thought of by the scribe chiefly as an
open book, and the width and height of its pages
are chosen with a view to its convenient shape and
pleasant appearance when open. The most econo¬
mical sizes into which a suitable sheet of paper can
be folded (or a skin of parchment can be cut) may
commonly be allowed to decide these proportions.

When a printer is about to print a book he chooses
a sheet of paper which will fold into a suitable shape
and size. If the sheet be folded once to form two

67

Manuscript

Books