Manuscript sizes of pages, it is well to keep to certain—corre-
Books spending— -sizes of margins for regular use.

The proportions of the margins to each other follow
a sort of tradition (see fig. 70), the foot margin (4)
usually being twice as wide as that at the top (2),
the side margins generally greater than the top and
less than the foot. The two pages of an opening
may be viewed as one sheet having two columns of
text; and the two inner margins, which combine
to form an interspace, are therefore made narrow
(about 11 each), so that together they are about
equal to one side margin (fig. 70). These propor¬
tions (1^:2: 3:4) approximate to the proportions
common in early MSS.

Sufficient and proportional margins add greatly
to the usefulness and beauty of a book. That the
writers and illuminators used them when books
were read and valued in a way we can scarcely
realise now, shows that such things are not, as some
might suppose, a matter of affectation. Besides the
natural fitness of the common proportions commends
them: a deep foot margin is a foundation to the
whole, and gives a spare piece for the reader to hold,1
and wide side margins rest the eyes and keep the
text from “ running off the page ” at the end of each
line; and (the two) narrow inner margins combine
to separate the pages sufficiently, but not too far, so
that they form two “ columns ” together, framed by
the outer margins of the open book.

When books are meant to be bound, from ^ inch
to ¿ inch extra margin should be allowed all round
the page for the cutting down and binding. The

1 In Oriental books, which are sometimes held by their top
margins, the top is deepest.

72

binding is apt to encroach on the inner margins,
especially in vellum books, which do not open
fully; in order, therefore, that the inner margins
may keep their proper width, an extra width of ¿
to ¿ inch (according to the stiffness of the material)
is allowed.

THE SIZE OF THE WRITING, &С.

The shape, size, and margins of the page (already
settled) together determine the length of the writing-
line (see fig. 71); and the size of the writing should
be such as will allow a reasonable number of words
to that line.1

Eight or nine words to the line is a common
proportion in ordinary printed books, and may be
taken by. the scribe as his ordinary maximum. Lines
having very many words are difficult to read.

On the other hand, lines of only two or three
words each are generally tiresome, though they
may be allowed in special cases of fine writing (see
p. 226), where it is less necessary to economise space
or time, and the effect of an even mass is not desired.
But in any case where there is an attempt to make
the right-hand edge of the text approximately even,
at least four or five words to the line are necessary;
the scribe may therefore take four words per line as
his ordinary minimum.

We may say generally, then, that an ordinary
manuscript book should contain between four and eight
words (or between 25 and 50 letter-spaces) to the
line.

1 If the average number of words be previously fixed—as in a
poem (see p. 61)—that will practically determine the size of the
writing.

73

Manuscript

Books