Versal
Letters &
Coloured
Capitals

let the heading or page contain the complete initial
phrase or sentence (see fig. 91).

Generally the greater the number of capitals the
plainer their forms are kept, and the closer their
spacing. It is best to keep to the regular method
of spacing the lines of Ver sals one of the writing-line
spaces {or more) apart—though in special cases the
Versals may be independent of the writing-lines.

BEGINNINGS of

books are marked by
an initial letter. A,
large versal -three or
more line-spacts high-
is cjuite effective & simpte.

Fig.88.

Spacing Out.—Coloured letters and ornaments are
usually put in after the plain MS. has been written.

A very little practice enables the scribe accurately
to guess the amount of space which he should leave
for the Versals, &c., whether it is designed to have
several lines of them, or a single letter only on the
page. A few pencil marks may be used to settle a
doubtful point, but an elaborate sketching or setting
out in pencil spoils the freedom of the work.

92

CHAPTER VIII

BLACK & RED

Rubricating—Initial Pages or Title Pages—Prefaces &
Notes in Colour—Pages with Coloured Headings—
Page or Column Heading & Initial—Versals in
Column or Marginal Bands—Stanzas or Verses
marked by Versals—Music with Red Staves—
Tail-Pieces, Colophons, &c.—Rubricating: General
Remarks.

RUBRICATING

“Red, either in the form of a pigment or fluid ink, is of very
ancient and common use. It is seen on the early Egyptian
papyri; and it appears in the earliest extant vellum MSS.,
either in titles or the first lines of columns or chapters.
The Greek term was fscXáiaov кбккіѵоѵ; Latin minium,1
rubrica.”—(Thompson’s “G. & L. Palaeography,” p. 51.)

Rubricating, or the adding of Red, or other coloured,
letters, line-finishings, or signs, to a MS. or Book, in
which the main body of the text is already completed
in black, constitutes in itself a very useful and effec¬
tive form of decoration. It is, moreover, a connecting
link between plain writing and illumination proper;
and we may safely assume that the artists who made
the beautiful illuminations of the Middle Ages were
trained as scribes and rubricators.

INITIAL PAGES OR TITLE PAGES

Fig. 89 represents an Initial Page in Red Capitals.
(The same arrangement may of course be used with
a variety of colours and with gold: see Note (4)

1 Minium = red-lead, used in early times for “rubrics” and
drawings, hence is derived the word “Miniature

93

Black
& Red