A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898 Part 20

As far as permanent influence is concerned Mr. Morris's Roman letter, the 'Golden type,' as it was dubbed, from its use in the _Golden Legend_, is the most important of the three founts which he employed.

His own sympathies, however, were too p.r.o.nouncedly mediaeval for him to be satisfied with it, and for the next large book which he took in hand, a reprint of Caxton's _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_, the first work printed in the English tongue, he designed a much larger and bolder type, an improvement on one of the 'Gothic' founts used by Anton Koberger at Nuremberg in the fifteenth century. This 'Troy' type was subsequently recut in a smaller size for the double-columned Chaucer, and in both its forms is a very handsome fount, while the characters are so clearly and legibly shaped that, despite its antique origin, any child who knows his letters can learn to read it in a few minutes. With these three founts the Kelmscott Press was thoroughly equipped with type; but until his final illness took firm hold on him Mr. Morris was never tired of designing new initials, border-pieces, and decorative t.i.tles with a profusion which the old printers, who were parsimonious in these matters, would have thought extravagantly lavish. Including those completed by his executors after his death, he printed in all fifty-three books in sixty-five volumes, and this annual output of nine or ten volumes of all sizes, save the duodecimo, which he refused to recognise, gave his work a c.u.mulative force which greatly increased its influence. Had he printed only a few books his press might have been regarded as a rich man's toy, an outbreak of aestheticism in a new place, of no more permanent interest than the cult of the sunflower and the lily in the 'eighties. Even the great Chaucer by itself might not have sufficed to take his press out of the category of experiments. But when folio, quarto, octavo, and s.e.xto-decimo appeared in quick succession, each with its appropriate decorations, and challenging and defying comparison with the best work of the best printers of the past, the experimental stage was left far behind, and publishers and printers awoke to the fact that a model had been set them which they would do well to imitate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--The Kelmscott 'Troy' Type.]

As to what will be the permanent result of Mr. Morris's efforts to reform modern printing it is too soon as yet to speak, but signs of their influence are already abundantly visible. The books issued from the 'Vale Press' of Messrs. Ricketts and Shannon have their admirers; but they have that rather irritating degree of likeness which makes every difference--and the differences are numerous--appear a wilful and regrettable divergence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 40.--The Macmillan Greek Type.]

The 'Macmillan Greek type,' designed by Mr. Selwyn Image, which has now been in use for some time, may be regarded as another offshoot of Mr.

Morris's theories, and deserves all the praise due to a brave experiment. By permission of the Messrs. Macmillan a page of it, taken from their 'Parna.s.sus' _Homer_, is here shown, and few modern types will bear comparison with it. That it is not wholly and entirely successful is due to the fact that for so many centuries Greek types have been dominated by the models set by Aldus and the other printers of the early sixteenth century, who tried to imitate the rapid cursive hand of the Greek scholars of their day. Had the introduction of printing been preceded by a revival of the beautiful Greek book-hand of the eleventh century, similar to the revival of the Caroline minuscules, all would have been well. But in going back himself to the eleventh century Mr.

Image was obliged perpetually to conciliate eyes used to the later cursive forms, and the result is too obviously eclectic. The mere fact, however, that such an effort has been made is full of promise for the future, for it is only by new effort, joined with constant reference to old models, that types can be improved.

[Footnote 20: _The History of Printing_. London: Printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1855, 8vo.]