Lettering Music Title Pages
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Transcript of Lettering Music Title Pages
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The lettering on lithographed music title pages of the
nineteenth century
Bart Blubaugh
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Master of Arts in Typeface Design, University of Reading, 2003
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Fig. i. T. Bonheur, Cloudland (London: 1880s). Colour lithograph [publisher missing] 243 x 336 mm.
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Abstract
Three groups into which the lettering on lithographed music title
pages can be separated are lettering that acts as an object within
the picture, lettering that exists without any picture, and lettering
that is ornamental without being representational. Drawn lettering
on lithographed music title pages of the nineteenth century first
imitates that seen on engraved music title pages. One artist who
freel experimented primarily with lettering on music title pages is
T.W. Lee. Rustic lettering used by Victorian illustrators is copied
by lithographers, and leads to further variations of the Rustic
letter. Ornamental typefaces influence and are influenced by the
designs of lettering used on these title pages. The advent of colour
lithography allows further experiment of how letters are presented
. Lithography also influences letterpress printing, particularly
the Artistic Printing movement. Artistic printing is marked by
an increase in ornament combined with type, and especially an
abundance of rules to separate elements.
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2INTRODUCTION
Lithographed title pages for sheet music of the nineteenth century
exhibit a variety of expressive lettering unparalleled by other
graphic arts techniques. Investigating various influences on the
artists and delineators who created this lettering may help bring to
light this lettering developed
There are three basic categories of lettering. One: lettering that
is represented as if it were an object within the picture included on
the title page. The lettering may be covered with snow and icicles
within a winter scene, or falling from the sky as if pieces from a
toppled building. Two: lettering that is alone on the title page.
This lettering may simply be a drawn imitation of an ornamental
typeface, or it may be more decorative. It may exhibit the traits
of a three dimensional object existing in perspective and casting
a shadow. Three: lettering that is purely decorative in nature, and
not imitative of anything existing in nature, including ornamental
typefaces.
The earliest lithographed music title pages imitated the design
pattern developed for engraving, using the copperplate script
and calligraphic flourishes in tandem with a vignette. Eventually
lithographic artists break out of this mould and the artist
freely invents lettering associated only with the tools used for
lithography. One artist who explored a variety of lettering styles
was T.W. Lee.
Illustrators whose worked was reproduced with wood engraving
experimented with a kind of lettering grown from twigs and
branches. This Rustic lettering would also influence ornamental
typefaces. Rustic lettering was popular during the nineteenth
century, and it was used frequently in lithographed music title
pages. Branches or tree trunks could be bent, cut or grown to
form lettering unique to one single title page, unlike the Rustic
typefaces. Variations developed from this kind of lettering,
becoming flat instead of having form and shadow, acting more like
lightening than wood, as well as having carefully formed serifs.
Ornamented typefaces either provide material for the
lithographic artists to use, or they imitate the work of
lithographers. Tuscan, perspective, rustics, and Latin-Runics,
among other nineteenth century ornamented types, are all visible in
these lithographed title pages.
Lithography allowed word and picture to combine differently
than previous graphic arts processes, and colour lithography
offered even more opportunity for experiment to the lithographers.
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3Colour was used in new ways to create visual interest and
relationships between the lettering and the picture. Letterpress
printing styles also followed lithographys lead, particularly in
Artistic Printing toward the last decades of the century.
Victorian book designers who experimented with lettering they
found in medieval manuscripts were influential to the lithographed
lettering of music title pages. Artists such as H.N. Humphreys, who
imitated Rustic lettering in his beautifully, illustrated gift books.
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4CHAPTER 1
Nomenclature
There are two categories of nineteenth century English illustrated
music title pages, as defined by one author. One category includes
title pages that are ornamental or decorative in their design. These
cover designs do not often provide descriptive illustration of the
musics subject, but only a nice decoration that may be enticing
to a potential buyer. In general, this type of title page is for
serious music. The other category is pictorial, with imagery that is
representational and illustrative of the subject of the music. These
title pages use imagery that relates in some way to the music itself,
such as a scene describing the song, or a musical instrument. The
author who describes these two categories writes the true pictorial
music title page always owes its design to the nature of the music:
in decorative title pages, the connexion is of the slightest, if indeed
it exists at all (King 1950, p 263).
These two methods of defining title pages are adequate for
looking at the entire design: picture with words and decoration
with words. To categorize only the styles of lettering, the ways
in which the words are drawn, can result in a number of possible
definitions. Separating the display lettering of music title pages
into groups may provide an easier way of following the possible
influences on this type of lettering. In one group, the word is
1.1. L. Stern, The Catastrophe Galop (London: c. 1860). Colour lithograph [London: Augener & Co.] 255 x 331 mm.
1.2. W.T. Wrighton, The Wishing Cap (London: c. 1860). Colour lithograph [London: Robert Cocks & Co.] 250 x 349 mm.
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5integrated into the image so that the letters become objects
subject to the environment of the cover illustration (fig. 1.1). These
letters may be involved in the illustrations drama in some way, or
they may be merely providing the verbal message while keeping a
distance from the focal point of the illustration, yet still affected by
the natural laws at work in the picture (fig. 1.2).
Another group includes the title pages that have lettering only
and no illustration. Sometimes the lettering is clearly imitating an
existing single typeface or category of typeface design (fig. 1.3,
1.4). Compare the top line of lettering in figure 1.4a with the two
line Tuscan typeface in figure 1.4b. Within this category are also
title pages with lettering that becomes a kind of illustration. Some
of these illustrated letters provide an interpretation of the meaning
of the words displayed (fig. 1.5). Others simply provide lettering
that steps out of the normal two dimensional plane writing is
accustomed to and perform as an illustration, although not an
illustration that provides any clues as to the content of the music
inside (fig. 1.6).
Another group contains lettering that is primarily decorative,
whether a picture is included or not (fig. 1.7, 1.8). This lettering
may be expressive of a mood or atmosphere, but it is separate
from any illustration present or it is not acting as a picture if there
is no other image.
1.3.. J. Pridham, Yorkshire bells (London: c. 1875). Lithograph [London: Brewer & Co].
1.4a. E. Waldteufel, Pluie dor valse (London: c. 1800s). Colour lithograph [London: Hopwood & Crew] 256 x 341 mm.
1.4b. English two-line Tuscan, Alexander Wilson & Sons 1843 (Gray, 1976, fig. 98).
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61.5. A.P. Wyman, Silvery waves (c. 1800s). Lithograph [Reading: W. Hickie] 265 x 362 mm.
1.6. Calcott, All the rage (London: 1860s). Colour lithograph [London: Cramer & Co.] 255 x 348 mm.
1.7. P. Bucalosi, The Gondoliers (London: after 1857). Lithograph [London: Chappell & Co.] 240 x 330 mm.
1.8. O. Roeder, Fairy tales waltz (London: c. 1800s). Colour lithograph [London: Enoch & Sons] 254 x 337 mm.
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7Among all these groups are letterforms imitative of typefaces.
Others go beyond mere type forms to become something not
available in metal or wood.
The earliest lithographed music title pages imitated the layout
form developed for engraving, which was typically English or
copperplate script with a word or two in caps, the whole thing held
together with calligraphic flourishes (Twyman 1996). The tools
for engraving were a graver that the artist would use to dig away
the surface of the plate, made of copper or other metal. For the
lithographic process, the tools held by the lettering specialist are
now a wax crayon or a steel pen or fine brush loaded with ink. The
surface is a smooth, polished stone.
Images become more important to the layout, possibly because
of the competition of increasingly popular music. Lettering also
becomes more fanciful. Mechanical type-making methods are
introduced late in the third decade and ornamental typefaces
become more prolific. This provides lettering artists with a greater
variety of letterforms to draw upon for inspiration and imitation
(Pearsall).
These title pages show lettering that is integrated into the
picture in a new way. Engraved music title pages demonstrate
considerable skill in combining calligraphic letterforms and
1.9. Jullien, lEcho du Mont Blanc (London: c. 1850s). Colour lithograph [London: Jullien & Co.] 239 x 328 mm.
1.10. A. Keller, Mistletoe galop (London: after 1849 ). Colour lithograph [London: Brewer & Co.] 264 x 363 mm.
1.11. M. Lindsay, When sparrows build, (London: c. 1895). Lithograph [London:Robert Cocks & Co.] 245 x 330 mm.
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81.12. C. Coote Jr., Go Bang Galop (London: c. 1880). Colour lithograph [London: Ashdown & Parry] 240 x 324 mm.
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91.13. Cotton polka (London: c. 1880). Colour lithograph [London: T. Broome] 235 x 310 mm.
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flourishing with images, but they also follow an established pattern
of lettering and layout (Twyman 1996). Lithographed music title
pages go beyond that pattern into a new realm. The lettering may
still be separated from the image by some distance, but it now acts
as an object suspended in the space of the image. Snow piling on
top and icicles hanging from the bottoms of the letters become a
common element for winter scenes (figs. 1.9, 1.10).
In the second half of the century, images conquer the entire
title page. The picture is the most important element, and it is now
covering the entire page bleeding off on all the edges.
Towards the end of the century, lettering becomes dominant
again, and ornament replaces representational images.
Most of the lettering artists are not know to us. There is little
material available to trace their footsteps. The production staffs
of the music printing industry, which may have included lettering
specialists, are commonly called delineators in early twentieth
century literature on music title pages. In Imesons book for
collectors, he writes, Many of the music-title delineators were the
mere journeymen of art, though their work may lack neither merit
nor interest. Little is known concerning them. Mostly Bohemian in
their habits they were hardly the men likely to leave much in the
way of written records. They lived freely and had their day then
1.15. C. Coote Jr., The Eclipse Galop (London: 1865). Colour lithograph [London: Hopwood & Crew] 250 x 347 mm.
1.16. Rosalind, Try Again (London: c. 1867). Colour lithograph [London: Hopwood & Crew] 247 x 338 mm.
1.14. Twelve lines Perspective, Bower & Bacon 1837 (Gray 1976, fig. 79).
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passed into oblivion (Imeson, 1912).
One artist about whom some information is available is Thomas
Wales Lee (1833-1910). Lee worked with another artist, highly
regarded by collectors of music-title pages, Alfred Concanen. Lees
covers rely heavily on creating visual interest through fanciful
treatment of the words on the page. Able to take advantage of
chromolithography, Lee used colour to create letters that imitated
perspective ornamented typefaces, or he created lettering that
would bend and bow unlike anything available in metal or wood
type.
Lees lettering is the kind of letterform that becomes an object,
but not an object that necessarily conveys a semantic meaning
related to the words those letters form. Figures 1.15 and 1.16 show
covers by Lee from about 1865. Some lettering clearly imitates the
perspective letters available in metal since a few decades previous
(fig. 1.14), while other letters mimic a flexible material that has
been tacked to the surface of the title page.
By the frequency of different music title pages that use this
similar style, it is possible that this peculiar treatment of the letters
was particularly popular among the music publishers whom Lee
worked for, and that Lee was known for it.
1.18. C. Coote Jr., Roulette Galop (London: 1860s). Color litho-graph [London: Hopwood & Crew] 264 x 367 mm.
1.19. W.H. Callcot, Rock of ages (London: c. 1870). Lithograph [publisher missing] 215 x 282 mm.
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Lee worked with several music title-page artists, whose work
is highly collectable, including T. Packer and A. Concanen. He
was sought after for his fancy letter style of decorative lettering
on title pages, and was given the name fancy-title Lee by his
colleagues (Imeson 1912).
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CHAPTER 2
Contemporary Letter Design
The Landscape Alphabet, published between 1830-31, is an
alphabet book in which each illustrated letter is built from elements
in a landscape, such as trees, foliage, and architectural ruins. It was
lithographed by the early English lithographer Charles Hullmandel.
The idea is linked to the Picturesque art movement. This was
the English taste for vignettes of landscape scenes depicting
popular subjects such as gothic ruins. The Landscape Alphabet
is exactly this, with 26 vignettes of gothic ruins or vegetation
contorted into the shape of each letter in the alphabet. It may have
been influenced by an aquatint from the title page of an 1812
book, The Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of the Picturesque. A
Poem. This poem poked fun at the ideas of the Picturesque itself,
and the title page depicted a few letters formed from elements
within a landscape (Twyman 1987).
2.1. J. Ruskin, The King of the golden river (Sunnyside: 1888). Lithograph [Sunnyside: George Allen].
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Artists using objects from nature to create letterforms for title
pages and illustration continued into the development of the Rustic
typeface. The Rustic typeface is based on a simple formula: bend,
prune and chop trees, branches and twigs into the shape of each
letter in the alphabet. Richard Doyles title page for Ruskins The
King of the golden river is an example of engraved lettering which
influenced the Rustic style of typeface (fig. 2.1).
Engravers working in wood pioneered the rustic letterform, and
then typeface manufacturers cut it into wood and metal type (Gray,
1976). Victorian illustrators Doyle and Henry Noel Humphreys both
created rustic letterforms.
Rustic lettering, and variations derived from it, appears
frequently in music title pages (fig. 2.22.9). It was certainly
popular, and must have offered lithographic artists an acceptable
formula for creating lettering that would gather attention. It also
continued to be used late into the nineteenth century (fig. 2.3).
Rustic lettering has influenced a number of variations, from
the most representational and detailed lettering (fig. 2.4), to the
more quickly rendered lettering of Jules Chert (fig. 2.5). Cherts
lettering captures the essence of rustic forms, and blends into
the image, allowing the illustration to take the most prominent
place. Other rustic derivatives hint at sticks with twig-like growths
2.2. C. Marriott, The urchin schottische (London: c. 1860). Litho-graph [London: Addison, Hollier & Lucas] 336 x 255 mm.
2.3. T. Bonheur, High jinks quadrilles (London: 1890s). Colour lithograph [publisher cropped] 331 x 230 mm.
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2.6. C. DAlbert, Rip Van Winkle lancers (London: 1880s). Colour lithograph [publisher missing] 236 x 331 mm.
2.7. C.H.R. Marriott, Leap for life (London: c. 1871). Colour lithograph [London: Cramer Wood & Co, Lamborn Cock & Co.] 221 x 358 mm.
2.5. J.P. Clark, The witches own galop (London: 1880s). Colour lithograph [London: Cramer & Co.] 349 x 255 mm.
2.4. M. Hobson, The sunflower schottische (London: c. 1800s). Colour lithograph [London: Hopwood & Crew] 363 x 268 mm.
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protruding from the letterforms, all of it flattened instead of using
form and shadow (fig. 2.6, 2.7).
Rustic typefaces begin to appear in the specimen books in the
1840s (Gray, 1976; Twyman, 1987). Typefaces can only offer a
limited number of letter shapes, and repeating letters in word or
line must then look alike. Shadows and shadow outlines are added,
as well as vertical serifs (fig. 2.2). Lithographic artists are able to
transform their lettering into multiple shapes, each one unique in 2.4b. Two-line pica rustic no. 1. Figgins c. 1846 (Gray 1976, fig. 88).
2.8. W. Macfarlane, Echoes from the pantomime, Babes in the wood quadrille (1877). Colour lithograph [publisher missing] 240 x 335 mm.
2.9b J.F. Mitchell Gilhooleys supper-party (London: c. 1880s). Lithograph [London: Francis Bros. & Day] 238 x 338 mm.
2.9a. J.F. Mitchell Gilhooleys supper-party (London: c. 1880s). Lithograph [London: Francis Bros. & Day] 238 x 338 mm.
2.4a. Three lines long primer rustic, two-line small pica rustic. Figgins, 1845 (Gray 1976, figs. 86, 87).
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its appearance, as well as create an envelope to shape an entire line
or word appropriate to the frame devised for the title-page.
Similar expressive lettering found in Doyles illustrations for
The King of the Golden River is that used for the calling card of one
of the books characters (fig. 2.2). The Victorian illustrator George
Cruickshank (Phiz), who also illustrated a few music title pages,
uses a similarly expressive letter on the cover of Better late than
never! (fig. 2.3).
Cruickshanks lettering, with its overlapping of outlined
strokes, bears similarities with the kind of sign-writing described
by Callingham in his 1871 book Sign writing and glass embossing.
Callingham provides an exercise for the sign-writer apprentice. An
example of the word LAND is shown with drawn letterforms that
overlap in places. The student is to use this lettering as an example
and to create an entire alphabet that will match the example given
(Callingham 1871).
2.10. J. Ruskin, The King of the golden river (Sunnyside: 1888). Lithograph [Sun-nyside: George Allen].
2.11. C. Glover, Better late than never! (London: c. 1860). Colour lithograph [London: Addison, Hollier & Lucas] 214 x 328 mm.
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Ornamented typefaces often either mimicked or influenced the
lettering in lithographed music title pages. A number of authors
suggest that nineteenth century type designers looked toward
the lettering of lithography and sign writing for their designs
(Callingham 1871, Gray 1976). Ray Nash (Gray, 1976) provides
a quote from the Electrotype Journal of July, 1874 indicating the
influence lithographic lettering had on type design in the USA:
Many and strenuous efforts have been made in late years by
artistic printers to reproduce in certain contingencies the graceful
effects of lithography. These efforts have been largely seconded
on the part of type founders and others by the introduction of
beautiful arrays of script and ornamental type, graceful brass and
metal flourishes, brass curves, and other devices (Gray 1976, p
122).
One form of ornamented typeface from the Victorian era is the
Tuscan. Serifs that split the stroke at the terminals mark the Tuscan
letter. In addition, a bulge, pointed or not, is sometimes added to
the center of the letter. The typeface examples in figure 2.12 are
2.13. W. Keller, The Czars marche (London: 1880s). Colour lithograph [London: Brewer & Co.] 225 x 344 mm.
2.14. A.S.E. Rae, The America (London: 1851). Lithograph [Lon-don: C. Lonsdale] 229 x 312 mm.
2.12. Three-line pica Lord Mayor and Pretty Face, Woods Typographical Advertiser, 1862 (Gray 1976, figs. 139, 137).
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both from 1862 (see also figure 1.4b), but the Tuscan style appears
throughout the nineteenth century (Gray 1976).
The Czars March (fig. 2.13) shows a clear Tuscan letterform,
the vertical strokes becoming two separate lines splitting once
in the center of the letters to form a diamond shaped opening,
and again at the terminals. The America (fig. 2.14) title page
2.16b. J. Coward, Romah waltz (London: 1870s). Colour lithograph [London: Charles Seaton] 241 x 338 mm.
2.15. Five lines and four lines Latin condensed, Stephenson Blake c. 1875 (Gray 1976, fig. 163).
2.16a. J. Coward, Romah waltz (London: 1870s). Colour litho-graph [London: Charles Seaton] 241 x 338 mm.
2.17. A.E. Godfrey, The Piccaninnies (London: c. 1895). Colour lithograph [London: Robert Cocks & Co.] 228 x 322 mm.
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shows Tuscan inspired lozenge in the center, but with a sans-serif
terminal. This example is from 1851.
Another variety of ornamented typeface seen in music title
pages is the Latin-Runic (fig. 2.7). This style is marked by a
triangular or swelling serif ending that has a flat cut across the
stroke terminal, or a concave indent (Ovink 1972).
Romah (fig. 1.16a, 1.16b) is one possible example of the Latin-
Runic family influencing a lithographed letterform. This title page
dates from the 1870s, and the typeface example (fig. 2.15) is from
the Stephenson, Black type specimen of 1875 (Gray 1976).
Towards the end of the century, there are typefaces and
lettering styles that show a calligraphic influence. The typeface
Rhodesian appears in 1895 (fig. 2.18) and Graphic in 1896 (fig.
2.19). The music title page for The Piccaninnies (fig. 2.17) is dated
the same year as Rhodesian. Rhodesian, Graphic and the lettering
for The Piccaninnies all share the swelling of the stroke near the
terminal, where the stroke ends with a smooth cut or a rough edge
as if a thick brush loaded with paint had formed the letter. The
strokes of the letters themselves follow a curving path many times
in places where a straight line is expected.
2.18. Graphic, Stephenson, Blake 1896 (Gray 1976, no. 431).
2.19. Two-line double pica Rhodesian, Figgins 1895 (Gray 1976, fig. 217).
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CHAPTER 3
Printing techniques & contemporary art movements
Intaglio printing techniques, such as engraving on copperplates,
were used mostly for reproducing imagery. Relief printing, such
as letterpress with wood and metal type, was used primarily for
words. Lithography eventually provided a reproduction process
wherein writing and drawing could be combined more easily than
either of the two other printing techniques, and with the popularity
of sheet music in the nineteenth century, this combining of writing
and image became more important (Twyman, 2001).
Beginning in the 1840s, chromolithography allowed writing to
be integrated into the printing process in ways not evident in other
printing techniques.
Figure 3.1 shows the title Skating Polka stopped out, possibly
with gum arabic, on the stone that carried black ink. A brown tint
was allowed to print in the same area where the black was stopped
out. This allowed an interesting way to achieve lettering in a color
that is lighter in value than the area surrounding it. It creates
enough contrast to allow the title to be read, and it allows the
picture to be the first thing a viewers eyes are drawn to.
Figure 3.2 shows a similar technique, except all the colours
3.2. L.A. Jullien, The cricket polka (London: 1840s). Colour litho-graph [London: ullien] 206 x 299 mm.
3.1. G. Alary, Skating polka (London: 1800s). Colour lithograph [publisher missing] 199 x 298 mm.
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have been stopped out to allow the lettering to be entirely white. In
accordance with the humorous nature of the image the lettering is
bolder by way of the stark contrast.
In another title page by T. W. Lee, color has been used to give
the lettering the same pattern found on the figure (fig. 3.3). The
lettering is filled with the same red and black tartan Rob Roy is
wearing in the illustration.
In figures 3.4 and 3.5 one colour has been used to overprint
another, to take advantage of either transparent ink or space within
the letterforms through which the color underneath is visible.
The decade of the 1840s was an important one for display
lettering. More new ornamented typefaces appear during this
decade than had occurred yet within the nineteenth century (Gray
1976).
3.3. J.H. Tully, New Rob Roy quadrille (London: 18??). Colour lithopgraph [London: Hutchings & Romer] 355 x 255 mm.
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3.6. A. Macey, Mischief schottische (London: 1800s). Lithograph [London: W.H. Boone] 355 x 265 mm.
3.7. W. Williams, Vivacit lancers (London: 1880s). Colour litho-graph [London: R. Maynard] 339 x 240 mm.
3.4. J. Arnold, Timbres poste polka (London: c. 1875). Colour lithograph [Schott Frres] 337 x 242 mm.
3.5. Kalozdy, The Times galop (London: c. 1853). Colour litho-graph [London: H. Distin] 339 x 250 mm.
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The Gothic revival has left behind the contrivances of the
picturesque, and become not a style but a language; like scholastic
philosophy, a world in which the mind could freely move (Gray
1976, p 49). It allowed
Gray writes It is a significant point that by 1840 letters had so
far become a medium to the Victorians that they were able to catch
this spirit of the time of passion and fantasy without resorting to
Gothic models; the first new black letter type after 1815 was not till
November 1847 (Gray 1976, p 50).
This is the decade perspective (fig. 1.16) and rustic (see Chapter
2) letters appear, as well as Tuscan (fig. 1.4b, 2.12).
During this time also the Grecian types appear. These are
characterized by cutting off the corners of the letters. The Rounded
is a sans serif with the corners missing, but smoothed into a
semicircle rather than a straight cut (Gray 1976).
3.8. P. Bucalosi, The Mikado lancers (London: 1880s). [London: Chappell & Co.] 338 x 238 mm.
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Towards the close of the nineteenth century, advances in the
graphic arts gave rise to artistic printing. The jobbing platen and
the point system together provided printers the opportunity to
combine complicated patterns of ornament with type. Artistic
printing also helped them to compete with lithography (Ridler
1948).
Ruskin also encouraged the use of ornament: It seems to
me also that a lovely field of design is open in the treatment
of decorative type not in the mere big initial in which one
cannot find the letter but in the delicate and variably fantastic
ornamentation of capitals and filling of blank spaces or musically-
divided periods and breadths of margin (Ridler, 1948).
In figures 1.7 and 3.5 there are examples of lettering
that becomes very ornamental. Figure 3.6 continues this in
chromolithography. The strokes or serif-like terminals in Vivacit
curl, twist and grow outward. The lettering itself is not confined
to a box as metal type might be. It floats along a moving line, like
something resting on the surface of water.
In the Leicester Free style is an artistic printing formula
that utilizes rules, whether straight, bent or curved, and words
positioned so that they have little relationship to one another. The
use of the rules seems a logical attempt to simulate the kind of
ornament seen in music title pages like figure 3.5.
In the second half of the century, there is also an interest in
things Asian. Lettering like that for The Mikado (fig. 3.6) and
Constantinople (fig. 3.7) is obvious in its attempt to simulate
script other than the Latin alphabet. Ornament becomes not
just decorative, but language. Not a real language that can be
understood by anyone, but an imitation of the kinds of marks used
to form these non-Latin scripts.
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CHAPTER 4
Influence of Victorian book design
In Ruari McLeans work on books created during the Nineteenth
century in England he makes the following statement: The
enthusiasm for the art of illumination generated by Owen Jones,
Noel Humphries, and their assistants and imitators created a small
body of informed but largely antiquarian taste. It did not have
much influence on the art of lettering as practiced up and down the
country: no artist of originality made lettering his special field or
made any important contribution to formal lettering or type design
in Britain until William Morris, aided by Emery Walker, founded the
Kelmscott Press in 1891 (McLean 1963, p 62).
McLean may not have thought the lettering found on music
sheet covers of enough import to consider how they the work of
Noel Humphreys and Owen Jones could have been influenced their
lettering. The Rustic letters of the Nineteenth century, though, are
certainly linked with a popular interest in medieval illumination,
and therefore with the Victorian books that dealt with the subject.
Rustic lettering, whether freely drawn or made into type, appears
throughout the whole of the century. A style that continues for
such a long period of time should not be brushed aside without
some investigation.
In fact, McLean mentions one connection between popular
music sheets and the more expensive books of antiquarian taste.
John Brandard (1812-63), a lithographic artist who designed many
music sheet covers, worked for the publisher Joseph Cundall on at
least one occasion. Brandard provided the decorative borders for
A Booke of Christmas Carols, published in 1845 (McLean 1963).
Although the lettering was type, it shows that some artists working
for music publishers were also involved with book publishing, and
possibly exposure to the illuminated works of Owen Jones and Noel
Humphreys.
The illuminated books mentioned by McLean are gift books,
commonly of verses from the Bible, with decoration either copied
from or at least inspired by that found in medieval manuscripts.
There were also the books whose designers wished to reproduce
this medieval decoration and did so with varying degrees of
fidelity, but with scholarly intentions (McLean 1963, p 61). Of
the latter category there are books by Henry Shaw, Henry Noel
Humphreys and Owen Jones. McLean provides the most concise
description of each artists work.
Henry Shawwas essentially a scholar and antiquarian; in all
his works he was trying to portray accurately the arts of the past.
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Owen Jones was a designer, concerned with utilizing the arts of
the past in a scholarly way for the embellishment of the present.
Noel Humphreyswas a popularizer, with an astonishing gift for
absorbing the art of the illuminated manuscriptsand recreating
out of them modern pages which were not direct copies yet were
full of vitality and richness (McLean 1963, p 62).
It is about the fourth decade of the Nineteenth century that
chromolithographed books of medieval illumination begin to
appear in England, and it is about this time that alphabets formed
from vegetation, trees or sticks of wood, such as the rustic
typefaces, begin to appear.
In Noel Humphreys The Poets Pleasaunce (1847) there are
initial capitals which carry the natural scenery of flowers, sticks
and insects found in the borders into the text. The initial caps are
made of the same sticks and leaves found in the border, and even
connect or grow out of those in the border. There are numerous
4.1. C.H.R. Mariot, Champagne Charlie galop (London: c. 1870). Colour lithograph [London: Siebe & Burnett]. 324 x 236 mm.
4.2. J. Pridham, Yorkshire bells (London: c. 1875). Lithograph [London: Brewer & Co].
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examples of this kind of lettering found in the illuminated
gift books such as in The Miracles of Our Lord (1848), also by
Humphreys, Floriated Ornament (1849) by A.W. Pugin, and the
Victoria Psalter (1861) by Owen Jones.
It is evident that the lettering of these Victorian artists
influenced that used in the music title pages of their century. There
are the most obvious rustic forms shown in chapter 2, but there
are also the forms seen in figure 4.1. The lettering here is flat with
bulbous growths that really do seem like knobs on an old gnarled
tree. Figure 4.2 shows a detail from Yorkshire Bells (fig. 1.3). One
word, not very prominent, yet it follows the same formula as the
title lettering for Champagne Charlie, only now in monoline.
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CONCLUSION
After leaving the traditions formed by engravers working in copper
and other metals for intaglio printing, lithographers have formed
their own tradition of lettering that. Taking what was advantageous
from engravers, lithographers have used their reproduction process
to enrich the history of lettering.
Victorian illustrators who experimented with lettering provided
lithographers with a way to begin experimentation. The Rustic
letters offered them an opportunity to see how the lithographic
process could combine picture and word into one unit. Throughout
the nineteenth century, ornamented typefaces have influenced, and
been influenced by, the freely drawn lettering found in these music
title pages.
Lithography has helped to increase the variety of letterforms
available to the graphic arts by encouraging experimentation. The
lettering found on nineteenth music title pages, whether woven
seamlessly into a picture, intertwined with ornament, or used as
means of creative experiment itself offers a springboard for further
experiment.
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Fig. ii. H.J. Tinney, Fizz galop (London: 1870s). Colour lithograph [London: Hopwood & Cres] 252 x 349 mm.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Callingham, J. The painters and grainers handbook. a complete
illustrated guide to painting, graining, distempering, sign-writing,
gilding and glass embossing, with instructions for using the patent
graining rollers, also specimens of alphabets. With numerous useful
recipes for painters and decorators. 1871
Gray, N. Nineteenth century ornamented type & title pages Faber &
Faber, London 1976
Gray, N. Lettering as drawing Oxford University Press, London
1971
Humphreys, C. & W. C. Smith Music publishing in the British Isles
from the beginning until the middle of the ninteenth century Basil
Blackwell, Oxford 1970
Imeson, W. E. Illustrated music-titles and their delineators. A
handbook for collectors Printed for the author, London 1912
King, A. H. Some victorian illustrated music titles Penrose Annual
Vol 46 pp43-5 1952
King, A. H. English pictorial music title-pages 18201885. Their
style, evolution and importance The Library fifth series Vol iv no 4
pp 262-72 1950
McLean, R. Victorian book design & colour printing Faber & Faber,
London 1963
Neighbor & Tyson English music publishers plate numbers in the
first half of the nineteenth century Faber & Faber, London 1965
Pearsall, R. Victorian sheet music covers David & Charles Limited,
Newton Abbot 1972
Poole, H. E. A day at a music publishers: a description of the
establishment or DAlmaine & Co. Journal of the Printing Historical
Society no 14 pp 59-81 1979/80
Porzio, D., ed., Lithography 200 years of art history & technique.
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1982
Ridler, V. Artistic printing: a search for principles Alphabet and
image: 6 pp 4-17 January 1948
31
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Spellman, D. & S. Victorian music covers Evelyn, Adams & Mackay,
London 1969
Spellman collection of Victorian music covers 14 August 2003
Twyman, M. Early lithographed books Farrand Press & Private
Libraries Association, 1990.
Early lithographed music Farrand Press, London 1996
Lithography 1800-1850 Oxford University Press, 1970.
Printing 1770-1970 : an illustrated history of its development
and uses in England The British Library, London 1998
Introduction The landscape alphabet Hurtwood Press, Silversted
1987
The Panizzi Lectures 2000. Breaking the mould: The first
hundred years of lithography The British Library, London 2001
Weber, W. History of lithography. Thames & Hudson, 1966.
Winter, M. H. Art score for music The Brooklyn Institute of Arts &
Sciences, New York 1939
SOURCES FOR MUSIC TITLE PAGES
University of Reading Library, Spellman collection of Victorian
music covers digital archive, figures i, ii, 1.1, 1.2, 1.9, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15,
1.16, 1.18, 1.19, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9ab, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.16ab,
2.17, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.7, 3.8, 4.1
Twyman, M., Private collection, figures 1.4a, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8,
1.10, 1.11, 2.4, 2.5, 3.6
Blubaugh, B., Private collection, figures 1.3, 4.2