“In all great arts, as in trees, it is the height that charms us; we care nothing for the roots or trunks; yet they could not exist without the aid of these.” This quotation from Cicero may as well be applied to the art of illumination as to anything else. The fact, however, that the tree cannot exist without the aid of the trunk and roots, shows how important these are; and no one who intends giving serious attention to the tree in its entirety can afford to neglect these.

It is only through careful study of the art of illumination that it is possible to understand fully the construction that enters into the growth of this art. When some knowledge has been gained of the manner in which this work has been done in the past, through practical experience, it is then that a real appreciation is felt for the choice work of the mediÆval period.

“Perfect illumination,” says Ruskin, in one of his Lectures on Art, “is only writing made lovely;... But to make writing itself beautiful—to make the sweep of the pen lovely—is the true art of illumination.” Certainly it is only when the student is able to produce writing that is attractive in itself, that it is permissible to add decoration to it. The decoration should be the natural outgrowth from the writing.

A page of well-formed lettering makes good pattern, and is not merely pattern, as it serves also the purpose for which it was intended, viz., to be read.

It is when he has gained the mastery of the pen, in making well-formed letters with good arrangement on the page, that the student may consider that he has well started on the road to the production of good illumination.

For the construction of well-finished lettering it is essential that a mastery of the tool and materials employed should be acquired. It is when the pen becomes almost a part of the writer, so that he is able to concentrate all his energy on the writing, giving scarcely any attention to the pen itself, that he may claim to be proficient in the use of the pen.

If there is one thing more than another that one feels when examining some of the best illuminated work of the past, it is that the writer was a master of the pen as a letter-making tool. He did his work well; his books were transcribed in a workmanlike manner, and the decoration which followed seems to come quite naturally from the writing itself.

It is for this reason that so much attention has been given to the use of the quill and reed pen in the formation of good writing.

Students are frequently at a disadvantage from inability to handle the pen properly. To help, in some measure, to remedy this, the student is shown how to make sharply-defined strokes before attempting to form letters. At the same time no particular manner of holding the pen has been insisted upon.

In the Introduction to his “Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful,” Burke says: “I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is incomparably the best; since, not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew; it tends to set the reader himself in the track of invention, and to direct him into those paths in which the author has made his own discoveries, if he should be so happy as to have made any that are valuable.”

This has been the ideal that the present writer has tried to keep ever before him in writing the instructions that are given in the succeeding pages. His aim has been to direct the student in the right way, and then to encourage him to study the subject for himself. Whether he has been successful in this endeavour must be left for the reader to judge.

The study of calligraphy, in connection with illumination, ought to be helpful in making the ordinary handwriting more legible. Before the age of printing, the book-hand developed alongside of the ordinary cursive handwriting, and possibly the fact that the book-hand has been lost may be advanced as a reason why most of the handwriting to-day is so degenerate. A careful study of some of the fine models of book-hands of the past cannot but be beneficial. It will certainly enable the student to appreciate beautiful forms of lettering, and its influence should soon be apparent in the lettering in general use. This should result in better sign-writing, better lettering in our magazines and papers, in short, better lettering all round.

Undoubtedly it would be a good thing if the children in our schools could be taught to form some of the fine book-hands of the past with the quill pen. It is certainly, to a great extent, due to the lack of a practical knowledge of some of the splendid forms of lettering used in the past, that the general lettering in use at the present time is so bad. It ought not to be at all impracticable for this suggestion to be carried out.

After the student is able to make well-formed letters with the quill and reed pen, and arrange them well, the use of decoration and the further development of illumination should follow naturally.

There is undoubtedly a place for illumination to-day, and even in connection with the illuminated manuscript book, which should certainly possess the first place amongst the work of the modern illuminator. There is not the slightest suggestion there that the illuminated manuscript should usurp the place of the printed book, but there is no reason why it should not be in use at the same time. One of the great charms that a fine manuscript possesses is its uniqueness, not being one of many, as in the case of the printed book. Then again, some things, as, for example, Poetry and Romance, are rendered in a much more sympathetic fashion in the illuminated manuscript than in the printed book.

There are many ways in which the art of illumination might be applied to-day, as well as in the usual illuminated testimonial. Several suggestions are given in the following pages for different ways in which it may be employed.

In the decoration of the printed book the services of the artist who is well-trained in the use of good lettering and book-decoration should be of value to the printer. Although there is no need for the printer to endeavour to imitate the work of the illuminator, there ought, certainly, to be room for a well-developed style of decoration that could be used with a good form of type.

A few centuries ago, before printing was used for the production of books, illumination as a part of calligraphy was an important craft. Books were not only beautifully written but they were also richly decorated with gold and colours. The writing of long manuscripts was very slow work, compared with the increased speed of production afforded by the printing press; but, notwithstanding this, it appears to have been important that the writing should be rendered more beautiful by the enrichment of decoration. Unfortunately, although methods of book-production are now so speedy, most of the lettering is of the barest and crudest kind. Book-decoration seems to be, in most cases, confined to illustration, and even this does not often form an altogether inseparable part of the book.

With regard to the various developments on the purely commercial side, the study of pen- and brush-formed lettering cannot but be of the greatest service to the commercial artist who requires lettering for posters, labels, book-covers, and the many things that require lettering.

In fact, lettering enters so largely into decorative design that the study of some of the fine forms of lettering is of paramount importance to any artist who desires that the lettering that he uses should be of good construction. So many drawings have been spoiled through the introduction of weak and badly formed lettering that the need for training the student to produce lettering that is well-finished and of good form should be obvious to everyone.

Without doubt one of the great things in lettering is to allow the tool to have its way. Pen-formed lettering should be of a form easily constructed with the pen, and should not pretend to be a brush-formed lettering, and vice versÂ.

It is for this reason that in the first chapter so much attention has been given in noting the influence that the tools and materials employed have had on the shaping of the letters.