THE proper layout for an ordinary volume, arranged in accord with the best usage, is as follows:

• Bastard-Title (right hand).
• Blank Page or Advertising Card (left hand).
• Title-Page (right hand).
• Copyright Page and the Printer's Imprint (left hand).
• Dedication (right hand).
• Blank Page (left hand).
• Preface (begins on right hand).
• Table of Contents (begins on right hand).
• List of Illustrations (begins on right hand).
• Introduction (begins on right hand).
• Half-Title (right hand).
• Blank Page (left hand).
• First Page of Text (begins on right hand).

In limited editions, the limit notice is placed upon the reverse of the bastard-title, or on a left-hand page facing the bastard-title.

Following the text may be:

• Appendix (begins on right hand).
• Glossary (begins on right hand).
• Bibliography (begins on right hand).
• Index (begins on right hand).

Considering these various divisions more at length:

BASTARD-TITLE

The bastard-title, which is often wrongly called the half-title, is a modern evolution in its present application. Originally, this single-line title was the only title which existed, but as time went on the demand of the public, on the one hand, for a decorated page at the beginning of the book, together with the printer's desire, on the other hand, to advertise himself, developed the bastard-title into the dimensions of the title-page which we now know, containing the name of the book, the name of the author, the publisher's device, and the publisher's name and address. At the present time the bastard-title is used more to add elegance to the appearance of the volume than for any practical purpose, it being pleasanter for the eye to rest first upon this page rather than at once upon the title-page, which extends over the full dimensions of the type area.

ADVERTISING CARD

If an advertising card or limit notice is required, this page of display should be set up with careful consideration of the page it is to face, and of the typography of the book of which it is to be a part. Too frequently advertising cards are looked upon as separate jobs, and are set in types which do not harmonize with the typography of the rest of the book.

TITLE-PAGE

The title-page offers the printer and the publisher a tempting opportunity for display and for artistic typography, and too few realize the value of restraint. Cobden-Sanderson once remarked, as explaining the high prices which he secures for his work, that he always charges more for what he leaves out than for what he puts in.

The earliest volumes lacked the title-page, because vellum and linen paper were held so high that the expense of an extra leaf was considered an unnecessary luxury. In these books that which took the place of the title was at the end, the colophon being in evidence, indicating the name of the illuminator, if not always that of the printer. As was the case with the manuscript book, the volume began with the phrase, "Here beginneth...." Later came piratical reprints, which resulted in making the critical reader insist upon having each volume stamped with the printer's name or mark, as a guarantee of reliable workmanship.

The first definite step in the direction of the title-page is marked by bibliographers in a little volume printed by Arnold Ther Hoernen, of Cologne, in 1470. It consisted of an introduction at the head of a page, the major part of which was left blank. Whether the printer forgot to place the usual introduction at the head of the first page, and took this way to remedy his error, is not known. In general, different faces of type should never be combined upon the title-page, the variations being secured by using smaller sizes of the same face, or harmonizing fonts. Capitals and lower-case letters can be successfully combined on the title-page only as a result of care and thought, the best title-pages usually being all in lower-case or all in caps and small caps. A two-color title-page is rarely a success unless it was originally composed with two colors in mind, instead of being set up in black and arbitrarily split up for colors.

The decoration should never overbalance the type, and this applies as well to the question of borders on decorated books. No matter how beautiful, if the decoration overbalances the type, the volume or the title-page ceases to be an example of typography and becomes something answerable only to itself.

COPYRIGHT

On the reverse of the title-page is ordinarily placed the copyright notice of the volume,[46] usually a little above the center, set in caps and small caps, or in small caps alone. At the foot of this same page the printer usually places his imprint.[47]

DEDICATION

The dedication is a page set in the monumental style, generally in small capitals. This must always be a right-hand page, and the reverse must always be blank.

PREFACE

Ordinarily the preface is set in the same size of type as the body. If it is written by some one other than the author, it is frequently set in italic to mark the distinction. This is particularly true in case the book contains an introduction as well. If the preface is of unusual importance, it is sometimes customary to have it set in type one size larger than the body, or double-leaded.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

After the preface and before the list of illustrations comes the contents, occupying whatever number of pages may be necessary. The style of its composition is dependent entirely upon the subject-matter and the typographical arrangement of the volume.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

This follows the contents, and is always set in a style conforming to the contents page or pages.

INTRODUCTION

See remarks under "Preface."

HALF-TITLE

The half-title ordinarily consists of a single line, standing by itself on the first page of the leaf immediately preceding the first page of the text, and carries the title of the book as at the top of the first page of text. It is frequently confused with the bastard or false-title, which always precedes the title-page. Half-titles may also run through the book before various divisions, but the bastard-title never moves from its one position at the beginning of the volume.

LIMIT NOTICE

If an edition be limited in number, the notice of such limit should be placed either on the page facing the bastard-title or on the reverse of the bastard-title.

IN GENERAL

The front matter is often put into type after the composition of the body has been completed, so that the number of pages is rarely definitely determined at the beginning of the work. For this reason, publishers have favored the expedient of numbering the preliminary pages with roman folios, using the arabic folios for the text itself. The front matter and the chapter pages running through the book offer opportunities for embellishment and distinctive typographical treatment, and therefore should be kept in exact accord, whether elaborate decorations are used or the severest form of typographical simplicity.

BASIC SIZES OF BOOKS

The following list gives the size of leaf to which the various standard names and proportions naturally fold:

ENGLISH PAPER SIZES

Octavos

Quartos

MARGINS

A feature not to be overlooked in the appearance of a well-printed book is that of the margins. The perfect type-page is supposed to be proportioned in such a way that its diagonal is twice its width. With this page as a basis, the location of the type upon the paper leaf is to be studied carefully. In general, the two pages, right and left, should be considered as a unit, and the top margin and the inside margin of each page should be approximately the same. Doing this, the total blank between the two pages is supposed approximately to equal the outside and the bottom margins.

The proportion of margin is, to a certain extent, dependent upon the size of the book, the margins becoming greater as the volume increases from the thirty-two mo size up to the folio. A student of typography has ingeniously estimated that, taking the height of the paper leaf as 100 units, the height of the type page of the ordinary trade book should be from 72% to 75%; that of a library edition, from 66% to 71%; that of a de luxe volume, from 60% to 65%.