That printing is an art and as such possessed of many splendid possibilities is in itself quite enough to lead a compositor to a de-velopment of ornamental forms when the material in his possession makes such a course possible. But printing, besides being an art is also a business, where, in a broad sense, it is getting type into the galley that counts; yet still, being an art, it is important that all forms of type display be governed by such rules as govern good art.

In what follows, printing is considered as a business, the belief being that as good business it runs little chance of being poor art, and as poor business has little chance of being good art.

If it is important to get type on the galley, then the quickest forms of type display must be among the best forms. The quickest form is known as straight matter.

The compositor having an advertisement to set would hardly use for it an ordinary body type, but might use the same face in a larger size, which, set as straight matter, would consume little time in composition and prove a good display (figure 1). The same matter set in another face, yet in the same manner, also gives good display (figure 2). In the last example the advertisement set in what is primarily a display type, takes on a decorative and eye-attracting quality imparted to it not by its form, but by the form or design of the type and by the fact that such a type is newer and of a different character to that which it is surrounded.

These examples, fulfilling the requirements of good advertising and being the quickest form of typesetting, would be good and profitable business, and at the same time good art.

If this were the whole story there would be little excuse for either the use of borders or ornaments in business printing, for no form of type display can exceed in dignity and beauty that of simple and plain work where is used an appropriate face set with due regard to spacing, margins, etc. This is not the whole story, however, and to accept it as such would be to ignore the demands and requirements of those using printing and and expecting from it a proper return in additional business. It would also ignore the fact that printing as a business is in a large measure competitive, where to meet this competition a new type design is a better weapon than a cut in prices.

The above example advertises clothing, and not only will other concerns wish also to advertise clothing, but merchants in other lines will want to use similar and possibly adjoining space. This will lead to a compositor setting the advertisement similar to figure 3, not as straight matter, or as figure 4, which is straight matter but made different by being surrounded by a border. Figure 4, through requiring less time in justifying and handling cases, is more quickly set that figure 3 and is as good art. A third house going beyond figure 4 would use in addition to the border an ornament, (figure 5).

These examples then show one function of the border and ornament — that of attracting the eye with an expenditure of little time in composition. It must not be supposed, however, that they take the place of such display as figure 3, nor that they may not be used with such display; the examples are cited to show the simplest and easiest stages of progress in the use of this material. Such use is legitimate, but to be kept so, the borders and ornaments must form an inherent part of a design which would otherwise be incomplete. They should not be tacked on or added to a design apparently as an afterthought.

Units forming borders and ornaments were considered essential in even the earliest forms of printing, but whenever used successfully were used fearlessly. The story of the advertisement as here illustrated would be the story of almost any piece of type display handled in the composing room, but in every case when a border or ornament is used it must be with a knowledge and appreciation of its decorative quality, and a consideration of the value such a quality has in the building of the design.

From the use of decorative units in their simplest form, that of borders surrounding type, in which they take a secondary part, up to that of a design where possibly in combination with an ornament they become of first importance, is to go through all the stages of their use.

Source: Bradley, Will. ‘The use of borders and ornaments.’ The American Chap-Book, vol. 1, no. 3. Jersey City: American Type Founders, Nov 1904.