Aldis, M.A.
Cambridge: at the University Press 1916
may be observed that a page is one side of a leaf, and a leaf
may therefore have two pages printed upon it, one on each
side. The first page of a leaf, the right-hand page of an open
book, is called the recto of the leaf, and the second page,
the left hand page of the open book, the verso. When every
page is numbered, the book is said to be paged; but when a
number is given to each leaf only, the book is said to be
folioed.
The selection of the type to be used for a book depends in
great measure upon the size of the page and the amount of
matter contained in the work. If the book is very long it may
be necessary to use a small type in order to keep it within
the desired compass, and other considerations will have to
give way; but in many cases the choice is unhampered by
at the same time be comfortable to read-the size of type must be carefully considered in relation to the size and
shape of the page. The length of line, the number of lines to a page, and also the relative proportions of the margins
have to be studied. The main thing to be aimed at is legibility. Too long a line of small type is trying to the eye, both in
following the line and in picking up the next; while large type closely crowded gives a confused effect and is almost as
bad.
The proportion of the margins on the four sides of the printed page has an important influence upon the appearance
of a book. These proportions are not equal, and they are not haphazard. If all the margins were of the same width,
the printed page would appear to be both nearer the outer edge and lower down than its actual position, as if the
print were slipping off the page. Experts in such matters tell us that the aesthetic unit is not a single page, but that
the two pages shewn in one opening must be taken together, and that the margins to be of the correct width should
be in the following relative proportions: upper, 1; lower, 2; inner,!; outer, Ii.
The type used in books of to-day is usually one of three styles: Old Face, Old Style, or Modern Face. Specimens of
these are shewn on the opposite page. Besides these three styles of letter, other forms of type are occasionally used
in book work. A group of heavier faced types, generally called Antique, of which this paragraph gives an example, has
met with some favor. In a small size it is certainly clearer to read than ordinary type, but in the larger sizes the letters
do not sufficiently blend to make the word the apparent unit in the page, and the individual letters assert themselves
to the eye in reading.
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