To find out the position of the lines of lettering on a panel, the letter E is again taken and impressed five times at the side of the panel, as shown at fig. 92, leaving a little greater distance between the lowest letter and the bottom of the panel, than between the letters. The paper is then folded on the centre fold, and, with dividers set to the average distance between the head of one letter and the head of the next, five points are made through the folded paper. The paper is opened, turned over, and the points joined with a fine folder worked against the straight-edge. It should leave on the front five raised lines, up to which the head of the letters must be put.
The letters in the top line are counted, and the centre letter marked. Spaces between words are counted as a letter; thus in "THE WORKS," "W" will be the centre letter, and should be put on the paper first, and the others added on each side of it. Some thought is needed in judging where to put the centre, as the difference in the width of such letters as "M" and "W" and "I" and "J" have to be taken into account.
As a general rule, lettering looks best if it comfortably fills the panel, but of course it cannot always be made to do this. The greatest difficulty will be found in making titles of books that consist of a single word, look well. Thus if you have "CORIOLANUS" to place on a back which is not more than 5/8-inch wide, if it is put across as one word, as at fig. 95 (1), it will be illegible from the smallness of the type, and will tell merely as a gold line at a little distance. If a reasonably large type is used, the word must be broken up somewhat, as at (2), which is perhaps better, but still not at all satisfactory. The word may be put straight along the back, as at fig. (3), but this hardly looks well on a book with raised bands, and should be avoided unless necessary.
The use of type of different sizes in lettering a book should be avoided when possible, and on no account whatever should letters of different design be introduced. Occasionally, when the reason for it is obvious, it may be allowable to make a word shorter by putting in a small letter, supposing that only thus could reasonably large type be used. It is especially allowable in cases where, in a set of volumes, there is one much thinner than the others. It is generally better to make some compromise with the lettering of the thin volume, than to spoil the lettering of the whole set by using too small a letter throughout (see fig. 115).