The whole effect is very brilliant and charming. The freedom and naturalness of the "design" remind one of a country hedgerow (p. 213), and show that vital beauty which is the essence of true illumination.
_PLATE XXIV.--Inscription cut in Stone by A. E. R. Gill, 1903 A.D. Reduced (3/16 scale). NOTE.--To view these incised letters have light on the left of plate (or cover with thin tissue-paper)._
The STONE--a slab of "Hopton Wood" (p. 395), 30 inches by 18 inches by 2 inches, is intended to go over a lintel. It has a simple moulding. Note how the INSCRIPTION occupies the space (pp. 352, 394): the LETTERS have approximately the same _apparent weight_ (p. 328)--the large stems are more than twice the _height_ of the small; they are only 1/3 _wider_. [p487]
Note the strongly marked and elegantly curved serifs; the straight-tailed R; the I drawn out (marking the word IN); the _beaked_ A, M, and N; the Capital form of «U».
The letters DEO would be rather wide for ordinary use (p. 270), but as _special_ letters, occupying a wide space,^1 are permissible.
Even in the collotype, I think this inscription shows to what a high level modern inscription cutting might be raised by the use of good models and right and simple methods.
____________________ 1 Letters in early inscriptions separated as these are indicated _each_ a word (contracted), as S. P. Q. R. (_Senatus Populus Que Romanus_).
Acquiring a Formal Hand: (1) Tools, 48 (2) Methods, 61 (3) Models, 70 (4) Practice, 85
Alphabets, useful kinds of, 267, 377, 390
(Amperzand; _Examples._--Figs. 50, 79, 148, 172, 173, 208 & Plates)
Arrangement of Lettering, 88, 122, 239, 255-268, 389
"_Ascenders_" and _Ascending strokes_, 79, 97, 119, 300, 314
Binding books, 346, 103, 106, 110, 111, 171, 185, 197
Books, binding, 346, 103, 106, 110, 111, 171, 185, 197
Borders, Illuminated, 98, 198-203, 211, 214, 427-430
Brush-made (painted) letters, 376, 280, (118), 292, 384
"Built-up" letters, 291, 118-119, 254, 289, 331
Burnished gold, 160, 184 (see also _Gold_)
Capitals, arrangement of, 256, 258; (in Lines, Headings & Pages) 125-126, 128-136, 299, 422
Capitals, coloured, 113, 118, 122, 123, 134, 185
Capitals & _Small letters_, 40, 112, 122, 302
Capitals, _simple-written_, 123, 297, 302