sche Triumph-Gothisch.' The Golden type has
perhaps fared worse in being remodelled in the United States, whence,
with much of its character lost, it has found its way back to England
under the names 'Venetian,' 'Italian,' and 'Jenson.' It is strange that
no one has yet had the good sense to have the actual type of Nicholas
Jenson reproduced.
The third type used at the Kelmscott Press, called the 'Chaucer,'
differs from the Troy type only in size, being Pica instead of Great
Primer. It was cut by Mr. Prince between February and May, 1892, and was
ready in June. Its first appearance is in the list of chapters and
glossary of The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, which was issued on
November 24th, 1892.
On June 2nd of that year, William Morris wrote to Mr. Prince: 'I believe
in about three months' time I shall be ready with a new set of sketches
for a fount of type on English body.' These sketches were not
forthcoming; but on Nov. 5th, 1892, he bought a copy of Augustinus De
Civitate Dei, printed at the Monastery of Subiaco near Rome by Sweynheym
and Pannartz, with a rather compressed type, which appears in only three
known books. He at once designed a lower case alphabet on this model,
but was not satisfied with it and did not have it cut. This was his last
actual experiment in the designing of type, though he sometimes talked
of designing a new fount, and of having the Golden type cut in a larger
size.
Next in importance to the type are the initials, borders, and ornaments
designed by William Morris. The first book contains a single recto
border and twenty different initials. In the next book, Poems by the
Way, the number of different initials is fifty-nine. These early
initials, many of which were soon discarded, are for the most part
suggestive, like the first border, of the ornament in Italian
manuscripts of the fifteenth century. In Blunt's Love Lyrics there are
seven letters of a new alphabet, with backgrounds of naturalesque
grapes and vine leaves, the result of a visit to Beauvais, where the
great porches are carved with vines, in August, 1891. From that time
onwards fresh designs were constantly added, the tendency being always
towards larger foliage and lighter backgrounds, as the early initials
were found to be sometimes too dark for the type. The total number of
initials of various sizes designed for the Kelmscott Press, including a
few that were engraved but never used, is three hundred and eighty-fo
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