letters illegible.

No style permits more of liberty in the treatment of its separate letter
forms than the Blackletter. The same letter may require a different outline
at the beginning of a word than in the middle or at the end. The ascenders
and descenders may be drawn so short as hardly to transcend the guide lines
of the minuscules, or may grow into [136] flourishes up and down, to the
right or to the left, to fill awkward blanks. Indeed so variable are these
forms that in ancient examples it is often difficult to recognize an
individual letter apart from its context.

The two pages drawn by Mr. Goodhue, 188 and 189, deserve careful study as
examples of modern use of the Blackletter. It will be observed that almost
as many variants of each letter are employed as the number used would
permit, thus giving the panel variety and preventing any appearance of
monotony or rigidity. Notice the freedom and variety of the swash lines in
the capitals, and yet that each version is quite as graceful, logical and
original as any of its variants.

The examples of old lettering reproduced in figures 147, 148 and 149,
together with the drawings by Mr. Goodhue, will indicate the proper spacing
of Blackletter; but in most of the pages here devoted to illustrating the
individual forms the letters have been spaced too wide for their proper
effect that each separate shape might be shown distinctly. The style
appears at its best in compositions which fill a panel of more or less
geometrical form, as, for example, the beautiful title-page reproduced in
147. Could anything be more delightful to the eye than its rich blackness,
energetic lines, and refreshing virility? In this design surely we have a
specimen that, from the proportion and balance of its blacks, is more
effective than anything which could have been accomplished by the use of
the more rigid Roman letter; but despite its many beauties it suffers from
the inherent weakness of the individual letter forms,--it is more effective
than readable!

[Illustration: 147. ITALIAN BLACKLETTER TITLE-PAGE. JACOPUS FORESTI, 1497]

[Illustration: 148. GERMAN BLACKLETTER PAGE. ALBRECHT DUeRER, 1515]

[Illustration: 149. GERMAN MEMORIAL BRASS. MEISSEN, 1510]

[Illustration: 150. MODERN AMERICAN COVER IN BLACKLETTER. B. G. GOODHUE]

Another excellent example of the old use of Blackletter is the page from
the prayerbook of the Emperor Maximilian, [138] shown in 148, in which
observe again th