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Canons of page construction

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Recto page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497)

The canons of page construction are a set of principles in the field of book design used to
describe the ways that page proportions, margins and type areas (print spaces) of books are
constructed.

The notion of canons, or laws of form, of book page construction was popularized by Jan
Tschichold in the mid to late twentieth century, based on the work of J. A. van de Graaf, Raúl
M. Rosarivo, Hans Kayser, and others.[1] Tschichold wrote “Though largely forgotten today,
methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve have been developed for centuries.
To produce perfect books these rules have to be brought to life and applied.”[2] Kayser's 1946
Ein harmonikaler Teilungskanon[3] had earlier used the term canon in this context.

Typographers and book designers apply these principles to this day, with variations related to
the availability of standardized paper sizes, and the diverse types of commercially printed
books.[4]

Contents
[hide]
 • 1 Van de Graaf canon
• 2 Golden canon
o 2.1 Interpretation of Rosarivo
o 2.2 John Man's interpretation of Gutenberg
o 2.3 Tschichold and the golden section
• 3 Current applications
• 4 See also
• 5 Footnotes
• 6 References
• 7 Further reading

• 8 External links

[edit] Van de Graaf canon

Van de Graaf devised this construction to show how Gutenberg and others may have divided
their page to achieve margins of one-ninth and two-ninths and a type area in the same
proportions as the page.

The Van de Graaf canon is a historical reconstruction of a method that may have been used in
book design to divide a page in pleasing proportions.[5] This canon is also known as the
"secret canon" used in many medieval manuscripts and incunabula.

The geometrical solution of the construction of Van de Graaf's canon, which works for any
page width:height ratio, enables the book designer to position the text body in a specific area
of the page. Using the canon, the proportions are maintained while creating pleasing and
functional margins of size 1/9 and 2/9 of the page size.[6] The resulting inside margin is one-
half of the outside margin, and of proportions 2:3:4:6 (inner:top:outer:bottom) when the page
proportion is 2:3 (more generally 1:R:2:2R for page proportion 1:R[7]). This method was
discovered by Van de Graaf, and used by Tschichold and other contemporary designers; they
speculate that it may be older.[8]

The page proportions vary, but most commonly used is the 2:3 proportion. Tschichold writes
"For purposes of better comparison I have based his figure on a page proportion of 2:3, which
Van de Graaf does not use."[9] In this canon the text area and page size are of same
proportions, and the height of the text area equals the page width. This canon was popularized
by Jan Tschichold in his book The Form of the Book.[1]

Robert Bringhurst, in his The Elements of Typographic Style, asserts that the proportions that
are useful for the shapes of pages are equally useful in shaping and positioning the textblock.
This was often the case in medieval books, although later on in the Renaissance, typographers
preferred to apply a more polyphonic page in which the proportions of page and textblock
would differ.[10]

[edit] Golden canon

Tschichold's "golden canon of page construction" here illustrated by a synthesis of

Tschichold's figure thereof, with the diagonals and circle, combined with Rosarivo's
construction by division of the page into ninths. These two constructions rely on the 2:3 page
ratio to give a type area height equal to page width as demonstrated by the circle, and result in
margin proportions 2:3:4:6. For other page ratios, Rosarivo's method of ninths is equivalent to
van de Graaf's canon, as Tschichold observed.

Medieval manuscript framework according to Tschichold, in which a text area proportioned

near the golden ratio is constructed. "Page proportion is 2:3, text area proportioned in the
Golden Section."[9]

Tschichold's "golden canon of page construction"[1] is based on simple integer ratios,

equivalent to Rosarivo's "typographical divine proportion."[11]

[edit] Interpretation of Rosarivo

Raúl Rosarivo analyzed Renaissance books with the help of a drafting compass and a ruler,
and concluded in his Divina proporción tipográfica ("Typographical Divine Proportion", first
published in 1947) that Gutenberg, Peter Schöffer, Nicolaus Jenson and others had applied the
golden canon of page construction in their works.[12] According to Rosarivo, his work and
assertion that Gutenberg used the "golden number" 2:3, or "secret number" as he called it, to
establish the harmonic relationships between the diverse parts of a work,[13] was analyzed by
experts at the Gutenberg Museum and re-published in the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, its official
magazine.[14] Ros Vicente points out that Rosarivo "demonstrates that Gutenberg had a
module different from the well-known one of Luca Paccioli" (the golden ratio).[14]
Tschichold also interprets Rosarivo's golden number as 2:3, saying:

In figure 5 the height of the type area equals the width of the page: using a page proportion of
2:3, a condition for this canon, we get one-ninth of the paper width for the inner margin, two-
ninths for the outer or fore-edge margin, one-ninth of the paper height for the top, and two-
ninths for the bottom margin. Type area and paper size are of equal proportions. ... What I
uncovered as the canon of the manuscript writers, Raul Rosarivo proved to have been
Gutenberg's canon as well. He finds the size and position of the type area by dividing the page
diagonal into ninths.[9]

The figures he refers to are reproduced in combination here.

[edit] John Man's interpretation of Gutenberg

Historian John Man suggests that Gutenberg's Bible page was based on the golden ratio
(commonly approximated as the decimal 0.618 or the ratio 5:8), and that the printed area also
had that shape.[15] He quotes the dimensions of Gutenberg's half-folio Bible page as 30.7 x
44.5 cm, a ratio of 1:1.45, close to Rosarivo's golden 2:3 (1.5) but not to the golden ratio
1.618.

[edit] Tschichold and the golden section

Building on Rosarivo's work, contemporary experts in book design such as Jan Tschichold
and Richard Hendel assert as well that the page proportion of the golden section (21:34) has
been used in book design, in manuscripts, and incunabula, mostly in those produced between
1550 and 1770. Hendel writes that since Gutenberg's time, books have been most often
printed in an upright position, that conform loosely, if not precisely, to the golden ratio.[16]

Tschichold's drawing of an octavo-format page proportioned in the golden ratio or golden

section "34:21". The text area and margin proportions are determined by the starting page
proportions.

These page proportions based on the golden section or golden ratio, are usually described
through its convergents such as 2:3, 5:8, and 21:34.

Tschichold says that common ratios for page proportion used in book design include as 2:3,
1:√3, and the golden section. The image with circular arcs depicts the proportions in a
medieval manuscript, that according to Tschichold feature a "Page proportion 2:3. Margin
proportions 1:1:2:3. Text area in accord with the Golden Section. The lower outer corner of
the text area is fixed by a diagonal as well."[17] By accord with the golden section, he does not
mean exactly equal to, which would conflict with the stated proportions.

Tschichold refers to a construction equivalent to van de Graaf's or Rosarivo's with a 2:3 page
ratio as "the Golden Canon of book page construction as it was used during late Gothic times
by the finest of scribes." For the canon with the arc construction, which yields a text area ratio
closer to the golden ratio, he says "I abstracted from manuscripts that are older yet. While
beautiful, it would hardly be useful today."[18]

Of the different page proportions that such a canon can be applied to, he says "Book pages
come in many proportions, i.e., relationships between width and height. Everybody knows, at
least from hearsay, the proportion of the Golden Section, exactly 1:1.618. A ratio of 5:8 is no
more than an approximation of the Golden Section. It would be difficult to maintain the same
opinion about a ratio of 2:3."[19]

Tschichold also expresses a preference for certain ratios over others: "The geometrically
definable irrational page proportions like 1:1.618 (Golden Section), 1:√2, 1:√3, 1:√5, 1:1.538,
and the simple rational proportions of 1:2, 2:3, 5:8 and 5:9 I call clear, intentional and
definite. All others are unclear and accidental ratios. The difference between a clear and an
unclear ratio, though frequently slight, is noticeable. ... Many books show none of the clear
proportions, but accidental ones."[20]

John Man's quoted Gutenberg page sizes are in a proportion not very close to the golden ratio,
[15]
but Rosarivo's or van de Graaf's construction is applied by Tschichold to make a pleasing
text area on pages of arbitrary proportions, even such accidental ones.

[edit] Current applications

Richard Hendel, associate director of the University of North Carolina Press, describes book
design as a craft with its own traditions and a relatively small body of accepted rules.[21] The
dust cover of his book, On Book Design, features the Van de Graaf canon.

Christopher Burke, in his book on German typographer Paul Renner, creator of the Futura
typeface, described his views about page proportions:

Renner still championed the traditional proportions of margins, with the largest at the bottom
of a page, 'because we hold the book by the lower margin when we take it in the hand and
read it'. This indicates that he envisioned a small book, perhaps a novel, as his imagined
model. Yet he struck a pragmatic note by adding that the traditional rule for margin
proportions cannot be followed as a doctrine: for example, wide margins for pocket books
would be counter-productive. Similarly, he refuted the notion that the type area must have the
same proportions as the page: he preferred to trust visual judgment in assessing the placement
of the type area on the page, instead of following a pre-determined doctrine.[22]

Bringhurst describes a book page as a tangible proportion, which together with the textblock
produce an antiphonal geometry, which has the capability to bind the reader to the book, or
conversely put the reader's nerve on edge or drive the reader away.[23]

[edit] See also

 • Book
• Grid
• Page layout

[edit] Footnotes
1. ^ a b c Tschichold, Jan, The Form of the Book. p.46, Hartley & Marks (1991),
ISBN 0-88179-116-4.
2. ^ As cited in Hendel, Richard. On Book Design, p.7
3. ^ Hans Kayser, Ein harmonikaler Teilungskanon: Analyse einer
geometrischen Figur im Bauhüttenbuch Villard de Honnecourt (A canon for
harmonious page division: analysis of a geometric figure in Bauhaus book of Villard
de Honnecourt). Zurich: Occident-Verlag, 1946. cited by web page loaded 2006-09-11
Writings on Villard de Honnecourt, 1900-1949 "An article-length (p. 32) attempt to
demonstrate the use of Pythagorian musical proportion as the basis for the geometry in
three of Villard's figures: fol. 18r, two figures at the bottom; and fol. 19r, rightmost
figure in the second row from the top. While the geometric design itself is
unquestionably that generated from the Pythagorian monochord, Kayser does not
convince the reader that Villard understood its musical basis. Kayser apparently
worked from photographs of the original folios, and the significance of Kayser's claim
may be summarized in his own admission (p.30) that Villard's geometry does not
match that of the Pythagorean design when correctly drawn."
4. ^ Egger, Willi. "Help! The Typesetting Area" (PDF). De Nederlandstalige
TeX Gebruikersgroep. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
5. ^ Van de Graaf, J. A. , Nieuwe berekening voor de vormgeving. (1946) (as
cited by Tschichold and others; original not examined)
6. ^ Tschichold, Jan, The Form of the Book. pp.28,37,48,51,58,61,138,167,174,
Hartley & Marks (1991), ISBN 0-88179-116-4.
7. ^ Max, Stanley M. (2010) "The 'Golden Canon' of book-page construction:
proving the proportions geometrically," Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 4:3,
137-141. [1]
8. ^ Hurlburt, Allen, Grid: A Modular System for the Design and Production of
Newspapers, Magazines, and Books, p.71, John Wiley and Sons (1982) ISBN 0-471-
28923-X
9. ^ a b c Tschichold , The Form of the Book p.45
10. ^ Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, p.163
11. ^ Rosarivo, Raúl M., Divina proporción tipográfica, La Plata, Argentina
(1953). Previous editions: 1948 and 1947. Brief discussion about his work, is available
online in Spanish [2]
12. ^ Carreras, Fabián, "Rosarivo 1903 - 2003". Retrieved 2008-03-16.
13. ^ Rosarivo, Raúl M., Divina proporción tipográfica, La Plata, Argentina, "[...]
el número de oro o número clave en que Gutenberg se basó para establecer las
relaciones armónicas que guardan las diversas partes de una obra"
14. ^ a b Ros, Vicente, Infodiversidad. Ral Mario Rosarivo o el amor al libro,
Sociedad de Investigaciones Bibilotecológicas, Argentina Vol. 7 (2004) Available
online (Spanish) (PDF)
15. ^ a b Man, John, Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Word
(2002) pp.166–67, Wiley, ISBN 0-471-21823-5. "The half-folio page (30.7 x 44.5 cm)
was made up of two rectangles — the whole page and its text area — based on the so
called 'golden section', which specifies a crucial relationship between short and long
 sides, and produces an irrational number, as pi is, but is a ratio of about 5:8 (footnote:
The ratio is 0.618.... ad inf commonly rounded to 0.625)"
16. ^ Hendel, Richard, On Book Design, p.34, Yale University Press (1998), ISBN
0-300-07570-7
17. ^ Tschichold , The Form of the Book, p.43 Fig 4. "Framework of ideal
proportions in a medieval manuscript without multiple columns. Determined by Jan
Tschichold 1953. Page proportion 2:3. margin proportions 1:1:2:3, Text area
proportioned in the Golden Section. The lower outer corner of the text area is fixed by
a diagonal as well." (in the Dutch version, "letterveld volgens de Gulden Snede" —
text area in accord with the Golden Section)
18. ^ Tschichold , The Form of the Book p.44
19. ^ Tschichold , The Form of the Book, p.37
20. ^ Tschichold , The Form of the Book pp.37–38
21. ^ Hendel, Richard, On Book Design pp.1–5
22. ^ Christopher, Burke, Paul Renner: The Art of Typography, Princeton
Architectural Press, 1999, ISBN 1-56898-158-9
23. ^ Bringhurst, The elements of typographic style (1999), p.145

[edit] References
• Bringhurst, Robert (1999). The elements of typographic style. Point Roberts, WA:
Hartley & Marks. p. 145. ISBN 0-88179-132-6.
• Burke, Christopher. Paul Renner : The Art of Typography. New York: Princeton
Architectural Press. ISBN 1-56898-158-9.
• Egger, Willi, Help! The Typesetting Area (PDF) (shows the Van de Graaf canon and a
variant that divides the page into twelfths)
• Hendel, Richard (1998). On book design. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.
ISBN 0-300-07570-7.
• Infodiversidad. Ral Mario Rosarivo o el amor al libro, Sociedad de Investigaciones
Bibilotecológicas, Argentina Vol. 7 (2004)
• Hurlburt, Allen. Grid: A Modular System for the Design and Production of
Newspapers, Magazines, and Books. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-28923-X.
• Rosarivo, Raúl M., Divina proporción tipográfica, La Plata, Argentina (1953).
Previous editions: 1948 and 1947
• Tschichold, Jan (1991). The form of the book: essays on the morality of good design.
Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-116-4.

[edit] Further reading

• Elam, Kimberly (2001). Geometry of design: studies in proportion and composition.
New York: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-56898-249-6.
• Luca Pacioli, De Divina Proportione (1509) (the originator of the excitement over the
golden ratio)
• Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut, Five Centuries of Book Design: A Survey of Styles in the
Columbia Library, Columbia University, (1931)

[edit] External links

• "A Tribute to Richard Eckersley: British-born Book Designer".
• "Consistent Correlation Between Book Page and Type Area". chapter from The Form
of the Book
• "Rosarivo - Divina proporción tipográfica" (in Spanish).

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