SOME SUGGESTIONS ON LETTERING

1. The lettering of a drawing is part of its clothing and has mueh to do with its appearance. Bad letter-
ing on a drawing, even though the drawing itself may be perfectly drawn, spoils its appearance. Good lettering
is therefore a necessary requirement. By good lettering is not meant fancy lettering, but letters that are simple,
neat and clear. This any student can acquire with practice.
2. First steps. The first thing that is necessary for the beginner is to fix accurately in his mind the form
of each letter. To practice making a letter without knowing its form is futile. Many students try to make letters
and fail to make progress because they have not observed their form closely.
It is sufficient to get one style of alphabet and get it well. If after acquiring one style of alphabet the stu-
dent Avishes to vary his lettering by using other styles of letters he can do so. But only one style of letters should
be used in the same word, sentence, or paragraph, as dilTerent styles of letters should not be mixed. Practice is
necessary for all students, the amount of which varies Avith each individual, and the more care that is exercised
in practicing, the more rapid will be the progress.
3. The Alphabet.
There are two types of letters, known as the upper case and loAver case, so-called from the position they
occupy in the printer's type case. The upper case, or capitals, are shown in Fig. a; the lower case, or small letters
in Fig. b. _,.
Fig. a.

ABCDEPGHIJKLMMNNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
f\ABCDtf^GHIJKLMMNNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
/2334-/I-5677Q9
Fig. b.

a bcdefg h ij k I m nopq rstu vwx Ljz 123456789

a bcdefg h/j k I m nopqrstuvwx yz
This style of making the alphabet is in substance the Reinhardt letters, from the name of its author, Mr.
C.W. Reinhardt. The object of the author Avas to produce a letter that Avas clear and neat and easily and rapidly
made freehand. As this style, or some modification of it, has been most universally used recently, Ave shall adopt
it for the student to practice in this course.
 4. Aids to the Memory.
?''" '°' "'^ ^'""^-t of ««»' '""• l'>- 1"'"".'^ -..,!.,
.r«„„/' t/"'""^ 'V™'<>"*^-- ""i '"""
groups. Thus .n the lower cas. letters Obdgp , are Q nd q
very „u,,h U.. «a T,,. !..„„
,,,,.,., h,

.Uh-, ,
a
very slight change forms the letters
dgq
In the letters and
.
b R
the sa,„e loop r.-v.-se,! ,s p,„ ,.„ „„ .-.„„
s.de of the straight line of the

u
letter a
Another group ismnhruy.mnhrLave ,«,y slight dif-
erences. is the n
upside down and
y
has only a small addition to the straight line
IS made with the larger
loop at the bottom to give it a more stable
of The u S
appear'anee The +
iTenle
When ZZTl': "" '
the d.stanee between t^
"^''^ '"' ""^'^ ™'
'^'' °' + -'^^^ '-"' "«' '» >'- tpp r
the two upper guide lines is 1/32 of an
,s snnnlv'a strai.H

meh or less when it sliouFd e«™,l

line J, Z ITT
..pper ,„ide l,„e. Care should
be taken not to make the

""""' '"""' ""

and V
with curved lines thus W or U) W V W
bar is
IS IT'"/,'"
onhe guide line
' "" '^ °""" "'"""' '"""""' '"^ "'"«' ^-'i'' '-- -dthe cross.
as in The
f letter
J
is the letter f reversed with no cross-bar and a dot
added
°"'"'""" '""" '" """
--'-"'"-^PR-VW-MNH A
M NM AA S T""''
variation .„
N/t
4- '^5 .
he noticed.__This variation in
M and [Sj ,s used to save space because the sides
can be

™nrn;t:;:th:rmThe:pp:r^rt^"' ^ are-made sma,, the variation is desirable to prevent-he-inrfr:;;;

ing fufly t^oTe .^^e Hies°lf

[oratd^'^bj^l^^^'lris-'b^sff^\Lil;f::e^^fp:,Yn^"lr^it /""-
Alter some pr actice two ,„ide lines will
suffice. The distance apart%f Sr^id^e Ces'lslu^Jly'inTe
"'^t
>^—
'folfowi^'^
p y-\
"^
proportion: /V /^

should^pifctri tIelltt""th^Vse:i;:;.rosrn^t''uraT,:
iZ^-^JL-^cT.k^ntt'liot'-'Vl'rfr ','r^'"™- -^"^ ^'^t'''
urn perreet letters ot ditterent
slant present an uneven, untidy appearance. For ex-
ample /V^j^^^^^j^y (incorrect) /vj^^^^^^^^y (correct).

case Jteri!rt,re'b|?h?mosIf;u1S
8. Lettenng Pens. The choice of a lettering
tj^ ^^^^^(.'^^l^
pen varies with the uiuiviuiuu.
individual A (iillntf
Uriiiott Nr.
^^'^^Z '''-'''-
"^nc! .
•
^" '<'-"

medium stiffness and used hv manv drnftcmoT, Th^. r.« u ^ j .\ iNo. dOd is a pen of

a litUc to round oH th^^L^p^ c^Sf

tiT;"o Jed-'an^rrSu^id l^oiilrrpn^falst^ilL-d'" "" '"'"'' ^'^
 ^ree /iana/ Leffer/ng^ LoiyerCa5d_
/Vafo/ra/ ^/an f ^
atcQfefgh/jk//77nopg'r^7'-U)/^X(/z abcc/efgh/jk/mnopqrstuvi/vxL/y -^ \,
'

^
aJbcdefgi7/jk/mr7opqr5tZ/Vwxyz
Lower case /effers are not a// t/ie same /7e/gf/if. The^/ are c//y/dec^ /r?to ti^o
groups. T/7e f/rst <group /s ore space /'r /le/g/rf: T/ye secorof is ore arof ore-ho/f spaces.
Vertical Letters
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijkimnopqr5tu\/wxy2
The usual dimensions for \rzz hand lowercase letters are one eighth of an inch high
for ox\z space letters and three sixteenths of an inch high for wt and one-half s/oace
leffers. Letters are about the same height as \N\(^\y\.
One 5pace Letters, Natura/ S/anf.
ace/mnorsai^wxz- ace/mnorsuyiA/xz' ace/mnorsui/ivxz
Or\t Space Letters, Veri\ca\
aceimnor5Uvwx2 aceimnorsi/ivwxz jiceimnorsuv^wxz
One arc/. Ore tialt ^pace L et ters, A/afofra/ J/ant
ha/f/7k/tgfjpgi/ bo/t/ik/tgjpqy bo/tfyk/tgjpgy
One and One Half Space Letters, Vertical
\

\
wcttmc/iL omwm
bdf hKiltgjpqu bdfhkltgjpqy ~_zilplatl: NO.
Letters ot S/mj/ar rorm
lc>o''^'^^l+gjpq^
^
'^/?^E/iAA/DLf:TTE/?//\/G/VO/
^?
ceoadggbp hmn'rofofj k/tti/v/xz s ceoaofgg^p "^a 72A//l/^/?S/TKiPrA/£-S/F/lJ/C4
ceoadgqbp hmnruyj kitfwixz 5 ceoaolgqbp —. Jn/VCOLN