52. MODERN GERMAN BLACKLETTER. OTTO HUPP]

[Illustration: 153. MODERN BLACKLETTER. EDWIN A. ABBEY]

Figures 177 to 179 show some English Gothic letters, the last being that
employed so effectively in the pen-drawn page by Mr. Abbey, 153. Figures
180 to 184 illustrate various forms of Blackletter: 180 is from a German
brass, 182 illustrates an Italian pen form, and 183 and 184 show [141]
Blackletters drawn by Albrecht Duerer, the latter being the simplest and
strongest variant in this style. It is the same letter that is employed to
show Blackletter construction in diagram 144. Figure 185 shows the
well-known and unusually beautiful initials designed by Duerer. Figure 186
is a Blackletter from an English brass, although the letter forms in this
example, as well as those of many other English brasses, may perhaps have
been derived from Flanders, as many of the finest early Continental brasses
were imported from the Netherlands.

The Italian forms of Gothic Blackletters are generally too fussy and
finikin to be of practical value for modern use, though they often possess
suggestive value. The letters shown in 182 are fairly typical of the
characteristic Blackletter minuscules of Italy. Figure 187 exhibits an
example of beautiful lettering in the Italian style, redrawn from a rubbing
of an inlaid floor-slab in Santa Croce, Florence. The omission of capitals
in long, confined lines is typical of many Blackletter inscriptions, as may
be seen in 149, as well as in the plate just mentioned.

In view of the number of fine specimens of Blackletter which have been
handed down to us, it has been deemed [142] unnecessary to reproduce many
examples of its employment by modern draughtsmen. The pages by Mr. Goodhue,
188-9, have already been referred to; and figure 150 shows a very
consistent and representative use of similar letter forms by the same
designer. Figures 190 and 191 illustrate two modern varieties of
Blackletter, one very simple and the other very ornate. The small cuts, 151
and 152, show excellent modern Blackletters; the first, of unusually narrow
form, being by Herr Walter Puttner, and the second, with its flourished
initials, by Herr Otto Hupp.

[Illustration: 154. UNCIAL GOTHIC INITIALS. 12TH CENTURY. F. C. B.]

[Illustration: 155. UNCIAL GOTHIC INITIALS. 13TH CENTURY. F. C. B.]

[Illustration: 156. UNCIAL GOTHIC CAPITALS. 14TH CENTURY. F. C. B.]

[Illustration: 157. UNCIAL GOTHIC CAPITALS. 14TH CENTURY. F. C. B