ed from the
letter shown in 49. Figure 45 shows a similar and modernized employment of
a standard form of Uncial capital.

[Illustration: 46. ANGLO SAXON CAPITALS. 6th CENTURY]

[Illustration: 47. ANGLO SAXON CAPITALS. 7th CENTURY]

[Illustration: 48. ANGLO-SAXON CAPITALS. EARLY 10th CENTURY]

[Illustration: 49. EARLY ENGLISH CAPITALS. 16th CENTURY]

[52]

* * * * *

CHAPTER II

MODERN ROMAN LETTERS

The small or "minuscule" letter that we now use in all printed books
attained its modern and definitive form only after the invention of
printing. The first printed books were made to imitate, as closely as
possible, the handwritten work of the scribes of the early fifteenth
century, and as printing was first done in Germany, the earliest book types
were those modeled upon German scripts, somewhat similar to that shown in
141, and their condensed or blackletter variants. The Italian printers, of
a more classical taste, found the German types somewhat black and clumsy;
for though Gothic characters were also used in Italy, they had become
lighter and more refined there. The Italians, therefore, evolved a new form
of type letter, based upon the _Italian_ pen letters then in use, which
though fundamentally Gothic in form had been refined by amalgamation with
an earlier letter known as the "Caroline", from its origin under the
direction of Charlemagne. The "Caroline" was in its turn an imitation of
the Roman "Half-uncial." The close relationship of the first small type
letter forms in Italy with the current writing hand of the best Italian
scribes is well indicated by the legend that the "Italic," or sloped small
letter, was taken directly from the handwriting of Petrarch. The new
Italian types, in which classic capitals were combined with the newly
evolved minuscule [53] letters, were called "Roman" from the city of their
origin, and sprang into almost immediate popularity, spreading from Italy
into England, France and Spain. In Germany, on the other hand, the national
blackletter form persisted, and is still in use to-day.

The minuscule "Roman" letters thus evolved were developed to their most
perfect individual forms by the master-printers of Venice; and it is to the
models which they produced that we must revert to-day when we attempt to
devise or reproduce an elegant small letter of any conservative form. The
modern pen draughtsman should bear in mind, however, that, perfect as s