Design History Society

Asymmetric Page Design in Lithographed Books of the Nineteenth Century: The Convergence
of Manuscript and Printing
Author(s): Michael Twyman
Source: Journal of Design History, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1992), pp. 5-17
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Design History Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1315849 .
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MichaelTwyman
Asymmetric Page Design in Lithographed
Books of the Nineteenth Century: the
of Manuscript and
Convergence Printing

This paper is a by-product of a recent book, Early is, of course, partly the product of the manuscript
LithographedBooks, and takes up one particular age: the essential form of the codex, at least in terms
aspect of design that could only be referred to there of the placing of its text on the page, was determined
in passing.' The book is about publications of the very early on in its history. The typical book of the
nineteenth century that were produced by the then middle ages was treated as a sequence of double-
new process of lithography. The period it covers was page spreads and the handling of illustrative and
that of the lithographic hand press which, for the decorative work in such books often reinforced the
purposes of commercial printing, can loosely be concept of the spread. The early convention of folia-
defined as the first three-quarters of the nineteenth tion (numbering of leaves) rather than pagination
century. The kinds of publications discussed in it (numbering of pages) in both manuscript and
range widely in terms of their subject matter, date, printed books, though ostensibly concerned with the
and provenance, but they have in common that their leaf itself, was in some senses a recognition of the
text matter, in addition to any illustrative matter they priority of the spread over the page.2 The pages of
might have, was produced by lithography. There medieval manuscript books were organized in a form
were several ways in which lithography could be that some twentieth-century designers have called
used in book production at the time, but the vast bi-lateral symmetry.3In this context the term simply
majority of the publications discussed had their texts means that two facing pages of a book are broadly
written out by hand. This was done either by writing mirrorimages of one another. The normal form of bi-
backwards on to lithographic stone or by writing in lateral symmetry in medieval books involved small
the normal way on transfer paper so that the image margins at the head and back, a larger margin at the
could then be transferredto stone. fore-edge, and the largest of all at the foot. There
The focal point of this paper is the problem that were, of course, considerable variations to this
must have faced the designers of such publications general approach, particularlyin relation to the size
when confronted with two sets of apparently con- of margins compared with the text area, but by and
flicting conventions that had hitherto been kept large it applied regardless of the kind of book,
separate: those of handwritten documents on the whether the writing was in one or more columns,
one hand and printed book production on the other. and across many countries and centuries. This was
In particular, it is concerned with the ways in which the convention that was taken over in the middle of
facing pages of text were handled, since it is in this the fifteenth century by the new technology of print-
area that a compromise between handwritten docu- ing, and early printers saw no reason to change a
ments and the 'orthodox' book was so difficult to practice that had worked well from various points of
achieve. Though seemingly a relatively unimportant view [1]. The custom of having small head and back
matter, problems of the kind faced by those who margins had some economic justification in the
made design decisions in relation to lithographed manuscript age, at least when pages were written
books of the nineteenth century were not confined to four to view on expensive parchment, and similar
that period: as the closing paragraphs of this paper economic and practicalarguments could be made for
indicate, they provide a foretaste of an issue that was the continuation of the practice in printing.
to become central to twentieth-century book design This orthodox approach to page organization has
and typographic thinking. since been supported for quite different reasons. The
What is referred to above as the 'orthodox' book main, though rarely stated, argument for bi-lateral
Journalof Design HistoryVol.5 No. 1 ? 1992 TheDesign HistorySociety 5

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 rafmul l oa> F 31S a
;. Nuia pli plitulis ai lai
iturnibo Iuit , e.ll; a, , Rm.?. i.lcem FmnU ^ 2.t Olct :.
mataf.i-mr in pma
a mrai.caE
lar.nftini
m~r ct ct
bi:s nounirlus itbtiar) CLniFn.ln
gunl?rKi ittn.i . mm;c
ort
*uld~rlsebiri~c~p
Domtdbicaanlil aopltm Eattnn
~ir~~ltran1m Tli ic 31 K rar
o. etfic
oinb;iObinfriqit c mrX
c!iianpZcnrkiat.
r$c.r chn?orrcr.t
?? m.~,: e ;;rU
Ot 1 Petrus de Crescentiis, Ruralia
aeniainilis hrs
mfitil inmie mii sh, ot f cr Commoda,printed in Augsburg
pr
eno paliim.~c plmmt
fihp
peb einet
t
pulrm ~[anna Pt~ eiuOpuhu~re
J'ibmiamoil'r- pulwe tr:
. w?wi^;r.
Xpdiitt~arMim*vcuwiMinOngui
riaMaoiffi.A....mFrn;
De Tka^^
catiptfmal
la ^ by Johann Schussler in 1471. The
i
:cp.raur
,rd r3j
nrcp .n?.~?, ,b.,r^tw$ .ir text areas of this book, like those
vls~.t,annt .lltor r, l ~ilnic ;o us abuv"
~ltu-,~s,.b
mb i 'la.,.. daroa of most books published since,
c~mibiart s ~luri
bnalt a 6to t wntmio&i
a
i-.=l r.i-icluimbn:icee
ir'Wfir :i bbrv m,
nn3l ha. a-r r
nutt.ctaunbaioleoi mi
.&aotfim l.l a Bf arrreanb
qalrr c tme
onr
.nca.Opl are arranged on the principle of
n trn.EJi- . D;c anora
uaqtpoNmetnoIto CE 1
Page size
o c
vwat"tonanoax
..
{;enrunowii
bNaIactere
t.
'
&knnnu
uttrtir.o iOa-n. pLt
T.acr
orrnrp atctp
bi-lateral symmetry. Pa
'ri in mi m ur.miircirr-rt
pul-nma ffidiat n autnilo mm
aWaMcit q d tnmlo rpF-iia t: - igiuoap r;r.i
niAt< ni? irIn .b ipulluhtit r ill93
2 X 210
C
nitid .lqt rat~ c;oaois- akolta rtipti ePrpff .aa f ri
-tr-t
inakx(pti-a3 .
ri d aiLttnrina
v ill vno ttuwot ea t (mpahmata ab ia wointe.
ca dtfi {qiiSimf nictberoicf 'uit in Dmnr.i E. Fi tlonje.
a Erp:Iranl icfrii>bl outt
aagMttn
cdlbnra 33e erpic<ar;? ~:,<lny
p ff
Ftlanta mlir.uen i.ur cl inyrcariflrti
r
rptiuA rltT agiaatqtblh - m mou fapiti madia nr.
t c
. ari m a FEiaacrmatic
aiiah btrJp-c oilaqlrg fait Jlf
bn pengpil
plia ia-
<a~erc c in rlao g Di. tfci2c9 h nminuia biuio>iF fi Ef;it Cl
plfnt.rf,iE icit q, ri rpicul. ale
ponat i
Jruraet puluaiste 17panni aibdlntt. tuc onfi3 2
naq-.
t na
rtq a's
in ea famimilb il qaio i9i?
rpicu.i poiit poni rf[ub
fol'm r.fi-cc tiFm i thongitoi q rmtre h' inetGiacica
Ilinimii: mrl pLi=nt efrtnrflonc,Sur
rraim aIiu nala
(cpt .-fi it mm?bui
ainit fe.atprnt
nit mi nrtmlTar
mRnfn ti pantii spanirI a puil conhfrtntcttlina dbopmmor
op
asnrepat-w ir
virui eboLm fi
uisftsidia .
i tponranRtStk imponal imnAfo-mi e?*rsrif. 'r 6pieio utfi.. torei:io inauDt. r n ?t5porunt
, o m ia carmtl psin
u Ii kio aX ioY~tpur .i.t i ain2 1
!ip tmabfitE.olaiis;.aopItnp'i'S, i m.iliii:
iuam oflt? t araaohmftmo pim{Pi ab cancp.i{ ut i* (sc fit amjpAMp emmmtnr. t mma.
i p ipAo
a"'?9 aidt , imaa&.1 ib IxrbatuD.i:ier iin. 1 dog
Ju u t; :
vlnMpu nizurettjau garnCnlc uo :
['n LrT
s e{ie a
pUoa ft r fh9
i
ci GrudCoZp9 iminatui . erptfloy .tco io bociYS3i.urr..er voIro cifo.lat fRtmadcbu
erpiium catuai tt i in fco-u .etali oisomlid. intdlnspq affRiita rarCnrpeit eot rinna t aulxhFe
u wanldhe
upttrrinlnibr.
flVStubtiRrtRlliw nnialm
ramov alori onriuo-ina i ua-a.Eyunprlrip u >pahacr
t lia opetir mreoire inmnui ll Easa in aq figuiria roluuir.{lfomnti
te d :,aq tacotJo Pitmi.
Tciainl ongiu alRortmtt
u ont
a .at. C fnrigUm tfadt et De tTa
?alcaa- t in ?flo poita rmpinupp.fit ""
tr.ci mihciar.
rzmla capi-.oinf o;ioia
altt't lirin rc o lm ?^ p'.: t ilctrianimlebtcn.a
fiar. roPo in p nmK m:
c. crfuraS :
Ilmal i tf t'oritatC,tirvinu tecxaioi ? ctaitanifi
et coi DEa!ori unitnr m arabil Ina LtrtcLatbia. ,, oli,,iiin ~reido

symmetry is that the book as an artefact is sym- on printing he wrote with Emery Walker that was
metrical: when open it has a clear central axis. The published in Arts and CraftsEssays in 1893 [2]. He
argument for symmetry in book design is more con- included it to reinforce the point that the unit of the
vincing than any that can be applied to symmetry in, book should be looked on as 'the two pages forming
for example, architecture. It has been supported by an opening'.6 The issue of whether a reader is
numerous writers on typography from William conscious of the double spread when actually read-
Morris to Jan Tschichold, many of whom have ing is one that rarely enters into discussions of such
sought some rational basis for the position of text on matters.
the page and the proportions of margins.4 Some of The history of page design in handwritten docu-
these arguments take into account the golden mean, ments is less clear, but by the beginning of the
some the ratio of i to the square root of 2, others are sixteenth century it seems that those responsible for
based on positions defined by the points of inter- the writing of administrative documents had already
section of notional 'construction' lines. In very developed conventions of text organization that were
general terms these approaches relate to similar very different from those adopted in medieval manu-
attempts to find a rational justification for aesthetic script books. The principal concern of those produc-
decisions in architecture, painting, and letterform ing administrative documents-many of which had
design.5 Whatever one's opinions about such to do with legal matters-was to make sure that they
theories may be, they have exercised a powerful could not easily be altered or added to. For this
influence on the positioning of text areas in books reason, spaces at the ends of lines of text were filled
over the years and have helped to encourage the in with flourishes, much as we are encouraged to put
view that what counts in book design is the double a dash after sums of money when making out
spread rather than the single page. It would surely cheques today. For similar reasons, flourishes or
be difficult to support the view that a single page of initials were written at the foot of each page of a
text with small margins at its head and back looks document [3]. The convention survives in French
well on its own. Centuries of letterpress book legal documents to this day. The idea of placing the
production demonstrate the importance of the writing area asymmetrically on pages, with a large
double spread and, at least from Morris's time, it margin to the left and a very small one to the right,
has been promoted as the primary design unit of the can therefore be seen as the consequence of our left
printed book. Morris prints a small sketch of a to right convention of writing coupled with this need
double spread as the single illustration in the essay for security against alteration. The argument that
6 MichaelTwyman

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 lyand care.w margin than to the t and back of Pri .
Fo. or wvhere.:hse re
eac
and each Iletter
bolily
is IS~ cthe thattto
t top
cd
fC
~tl pages from
Facing pag
2 Facing the essay
from the ay on
fullv desinred, paper, ths :t
id:ividlual
thorloughly t
in forn, ?t.he
for
. 'Printing' by William Morris and
muh closr t-
Emery Walker in Arts and Crafts
',.oroutht
words y o.be set
sa
ge:her.
wit.hout loss of clearness. No
de:nite rules,iowver, excep t Essays, London, 1893. These pages
"riv
avoidanc oj.hf ersb"
and
ebxcess
of - follow the proportions of the small
,h .hite,Calbegivenforthesp:acin., theu..itof thebookbeinglooked
on
which h r constant exercisee of
requires the ~diagram an
as the two pages forming opening.
(shown here) that Morris
uidg.ment and taste o the part ft the Themodernprinter,in theteethof the and Walker used to illustrate the
prilte. evidencegivenby his owneyes, con- traditional opening of a book with
The s of the page on the siders the single page as the unit, and
raper shouldbe coInsieredif the ook printsthe page in the middle of his 'more space allowed to the bottom
is to have a s.Eiiact;ry look. H-ere i paper-only noiirnily so, however, is , and fore margin than to the top and
ont;cemnirethe almost invariablenloder: nIalnv cases, since when he uses a
c i; 1; op;Yositiontn a natu . ahcckut:ts
hcadline that nll, the rcsult ethe back of the paper...
p
,snse of pruportion.From-ctthe time nmasured as by the tee being that the
when:blook;sfirst took their presenIc lowvernargin is less than the top one,
s:h.d:i till th ,: 1di of the sixteehth and :th:ti:te whole opening has an
ag
c entury, or iniidcd3 l;ter, :he pa.. o ulpside-down look vertically, and that
.:I
n1r! i:i p:iper th:lr [h.,are
waL mcr- literally the page okBksas if it were
p:ice !.lowcd ; 'the buottom ::d ft.ore being driven .off the paper.
I- F r

large margins to the left are useful for filing must be custom was in earlier periods, but French and Italian
a secondary one since any document with writing examples from the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
arranged in a similar way on its reverse would turies suggest that substantial books brought
inevitably have part of it obscured when filed. together in this way were not uncommon in these
For obvious practical reasons, long manuscript periods.7 The manuscript book of this kind illus-
documents of an administrative kind were some- trated here is dated 1831 [4] and belongs to more or
times bound up in codex form, the normal form of less the same period as some of the handwritten
the book today. I do not know how widespread this lithographed books to be discussed.

3 Will of Louis Farget of La Roque

.a
-
/
a
sur Pernes, Vaucluze, France, 1732,
.
... .
- ^t
.
. r
, showing the usual stationery
a/-7 , 7-' Q -,vj?
'"t'
-
practice of leaving a large margin to
- g ^ .
;....*
;
.- e
; .-. --- the left of each page. Flourishes at
. . the ends of lines and at the foot of
l."1>. - H;?t
.CLjr..
><L~?
tv: z<^!- /? /?.<^ the page prevented additions being
- ** -- ^ made to the document. Page size
l e--y -a
o -
.i;-.
,,4st,...J- <
a-^
b-rL sA-, 245 X 155 mm

J -? as i.-Xc rC * *0
/-2 wt>><.-.- -t ^.ws ^"
*^ f r-
A.' 7 'd.......r . ... .......

f t;
{ r . .- s
-. / n
_ -, / .,/ --

/*7" "in,. ^ ^^ I- '

" " '

;. L
17 '-^
^ z, 2 t *i;*
M- ,.t* .

C~3 ~ 7L
OcL . i.V IEC=Y*II~~ ?

AsymmetricPage Design in LithographedBooksof the NineteenthCentury 7

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 ;.Xt .<.... ....
. 4 'Liquidation des successions de
... . Mr et Mme Deschamps devant Me
.. . Delacodre, Notaire a Caen, 25 &
... ... ? 26 Juillet 1831'; a section-sewn
;. .. .
... . ' . ... .
... ..
. manuscript book of 106 leaves. The
. .... .............. conventions
..... followed in the organi-
.....____......
... ........
. zation of the pages are broadly the
'
jU C;
<
crcz
&:
( .same Xf as those shown in fig. 3,
. - .. . - - -. , ./,,, y.,,/ .. though headings are centred over
;\ "L r" . the written matter. Page size 300 x
...t,.',
.. . 210 mm
..

*. '
. ..

'.. .. ....'?-
?"... .'"''

The lithographed publications that form the focal book. Most of these books are French and many take
point of this paper bring together manuscript con- the form of instructional texts for the army.
ventions and those associated with the technology of The earliest lithographed book of this kind I have
printing, albeit a different kind of printing techno- come across is one such military book, though it
logy from that traditionally associated with books. happens to be German: ExerzierReglementfir die
They therefore highlight the difference between the KoeniglichbaierischeLandwehr[5].8 It is a quarto book
two sets of conventions. Of more than 400 litho- consisting of seventy-four pages of lithographed text
graphically printed books of the first three-quarters and two plates of military formations and was
of the nineteenth century catalogued in Early Litho- printed in Bamberg by the first lithographic printer
graphed Books, and a few seen subsequently, only there, J. B. Lachmiiller. It makes only a tentative
about fifty adopt what might be described as the move in the direction of symmetry since the left-
manuscript or stationery approach to organizing hand margin of each page is not large. Nevertheless,
pages rather than that of the orthodox letterpress it may be the first printed book to have abandoned

i , 5 ExerzierReglementfur die Koeniglich

,-:- ....
... .....:..- -..- :-~ baierischeLandwehr, Bamberg, 1817.
A. j?ZtttttAe -
^
A lithographed book printed in Bam-
/...
..y~-- --
~:,-:_.,, ,, .- ; ; berg by J. B. Lachmiillerand possi-
c< bly the earliest printed book to have
* '
... . ' _ abandoned bi-lateral symmetry. The
-'' -? Ir /large
'. margins to the left of the pages
I...^ . ..
_j.,- . t .
. .... .' . i....,
'.'.=.. . . have been used for headings. Page
'-,.-- >t
., .;.. c size 210 X 175 mm
'
__r. - ....?..._;......
/2..--:. . ,. . . . i* ; , ........;'

-
-i ...............
.......,:,', . ,,- .....
, .. .-.- A.-..-'.,*I.-f . --

.-.. .-..'.
., . ,"...~.".... ' ...~ _z,,~.
... ,.4...',..,
: .. .--... '..:.?- .ji; .
;-.....-..:: - - ,,., *.- " ......*..
- -:;.-.?,:!
....i
,,,, - ,' , :. . .....

, ?..-....,.' ....: '. ... ..,... .... .- ' . , - -:..-

.,:..
,, ,...
.:.1 .,.,,. .-.dj .. .- H. . .

f .. -:../;
...... ....- . . .,-';,z
.... . . ..f..
--:. . .........
.....

8 MichaelTwyman

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bi-lateral symmetry. The book makes some use of its the right of the text area. This is bi-lateral symmetry,
large left-hand margins for headings, but perhaps its but it is a very different form of symmetry from that
most notable departure from orthodox book design found in orthodox books since its back margins are
are its other margins (head, fore-edge and foot), large and its head, fore-edge, and foot margins small.
which are very small and almost equal in size. That As with the Lachmiiller publication, it gives no
Lachmiiller's book was not making a statement of indication in the design of its other pages that
principle about asymmetry is made clear by its open- whoever was responsible for its design was con-
ing page (it has no title-page) which has a decorative scious of its novelty. Its title-page is a rather miser-
opening above its asymmetric text that declares its able arrangement of centred or almost centred lines
commitment to symmetry in every feature. and seems to accord more with a verso grid than that
A rather different approach to the organization of of a recto; moreoever, a note on its reserve is placed
the pages of a lithographed manuscript book is to be as though it were on a recto.
found in an Indian publication: Lieut. A. Burnes, A A much more considered approach to the applica-
Memoirof a Map of the EasternBranchof the Indus [6].9 tion of handwriting to book production can be seen
This was produced by one of the several lithographic in a substantial collection of what might be described
presses set up in India for administrativepurposes in as course units produced for its own use by the Ecole
the 182os and was, inevitably, strongly influenced by d'Application de l'Artillerieet du Genie at Metz. This
British ideas. It is a small quarto and runs to Academy was the leading one in Francefor the train-
136 pages. The page organization of this book is ing of military engineers and had its own litho-
different from that of all the other lithographically graphic workshops by at least 1824.10 In these
printed books I have seen, though there are pre- workshops it produced numerous instructional texts
cedents for it in French manuscript books of a similar that were distributed free of charge to staff and
period and many books of the second half of the students of the Academy, and at the cost of the print-
present century have adopted the same general ing to any French army officer who requested them.
approach. The rectos (right-hand pages) of Burnes's Forty-five of its publications have been traced." All
book look much like those of Lachmiiller's in that together they amount to over 3500 pages of litho-
they have large margins to the left with headings in graphed material, all of which (apartfrom title-pages
them. But its versos (left-hand pages) are the mirror and other displayed components) were arranged
image of its rectos in terms of their underlying grid asymmetrically.
and therefore have large margins and headings to In the case of these Metz course units a link can

/. " .. 6 Alexander Burnes, A Memoirof

adi&~~ a,.;...z6, , o,^ do +_e ,. / . a Map of the EasternBranchof the
{i .Z$ sS- WK
nv ' Indus, Lucput, 1827-8. An early
. $./ x f- 4 lithographed book that adopts an
,' f4,a*., dt-
dt, ,,.,a ........ alternative approach to organiz-
/
, te- /.
2/ /
- .L/ / dy
y ,
/ ing facing pages by having large
yc
dt /A A /
margins at the back of the book
and small margins elsewhere.
y ,o
Page size approx. 200 X 147 mm
/ .. awe
d,., J.u,,' ^ ,

.
z;
~
. /
f,, ,f-,,'
/,,4o
/
eI/^
;?~ / /I / /
/
~
d.
,~,/,/.
_ *w,
e
ZAt */^ ^

6 ~la
/,,t / 4
/,0,- _e
y ^ir/ke. - -^ .6 _[ -c - //
. LJ
&.. %<
* S/
g!Uij dI
' /e t I c/.
,it

,./,,/zz, /g,.v,
/.tc/, ,~.. ,2.' I~/~ c,/t / zf ai.
_
i67 /1 /g ysCI. //L7/ . . ,/ / /
/ " / '',
^ 'I

AsymmetricPage Design in Lithographed

Booksof the NineteenthCentury 9

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certainly be made with manuscript and stationery productions of the 183os have left-hand margins of
practices. The Ordinances of the Academy stated around 65 mm. This change in margin size can be
clearly how students should write out their own explained by the need to have greater flexibility in
notes; they stipulated that there should be margins the placing of illustrations. In the earlier works of the
of 50 mm to the left of the page, 10 mm to the right, press the margins were simply used for headings
and 20 mm at the head and foot.12These margins are and for captions to illustrations, but in the 183os
broadly in line with those to be found in the litho- small illustrations and diagrams were sometimes
graphically printed publications of the Academy placed in the margins [8] and very large illustrations
from the 182os, i83os and 184os, and it seems and tables were made to extend across both the text
extremely likely that regulations that were initially area and the left-hand margin [9]. The quarto pub-
drawn up with student note-taking in mind were lications of the press date mainly from the 184os and
simply carried over into the lithographic workshops. retain left-hand margins of around 50 mm, presum-
Consequently, practices worked out for writing and ably because of their smaller size overall. They too
stationery were adopted in printing and book pro- have illustrations in their margins, and P.-J. Ardant's
duction. Coursde construtions'3in particular makes extensive
The productions of the Metz lithographic press use of illustrations that are the width of either the
fall into two formats, folio and quarto, both of text or the text plus the left-hand margin [10-11].
which seem to relate to stationery paper sizes rather Though some of these Metz publications have fold-
than to the common printing papers and book ing plates that are bound in at the rear of the volume,
formats of the time. The folio formats measure every effort seems to have been made to place other
approximately 325 X 210 mm and the quarto ones illustrations along with the text they related to. The
approximately 215 X 175 mm. The earliest surviving use of left-hand margins for illustrations was clearly
publications of the press, which date from 1824, are an important part of that approach.
all in folio formats and have left-hand margins The increase in the size of left-hand margins in the
measuring in the order of 50 mm [7]. Its later folio case of the folio works, and the ways in which they

7 J.-F. Fran;ais, Precisdes lefonsdu

. coursde topographiemilitaire,a
; ' :. I'usagedeselevesde I'?coleroyalede
- .. l.:. ...-... . I'Artillerieet du Genie, Metz, 1824.
. . An early book lithographed by the
academy at Metz. Page size
. l,-,.t...., ^. ... : ... ..... . 340 x 207 mm

.. ??rr) :T Ir?* n ?lr .??.?:1~? ..r.... . .? i.r~.r : ~~ ?~?~

6 ??- ?-rl?~r ,

10 MichaelTwyman

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 ..._.... .,. ~ " ; '" '"/~ .
'". "~
......... . .....' ,~-~-
,,,..'
"-,...i;
....; . ..- ... . ...
w.
. . *.
, : *: . .......
r?fo,.
. *.: ............... .. :
'' ..".....
,.? ' 8 Coursde topographie:cours
-.,
< .
de la pratiquedes levers
:r
II
-;h*
;
]s '
f i ';
*,1.
P A../ ,?? /
^,,-...........
.t/ . . - / ... ; ;
..'-......
.'?
. | | , ?.
,/
.......
.?e
,/.^..^s
? .*..,; .,;SA. .;? r"
eltementaire
topographiques,
'g . ,
Metz, c. 1835-41. A
.,, I
:,, ,=
.. .';.. ..... . . . .f.
/ /

I -.... .; ,.,, . ,. S, , , . slightly later book lithographed by

| ... /1.. .// . :: .rjr' i the academy at Metz with illustra-
f .
;: ' w *':"*'//
tions placed in the left-hand
?'.-,
:
.. i.
. IK.
rl ;k.,. '
t k ..
..
...... . !!" -::~::. .... .
...
.... %r
'
?
... . .. margins. Page size 330 x 210 mm

*
, . ..-. . .-;<'. , ,,.'.,.
. ......... -.T . ..... .... . a*d --/.- , . - ., -- " , .J*- ..
....; . ?i... : ,.,... ..:.,/',,/,,. ./. :.,. ..? . .... . . ... . . ......"....
s /
,,,/ ,.*,..>...
-.
.i, , ...... "..... ^r ,;..,. &..,;,.,:_.. . .......?.,. ~,.,,~t2:
. . .' . .-.. ?-
.r... :.. ,/- .o?;.,%

?' '

,;-t ........?..
,.-./..
c.--- *<.{s,?..,. :., ...?.,.<:l./
,/ . . .. /......, .. ....
. ..z, .; - .
,.;. ; . .,r ., {
-...'.t
.. r.,
-:'',,' .- ?/4^.t
..T..
f -
-/ r .

- ...' ... g -.
. ....... .............. .......'"
... ..' *"'
' '- <S. ... . .' .....'
....
'S;..c2F "- .........
""
ya
', ... . . .. ..":. '. ;..' ..,. .- ....1.I..
..'
,',.-
,' -s .../. C
i4, .- -.. ..... .
. .; ,..;.../
,- .:z* .. 8i-z.. ..........?
. .? .. ., .r
.,. ' 5 z,
.'{ ,/.. .r ., . . r . . . ....... r:

../
,; ;.,.
/
.; " .... .......
...
-'-,C ........
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...
':
.' S
A : r, f: . -/ * t ....
: t
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were used for the placing of illustrations, suggests design survivals that had been adopted without very
that whoever was responsible for these Metz pub- much thought having been given to them, but the
lications recognized the design possibilities of the later ones can surely be seen as consciously designed
stationery conventions they had been using and asymmetric books in so far as their text pages go.
decided to adapt them for illustrated texts. The All the same, the hold of symmetry in these Metz
earlierMetz publications should probably be seen as publications was still very strong in those parts that

9 Commissionformeepar ordredu
" Ministrede la Guerre . . pour
/. "
....;.;*....
;
/-; i -.. .7.... * l desprincipesdu tir,
I'etablissement
. ......
... '. '. .' .-....-..r.. . , ,/ .. .
..... ...s premieret secondrapports,1834, Metz,
,, ..,. ........ -.- .. ........,.x..Z 1835. In this and many other books
' '
'" r.".. .........'
....... ....... ......
'
:,:.....-
......:.".:./.,../ ' . produced
r by the academy at Metz,
. ....f.S..
.,.,,.., , 6.' ... ...................- ;- .- -/ . .., .. . .. .
large tables extend either across the
* r' I x'
-
,...'Z- ..... full page or the text area. Page size
.I O f.:,, f .t...'..-.. ,. ...^1. " . T :
o
" ' 330 X: 210 mm
i
...Lii/ .'
'.
2.. -
:l"i*
:-?-"'
,,*;*,*-.i. "
,--'
.-...... . ......... '*
" '
"J . ..... . ." -;
.,-........-/.i 4....
?
': ..
:
ii,.,.<r-- *
|

."
-, . . .. ..
-;...- . ....f *.
^'/'.,;iS' ..' ; -... . .. .'..hs.... *.........;/
..,'.': .. .. .... . ... . . ............

^
!s r8 . dff
1..'- . ,1 .....| ! !s ..:,
| ....... ...
.
...... .. .
......A ..........A
---- ,.h,, ./ ,;
....; . ... ...... - /", -a .wr

' " .r.. . t !.. .'

--,.... .....< , U. . ,: :,..,/
'~: 1.- ~ ,'~ ,,.L.,?
..':,..-.\.
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I. ' ?C'' ?r ....i ........ ,~,
s .{ .... ...... . ,
',* = '

. w;- ..'.... . i z ,j-.

J"'I:
. "."'.. ..1.... :;, ...........
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ir B -,?n?? ----ci-------------

AsymmetricPage Design in LithographedBooksof the NineteenthCentury 11

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 ; A;'w'.
-1/ "'

,Ll 2

'."I""-'
~.." '^',= 7 ~- . .&..
--I|
. . . - . , ,- ? . 1
::A.| ??,-= -: ; 2 /, ^
:,,= ; .I:

*Cours
ArdanL
it, ide 10, 11 Paul-Joseph
-'" 1840.. constructions,part 3, Metz,
tions were handled using an asym-
.4;,, .....
i
^-t..... FI

i4-i
nst.ruc-, 3.-6,t M-e co ions, pr 1.
This production from the academy at
Metz shows how flexibly illustra-
tions were handled using an asym-

:| F -t ; ^ --r- ; '' -; B't;'t -'- ;- ' -

4
'- "
.. I " ;w ;'- K. ' n .... .t. c.-- ........
7mg ~~ontrcios Sar R, M V -
,\ . -> 8 t'^, ;

,
-J "*-L-
z
j!|i .- .. ^ . ^r -- < - f-; . ,
iTa';r7 - tjf tJa t :SeV
iyr.f.

.. * .....J ,,-::? .i ";.. \'

";-, ........ " , y't . . s.;.

-, .' '---"'--
, ',
; j: , {~. ----- ..7.,,;%. - l A.- .--,, -.'- i .'~D"-; , ie
..'4-,'.;-, -- I~

were displayed. All title-pages are centred, and so adopt the stationery convention of organizing pages
too are all headings other than those in the margins. as a regular practice.15By the late 185os, however, it
If we see such book design as asymmetric, it was so seems to have been doing so and its extensive set of
exclusively for practical reasons: because it worked courses on geometry and mechanics for the academic
for the particular kinds of material being handled year 1858-9, which was printed by the commercial
and for the particular means of production used. It firm of Roger in Brest, makes a volume that runs to
might be described as pragmatic asymmetry. There well over 1ooo pages.16This book is less innovatory
is no justification whatsoever for seeing it as a than the Metz publications of earlier decades: it has
demonstration or reflection of an a priori design wide left-hand margins, but makes no use of them
principle.14 either for its headings or for its small illustrations,
The general approach adopted at Metz was taken even though they could have been accommodated
up by at least one other of the French grandesecoles: within them very satisfactorily [12].
the 1cole navale at Brest. Though this school was Other kinds of books followed the same broad
using handwriting and lithography for its publica- approach, particularlysome that can be described as
tions from at least the early 184os, it did not initially administrative texts. The Cahier des charges of the
12 MichaelTwyman

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 --- -

,.. . ..... .;......

.. . . 12 ?cole navaleimpdriale:ire Annee

X:..: '::- J
- d'etudes;Anneescholaire1858-1859:
* coursde Mr Sasias, Brest, 1858.
- Lithographed throughout and
.;.......:' .. ....-......
.-...
f....L
.-.
.
............................ .
'
.f
.
'
*

.
.-1
r
. ...
printed by Roger of Brest. Though
the pages of this book have large
y. *,, ' .... .......i
......
.....
.....',v ? -. ... ....."'
../....; .......
........ /
..;
.....:.' / .left-handmargins, they were not
., -- .. ,.. used for headings or illustrations.
........ ......' -......
',
;
, ..,., ..... ...... .........
...___________.
......, . ........_ . .... Pagesize 250 x 190mm
I S...... ....r... ........ . . . ..... :. ...}

Opera in Paris of 31 July 1847 can serve as an published by the Ecole de Maistrance of the Port of
example [13]. Printed publications of this kind must Cherbourg in 1897 [14]; it runs to 240 handwritten
have originated from manuscript sources because pages and has wide left-hand margins that are used
they follow very similar conventions to those of for third-level headings but not for the illustrations.
some manuscript books of the period (see [4]). There The publications briefly referred to above repre-
is reason to believe that such handwritten and litho- sent a relatively small proportion of surviving litho-
graphically printed publications continued to be graphed books of the nineteenth century. Most
produced well into the age of the typewriter. A late publications produced by these means did their best
example of the genre is shown here that was to fit into the long-standing conventions of the

13 Paris, Opdra, Cahierdes

charges31 Juillet1847. Litho-
i .. .... . graphed throughout from
.... '" .' .. in an idiomvery
.,handwriting .

..
........... . similar to the manuscript book
.,6?,,. I;~?. X 203 mm
jr., :f ..~l:::?.:. l~.; ?~.'307

K 1. .. : .. -, ""' ..
0 L11 i ._ . .., . . . S...
.. ..... .. . ... .....- ,.. .. .

.g?,,,,,,.,/ :, ...'^.. . .... , ...c.... ,: ;... . ..

"- ...........

AsymmetricPage Design in LithographedBooksof the NineteenthCentury 13

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 - - - --------i ^ --------
- ^

I .. "*, ; .Y .... .. ,d.;, . ?,

1 , ,:i v v*.a
.......,. .,. . . ' ..
:. ..... 14 Cours de mtcanique, Port de
( P.;
iS .......
.... . .;... - ...
. - .
............... Cherbourg, tcole de Maistrance,
90 ',. . -t, *,, ,.' :'
....'.
' , T . . : .t J .. ? JS......
. ;.. :..'".../.,,";. 4'"..;
. '-.. ,,,. ,.Z f.. 1897. A late nineteenth-century
.....
,t 2-, ,r X.4 ':;-. . :.. .;.; < . : .. *.,,
;^:,. .
r 4,' ^ .tz -;.,~ ; survival of an asymmetric page
. .!. .r
i,: .,-,'. ;i .
" ,; - 'I f,
.< t .r..u .'i;,. v.',,,:.
,.- ' arrangement in a handwritten
*
|'j &-~:.r
-^a. ?4' L, !
i4--. ...
. &t n '.ffi; ...
...
r,...?.
\/.
:.. . rs 302 x 96 mm ;
s:..z e..

|? ; ,~, ..
......? .., ........ , , ..... ..:

*, "1 . ............. ? ? , , ;. , r .. .....-..

; W.'........
:............
.,:, z.,.;.. ....;'
' ......

~
L ."
"1 Y"
... ;; i

'"'___I

letterpress book, which meant that they had their them, particularlyin relation to illustrations. Though
text pages organized in ways which would be it would be hard to argue that these books were
described as broadly symmetrical. And in the case of asymmetric in their page organization as a result of a
a substantial group of lithographed books of the firmly held design position that rejected symmetry
nineteenth century that involved taking transfers on principle, it is quite clear that they were not
from pages of type, it was inevitable that the conven- produced the way they were without thought and
tions of letterpress book production would be applied planning.
to page design. Given the nature of their subject matter and their
The group of around fifty handwritten litho- limited circulation, it is understandable that few
graphed books with asymmetrical page arrange- copies of these course units from Metz can be traced
ments that have been located so far were clearly in a and that they are hardly known by book historians.
minority. Nevertheless, this convergence of station- Whatever their influence may have been at the time,
ery and book production conventions through the it is reasonable to assume that they can have had
medium of lithography seems to have brought about none at all on those twentieth-century designers
the first approach to asymmetry in the history of the whose approaches to asymmetry in typography and
printed book. In particular, the productions of the book production are associated with modernism.
tcole d'Application de l'Artillerie et du Genie at What does seem to link the twentieth century with
Metz represent a coherent and, it would seem, these nineteenth-century excursions into asymmetry
conscious programme of asymmetry that lasted is a similar convergence of technologies and domains
something like twenty years. It is difficult to accept of graphic communication. The convergence of tech-
that over such a long period of time, and with such a nologies in the nineteenth century discussed above
considerable output, no one at the Academy associ- brought handwriting and stationery conventions
ated with these publications realized that they were into the domains of printing and books: the con-
different from other printed books in terms of the vergence of the first half of the twentieth century
way in which their pages were organized. As we brought typing and rather different stationery con-
have already seen, the question of design intention ventions into these same domains. Not surprisingly,
at Metz reveals itself through some of the changes very similar issues of asymmetry can be seen in
made to the 'grids' of these publications in order to connection with both these convergences. Similarly,
make them more appropriate to the demands put on there are parallels between the two in relation to
14 MichaelTwyman

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paragraphing conventions and the treatment of line of traditional compositors. Some British designers,
endings, which also seem to have been influenced by notably Anthony Froshaug and Herbert Spencer,
the convergence of technologies and domains in both were producing asymmetric page arrangements a
centuries. few years before this using conventional type-
As yet we have no clear picture of the ways in setting,21 but there can be little doubt that the
which the typewriter began to impinge on book convergence referred to above forced the pace of
production, though it was used for the production of change.
at least one large-scale publication, a four-volume Since graphic design history, as distinct from the
catalogue, well before the close of the nineteenth history of printing and the book, has tended to
century: Oliver L. Fassig, Bibliographyof Meteoro- concentrate on the twentieth century, it might not be
logy.17 This particular publication may have been out of place to comment on the role of modernism in
unusual, but such books were common enough in relation to asymmetric page organization. Jan Tschi-
America in the 193os18 and in the 1940S they began chold, one of the pioneers of modernism in typo-
to be produced in Britain too.19All the typewritten graphy and certainly its foremost theorist, seems to
books of this period I have seen attempt to ape let- have made little use of asymmetric page arrange-
terpress books and, like most nineteenth-century ment. His major works on the new typography Die
books that were handwritten and lithographed, have neue Typographie(1928) and TypographischeGestal-
their pages arranged on the basis of bi-lateral tung (1935), though they display many features of
symmetry. modernism in their design, are firmly rooted in the
Asymmetric page arrangement in books began to orthodoxy of bi-lateral symmetry in terms of their
be accepted widely in the twentieth century only organization of text areas on pages. The only book
with the development of electrically driven type- design of Tschichold's that I know to have its pages
writers in the 196os: first with the IBM Executive arrangedasymmetrically is the somewhat unconven-
typewriter and then with the more influential IBM72 tional book he produced with Franz Roh, Foto-auge
composer.2"It was at this stage that the convergence (1929) [15]: it is described here as unconventional
of the two domains of office typewriting and litho- because it was printed on one side of the sheet and
graphic printing really took place, and it was a con- bound in a Western modification of an Eastern form
vergence that brought with it social disruption of binding. Foto-augehas large left-hand margins in
because it involved bringing in typists to do the work its letterpress printed introductory pages, which in

15 Franz Roh, Foto-auge,Stuttgart,

1929. Designed by Jan Tschichold
using a similar asymmetric
arrangement of text to that used by
the academy at Metz more than
one hundred years earlier. Page
size 293 X 203 mm

AsymmetricPageDesign in LithographedBooksof the NineteenthCentury 15

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their overall pattern are very similar indeed to the and Maurice Goldring, in the 196os. It stems from
pages of the handwritten folio publications of the mathematics and the first printed reference that has
Ecole d'Application de l'Artillerie et du Genie at been found to its use by typographers acknowledges
Metz produced a century earlier.22 such a source. In his paper 'Rational typographic
The purpose of this brief diversion into the design', Advancesin ComputerTypesetting,Institute of
twentieth century is to make the point that asym- Printing, London, 1967, pp. 265-6, Maurice Goldring
metric organization of book pages seems to have gives his source as Hermann Weyl's now classic text,
come about not primarily because of any clearly Symmetry,Princeton, 1952.
4 For a discussion of the traditional proportions of
defined modernist principle of design, but largely
margins of books see J. Tschichold, 'Non-arbitrary
pragmatically as a result of the convergence of tech- proportions of page and type area', Print in Britain,
nologies and domains. Modernism, in its second- September 1963, Supplement, pp. 2-8, and F. W.
generation and rather diluted post-war form in Ratcliffe,'Margins in the manuscript and printed book',
Britain, almost certainly encouraged designers to Penrose Annual, vol. 59, 1966, pp. 212-34.
explore asymmetry in page design, but the use of 5 The mathematical and philosophical underpinnings of
sophisticated typewriters for text composition, the some of these theories are discussed by R. Wittkowerin
introduction of ISO paper sizes (which in Britain ArchitecturalPrinciplesin the Age of Humanism,Studies
were accepted first of all as stationery sizes), and the of the WarburgInstitute, London, vol. 19, 1949.
6 W. Morris and E. Walker, 'Printing', in W. Morris (ed.)
opportunities offset lithography offered for the Arts and Crafts Essays, London, 1893, p. 129. C. T.
integration of pictures and text, seem to have been Jacobi, at more or less the same time, argued in Some
more significant factors in the acceptance of Notes on Booksand Printing, 4th edn, 1912, p. 37, that
asymmetry in book design. 'the two facing pages of the open book must both be
The parallels between twentieth-century asym- taken into consideration at the same time'. Stanley
metric page design and the handwritten litho- Morison, in his First Principlesof Typography,Cam-
graphed books of the nineteenth century discussed bridge, 1936, p. 19, refers to two pages being 'fixed as a
in this paper are too close to be ignored, and it may unity' by ranging headings towards the gutter. Later
be that we can learn something about twentieth- writers adopt similar positions: Oliver Simon in Intro-
ductionto Typography,London, 1945, pp. 24-5, shows a
century typographic history from these excursions
into asymmetric page design a century or so earlier. range of examples of acceptable page arrangements, all
symmetrical; Hugh Williamson, in his Methodsof Book
MICHAEL TWYMAN Design, 3rd edn, New Haven & London, 1983, p. 25,
Universityof Reading remarks that 'on opening a book the reader sees not
one page but two ... together described as an opening,
and properly treated as a single item for purposes of
Notes
design'. In his Typographische Gestaltung,Tschichold is
i M. Twyman, Early LithographedBooks, Farrand Press strangely reticent about margins and the placing of
and Private Libraries Association, London, 199o. The type areas on pages, though he does recognize that 'the
main thesis of the book is that letterpress methods conventional is not always the best ...' with larger
failed to meet the increasingly varied demands put on book formats (translation of 1935 text by Ruari
them in the nineteenth century and that lithography McLean, AsymmetricTypography,London, 1967, p. 88).
provided both the flexibility that was needed at the 7 Two examples may be given: Rectories de l'Universite
graphic origination stage and an economical means of de Caen, 1515-1567 (Archives de Calvados D 90) and
producing short-run publications. Many of these books the 'Diario di Giacino Gigli' (Cod. Vat. Lat. 8717) of the
were written out by the authors themselves, and first half of the seventeenth century.
parallels with desktop publishing over the last few 8 Bamberg, 1817, Early LithographedBooks, pp. 46-7,
years are obvious. Cat. 1.95.
2 For the development of numeration of pages and leaves 9 Camp at Lucput, 28 March 1827, 13 August 1828. Early
in early printed books see Margaret Smith, 'Printed LithographedBooks,Cat. 1.45.
foliation: forerunner to printed page numbers', Guten- 10 For a further discussion of the Academy at Metz, see
berg Jahrbuch, vol. 63, 1988, pp. 54-70. EarlyLithographedBooks,pp. 66-75.
3 The term seems to have found its way into the vocabu- II EarlyLithographed Books,Cat. 3.1-3.45. These items are
lary of some typographers, among them Peter Burnhill too complex bibliographically to be described even

16 MichaelTwyman

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 briefly here. The principalpublications are P.-J. Ardant, 18 Edwards Brothers Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, which
Coursde constructions,1840; J.-F. Francais, Coursd'art still trades, seems to have specialized in this kind of
militaire, c. 1835-41; T. Gosselin, Cours de geodesie, production and published a Manual of Litho Printing
1834; G. Piobert, Coursd'artillerie,1841; J.-V. Poncelet, Containing... SamplesIllustratingthe Possibilitiesof the
Coursde mecanique,c. 1839; and an anonymous Coursde Process,Ann Arbor, 1936, and R. C. Brinkley's Manual
topographie,c. 1835-41. onMethodsof Reproducing ResearchMaterial,Ann Arbor,
12 Ordonnanceset reglemensconcernantI'tcole d'Application 1936. The samples shown in both these books are from
de l'Artillerieet du Genie,Metz, 1831, pp. 81-2. To make typewriter composed publications of a kind the com-
comparisons with the printed works of the Academy pany had already been producing for several years.
easier I have converted into millimetres dimensions 19 The earliest such British book I have seen is C. Tyler,
that were expressed in centimetres in the Ordonnances. OrganicChemistryfor Studentsof Agriculture,2nd imp.,
13 Metz, 1840. Allen & Unwin, London, 1947, which was set and
14 It could be argued that this 'no nonsense' approach is printed by the Berkshire Printing Company, Reading.
characteristic of military thinking and that it led to The text was composed on a large-image typewriter
innovation in many areas of design: in graphic design it and justified at a second stage of typing; it was then
can be seen in the development of battle plans and reduced and printed by offset lithography.
diagrams at least as early as the sixteenth century and 20 An important landmarkin the acceptance of typewriter
the use of statistical graphs in the nineteenth century. composition was a paper given by Alistair McIntosh to
15 Kersanzon-Pennedreff, ttude de la constructionpratique the Institute of Printing in October 1964. It was
des batimentsde mer, Brest, 1842, has small but broadly published in Printing Technology,vol. ix, no. i, July
traditional margins; V. Caillet, Cours d'astronomiea 1965, and later as a monograph: TypewriterComposition
l'usagede la Marineroyale,Brest, 1841-2, has large left- and Standardizationin Information Printing, Unwin
hand margins on both rectos and versos. In both Brothers Ltd., The Gresham Press, Old Woking, nd.
publications, illustrations take the form of folding 21 Herbert Spencer took over as editor of PenroseAnnual
plates bound in after the text. Robin Fior was kind ready for the publication of the volume in 1964. In 1965
to
enough point me to a single volume, containing both PenroseAnnual appeared for the first time with an
these works, after seeing EarlyLithographedBooks. asymmetric arrangement and large margins to the left
16 tcole navale imperiale, ire Anneed'Ttudes,anneescolaire of each page. His own book Visible Word, Lund
1858-1859, Brest, c. 1859. Humphries and Royal College of Art, 1968, adopted a
17 Signal Office, Washington City, 1889-91. I am grateful similar general arrangement but was produced 'in
to Ian Jacksonfor drawing my attention to this unusual house' using an IBM72 selectric composer. It may have
publication. The introduction to vol. i, p. iii, refers to been the first real book published in this country to
the failure of the United States Congress to give have had its text set by such means.
authority for the publication of this bibliography and 22 There is little point in giving precise dimensions here
refers to the Chief Signal Officer having 'had recourse since the vagaries of printing and binding in the past
to lithography for producing a limited number of copies meant that images rarely accorded exactly with their
of such parts of the work as are needed for current nominal position on the page. This is particularlytrue
research and investigation'. A distinction appears to of the Metz publications, but it is also the case to a
have been drawn for political reasons between multi- lesser extent with Foto-auge.
plication and publication, the latter depending on the
agreement of Congress.

AsymmetricPage Design in Lithographed

Booksof the NineteenthCentury 17

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