Border (design)

“ Old pieces show more clearly the evident model. But old pieces also often show original creations in border and design, far more artistic than the usual types. The Kazak border of the titlepage is an example. The discriminating collector, when a choice offers, will do well to avoid the commonplace. ”

“ Each component part of a border should be strongly dynamic and, if possible, partake of the main movements of the border.
Any form which causes the eye to move in a given direction is strongly dynamic, and is opposed to the static form which does not cause a marked eye movement. A circle is symbolic of the static form, while a triangle is dynamic. ”

“ Another good example of a built-up border is seen in a volume of Year Books of the reign of Edward III., printed by Pynson in 1518. Preceding the title-page is his large device (McKerrow, 44) surrounded by a border of various ornaments. At the top is a block measuring 118 by 9 mm., much the same in design as the one just mentioned above. At the [45] bottom two much smaller blocks are placed side by side. In one the principal features are a dragon and a monkey; in the other a man and woman, the man impaling a bird that is seated in the centre between two sprays of flowers. ”

“ Plain borders usually consist of two lines, the outer one heavy, and the inner one light. The heavy line should be equal in breadth to the blank space between it and the light line, and the total breadth of the border, that is, of the two lines and the space between them, should be one hundredth part of the length of the shorter side. Ornamental corners may be made to embellish a drawing considerably, and they afford some scope to the fancy and the taste of the draughtsman. ”

“ It is not difficult to master the characteristic features of the borders of many types; and, once known, they make a fair foundation of knowledge for the collector. They are often truer and safer guides to classification than are the designs of centre or field. Indeed, the study of borders, inner, middle, and outer borders, and borders characteristic, modified, or exceptional would make a book of wondrous artistic interest and beauty of design. Even the item of selvedge, particularly in the Beluchistans, shows great skill in colouring and pattern. ”

“ A single border line well placed may be used and offers opportunity for developing a nice sense of proportion by studying the results to see which borders are neither too near the edge nor too far from it. ”

“ Example 376.—It should be an easy matter to produce attractive window cards or paper hangers in this style. Selections from the many artistic and odd cover papers obtainable, supported by harmonizing color combinations, make possible any number of attractive effects. Only one size of type should be used, and the border should be one that reflects the character of the type-face. Plain rules for border purposes are more successful in obtaining harmony than is decoration. As most letters contain two widths of line, a rule border matching the wider line, or both lines, is pleasing. ”

“ But they saw no more of Dicky of Kingswood.
STORM AND TEMPEST When we think of "the Border," the picture that rises to mind is usually one of hill and dale, of peat-hag and heathery knoll, of brimming burns that tumble headlong to meet the embrace of rivers hurrying to their rest in the great ocean. One sees in imagination the solemn, round-shouldered hills standing out grim in the thin spring sunshine, their black sides slashed and lined with snow; later, one pictures these hills decked with heartsease and blue-bells a-swing in the summer breeze, or rich with the purple bloom of heather ”

“ The illuminated border was originally an extension or branching out of the initial decoration. It commonly occupied the greater part of the left-hand margin, and from thence it extended into the head45 or foot margin (or into both) , or completely surrounded the text, and even the eight margins of a [p213] complete opening are sometimes covered with illumination. In late and modern usage the border is frequently separated from the initial, constituting a “framing border.”46
Fig. ”

“ The meridian or north and south line is an indispensable adjunct to every topographical drawing. When the extent of country represented is considerable, it is usual to make the top of the map the north, and in such a case the side border lines are meridian lines. ”

“ To avoid this, the border itself should be dark, as in the other case, so that there may be no continuous horizontal line of demarcation; but one or two bright white objects should be set here and there along or near the edge: their reflections will flash on the dark water, and will inform the eye in a moment of the whole distance and transparency of the surface it is traversing. ”

“ The simple rectangle is disguised under the fret, the circle and spiral assert their sway over the boundaries of the palmette, or circle and semicircle unite to form the oval so frequently used both as a unit in Greek ornament and as a controlling boundary. These are typical border forms: for extension and repetition in fields of pattern we find the same geometric plans at work in combination and subdivision, forming at first the ornament itself, and afterwards furnishing the plan and controlling boundaries only. ”

“ Illuminated Borders in the Fifteenth Century After the year 1400, as has been already said, the private Prayerbooks, or Books of Hours, which at that time were used in France and England, but not to any great extent elsewhere, began to increase in numbers and develop new styles of ornament. The pages with illuminated {77}initials still preserved the older border, the basis of which was a double line of gold and colour issuing from the initial and running squarely round the page. ”

“ Yet, though the tract around him is seemingly bounded every where, the boundary is every where obscure, being formed of trees, thinly dispersed, and retired beyond each other at such distances, that, while they actually limit the view, they appear rather to border dim, indistinct openings into other tracts of country. Thus he always feels the limit to be uncertain, and until he is actually leaving one of these plains, will continually expect to find a part of the expansion still spreading beyond the reach of his eye. ”

“ In fact, any bed which acts as a boundary to a walk or grass-plot, or the main quarters of a garden may be properly described as a border.
"Flower-borders should be well drained. In plotting them it must be remembered that if narrow no art will impart to them an air of boldness. If the pleasure grounds are small, narrow borders are permissible. All flower-borders should be made in proportion to the size of the garden and other surroundings. Neatness must be the presiding deity over flower-borders ”

“ Is a border, to be found in almost every contemporaneous school of the period—the French, the Flemish, the Italian, as well as English and Irish. The ornamentations are not so softly executed, nor is the outline as graceful as in the former. The back-ground is always transparent, containing, sometimes, small figured filigree work. A preponderance of one pervading colour is sometimes its characteristic; but too much similarity in tint should be carefully avoided. ”

“ But there is another part of the Border which the inland dweller is apt to forget—that which, in sweep upon sweep of bay, or unbroken line of cliff, extends up the coasts of Northumberland and Berwickshire. That is a part of the Border which those who are not native to it know only in the months of summer, when the sea is sapphire-blue, when surf creams softly round the feet of limpet-covered rocks, and the little wavelets laugh and sparkle as they slide over the shining sands. It is another matter when Winter with his tempests comes roaring from the North. ”

“ Tracing the growth of the border is a pleasant pastime, a game of history in which amorini, grotesques and nymphs are the personages, and garlands of flowers their perpetual accessories, but first comes the time when there were no borders, the Middle Ages. ”

“ In France, thirty thousand square leagues of territory for thirty millions of people; that is to say, should the space be equally divided, scarcely room for a cradle or a grave for each. Out yonder, in America, two hundred thousand square leagues for three millions of people; frontiers which are ideal, for they border on the desert, which is to say, immensity. ”

“ The border line cannot be distinguished from the ground, while in the original issue, not only is the border line distinct, but in the "sallie" the fine vertical shadow lines can be counted inside, and on [185] the right side three, very close together, and four lines besides these between the panel and the edge, counting the outside line. In the new, none of these shadows exist, and there are only three lines between the panel and the edge, including the outside line. In the old, on the right side, there are fourteen lines in the frame above and below the projection. ”

“ Such initials form a prominent feature in the pretty little Bibles which were produced in hundreds at this period. But a still more interesting subject for study is the development of the border which was to have such a luxuriant growth in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Commencing as a pendant from the initial, with terminal in form of bud or cusp, it gradually pushes its way along the margins, unfolding foliage as it proceeds, and in course of time envelopes the entire page of text in a complete framework formulating in each country a national style. ”

“ A barrier is something that bars ingress or egress. A barrier may be a boundary, as was the Great Wall of China. Bourn, or bourne, is a poetical expression for bound or boundary. A border is a strip of land along the boundary. ”

“ And if the Border Country, with its enchanted places and memories, delights a landscape-painter, it is equally attractive to students of architecture, to lovers of folk-lore and literary history, to writers of romance in search of traditions and local colour, and to those of us also who indulge a passion for collecting either as botanists or as geologists. The rivers and streams have a rare fascination, and anglers, having made their choice, can come by all the sport which they desire. ”

“ The Border country is a pleasant pastoral land, with soft, rounded hills, and streams innumerable, and secluded valleys, where the ruins of old peels or feudal castles intimate a troubled past. That past, however, has left a precious legacy to letters, for the Border ballads are of the finest of the wheat. They preserve, as only literature can, the joys and sorrows, the aspirations, hopes and fears, and beliefs of other days and vanished lives. ”

“ A finished map border is used or omitted according to the kind of map prepared. Diagrammatic maps and maps on which no parallels and meridians appear do not need finished borders. On a map that shows complete areal geologic or other coloring, such as a map in a Survey geologic folio, the border lines tend to destroy the simple effect of the whole map. On a map that is not completely colored and on all very large maps borders are really necessary. ”

“ To prevent undue disappointment, those who wish for beautiful flower-borders and whose enthusiasm is greater than their knowledge should be reminded that if a border is to be planted for pictorial effect, it is impossible to maintain that effect and to have the space well filled for any period longer than three months, and that even for such a time there will have to be contrivances such as have been described. ”

“ We have never been able to bring our herbaceous border to the point of perfection which we are assured by some of those optimists who compile nurserymen's catalogues, it should reach. We have massed our colours and nailed them to the mast, so to speak—that is, we have not surrendered our colour schemes because we happen to fall short of victory; but still we must acknowledge that the whole border has never been the success that we hoped it would be. ”

“ Each end of every block is worked with a slightly raised and well-smoothed border, for the purpose of securing without unnecessary labor a perfectly accurate joint. The shallow holes, III, III, in the upper surfaces are pry-holes, which were of use in prying the blocks into position. ”

“ The swash italic capitals add a specific decorative quality. The large lower-case “f” gives a graceful touch to the “for.” Dotted rule inside the black border is a change from the conventional continuous line. This form was printed on Japan vellum.
Example 332.—This is another hand-drawn label with qualities that can be approximated in typography. Border, decorative device and lettering are in the same key, and the harmony is agreeable. There are those who thoughtlessly condemn black borders as funereal, a judgment that is based on prejudice and not on an understanding of their use. ”

“ Of the three kinds of land the common mark, save where curtailed or usurped by lords in the days of feudalism, has generally remained public property to this day. The pleasant green commons or squares which occur in the midst of towns and cities in England and the United States most probably originated from the coalescence of adjacent mark-communities, whereby the border-land used in common by all was brought into the centre of the new aggregate. ”

“ Other schemes for borders are those in which flowers grow inwards from the edge of the boards, or outwards from a panel at the centre, or on both sides of a line about half an inch from the edge. A pattern may also be made to grow all round the centre panel. Borders will be found more difficult to manage than simple diapers, and at first, are best [241] built up on the same principle—the repeat of some simple element.
Fig. 108 (reduced)
The decoration may be concentrated on parts of the cover, such as the centre or corners. ”