Marking

“ The first pencil markings are rubbed out and other words take their place. Sometimes two or three alterations have to be made, and all are written over markings previously made. Repeated rubbing out makes the writing illegible and liable to perversion. ”

“ The persistence of the markings of the finger-tips has been proved beyond all question, and this universally accepted quality has been the basis of the present system of identification. The impressions, when examined, show that the ridges appear in certain fixed patterns, from which an alphabet of signs or a system of notation has been arrived at for convenience of record. ”

“ As is the case with all the other measurements [Pg 60] of the human body alterations will occur in the size of the markings; for the pattern as a whole increases with the growth of the finger, but this growth does not affect the arrangement of the loops and ridges that make up the markings upon the skin.
In no other way than a study of the finger-prints is it possible to find over a thousand points of comparison upon which to establish the identity of an individual. ”

“ Fasten against a wall a round white paper, of the bigness of an inch or two, and on the side of this paper put two marks one on the right, the other on the left side, each about two foot distant, then place your self directly before the Paper, at the distance of about nine foot, and put the End of your finger over against your both Eyes, so that it may hide from the right Eye the left mark, and from the left Eye, the right mark. ”

“ When letters or words are set double, and are required to be taken out, a line is drawn through the superfluous word or letter, and [43] the mark No. 6, which is the letter d, an abbreviation of dele (expunge or erase) must be placed in the margin.
A turned letter, or one placed the wrong way upward, is noticed by making a dash under it, and placing the mark No. 7, in the margin.
Where a black mark is seen in any part of the line, which is occasioned by a space standing up, it is noticed by making a dash under it, and placing the mark, No. 8, in the margin. ”

“ Rubricating, or the adding of Red, or other coloured, letters, line-finishings, or signs, to a MS. or Book, in which the main body of the text is already completed in black, constitutes in itself a very useful and effective form of decoration. It is, moreover, a connecting link between plain writing and illumination proper; and we may safely assume that the artists who made the beautiful illuminations of the Middle Ages were trained as scribes and rubricators. ”

“ When an entire document or page is forged, the ornamentation, flourishes, or the capitals at its head will often be seen to be out of keeping, either with its nature or with the supposed author's habits in similar cases. In a writing all must agree, place, day, year, handwriting, superscription or heading, signature, and material carrying the writing, especially paper, both as to constitution and color and ink. ”

“ The figure stood on a cloud, an inscribed label, a disc or band of earth. In the fourteenth century spots breaking the ground took very often the form of badges, fleurs-de-lys, heraldic animals, cyphers, and so on (page 156) , and even in the fifteenth it was quite common to find figures against a flat ground, broken only by inscription, either on white or yellow labels (pages 186, 339) , or leaded in bold letters of white or yellow into the background itself (page 196) . ”

“ One remembers a letter, picture, or other familiar object, at first with the eyes closed, then with the eyes open. If he can retain the memory of the object while looking in the direction of the test card he will be able to read the letter easily. 4. Imagination—Imagining that the white part of a certain letter is whiter than the margin of the card. This has helped me greatly. My present vision is: Distance (both eyes) 10/10, 15/15, some of 15/10, 20/20 and 30/30. Fine print (both eyes) : best at 12 inches, some at 20 inches, can see period at 20 inches. ”

“ But every man is ever writing his autobiography with invisible but indelible ink. You have seen those old-fashioned 'manifold writers' in your places of business, and the construction of them is this: a flimsy sheet of tissue paper, a bit of black to be put in below it, and then another sheet on the other side ”

“ As all these irregular shapes must be made to appear in line with each other, the type-body on which they are made is larger than the letter. The blank parts around the face of a letter are called the counter, the shoulder, and the beard. The counter is the shallow place between the lines of the face. The shoulder is the low flat part of the type around the face. The beard is the sloping part between the face and the shoulder. ”

“ You can make a mark upon things in three ways—namely, by scratching them, painting on them with a brush, or letting liquid run on them out of a pen. Pencil or chalk marks are merely a kind of coarse painting with dry material. ”

“ Have a line ruled, in red ink, down each margin of every page, an inch off the edge (the margin should be wide enough to contain a number of 5 digits, easily: I manage with a 3/4 inch margin: but, unless you write very small you will find an inch more comfortable) .
Write a précis of each Letter, received or sent, in chronological order. Let the entry of a 'received' Letter reach from the left-hand edge to the right-hand marginal line; and the entry of a 'sent' Letter from the left-hand marginal line to the right-hand edge. ”

“ Setting-out.—An inscription of any size, or one requiring complex or very nice arrangement, is set-out in faint, sketchy outline of lead pencil or chalk. Simple writing is not set-out, but such slight calculation or planning as is necessary is carried out mentally, or on a scrap of paper. By practice the scribe, like the compositor, can fit his lettering to the given space with ease and accuracy. ”

“ For the average man who may write his checks at a desk, and who may be willing to observe some system in the writing, perhaps the safest and cheapest protection for his paper is to repeat in red-ink figures the amount for which the check is drawn, placing those figures on the signature line at the bottom in such a manner that the black-ink signature will be woven through the red-ink group. ”

“ The written symbol is formed with the hand, appeals to the eye, leaves a material trace as long as paper and ink last, can travel as far as paper and ink can travel, and can be imprinted on eye after eye practically ad infinitum both as regards time and space. ”

“ How to make white letters in a blacke Feild. Take the yelke of a new layd egge, and grinde it upon a marble with faire water, so as you may write with it: having ground it on this wise, then with a penne dipt into it, draw what letters you will upon paper, or parchment, and when they are through drie, blacke all the paper over with inke; and when it is drie, you may with a knife scrape all the letters of that you wrote with the yelke of the egge, and they will shew faire and white. ”

“ A few pencil marks may be used to settle a doubtful point, but an elaborate sketching or setting out in pencil spoils the freedom of the work. [p127]
CHAPTER VIII BLACK & RED Rubricating — Initial Pages or Title Pages — Prefaces & Notes in Colour — Pages with Coloured Headings — Page or Column Heading & Initial — Versals in Column or Marginal Bands — Stanzas or Verses marked by Versals — Music with Red Staves — Tail-Pieces, Colophons, &c. — Rubricating: General Remarks. RUBRICATING “Red, either in the form of a pigment or fluid ink, is of very ancient and common use. ”

“ As I was fully aware from the variety of water-marks which are in existence at the present day, that they must have constantly been altered since the period of Elizabeth, and being for some time wholly unacquainted with the water-marks of that age, I very carefully produced my first specimens of the writing on such sheets of old paper as had no mark whatever. ”

“ The style in which correction marks are made on a proof is an element of considerable importance. Straggling, unsymmetrical characters, disconnected marks placed in the margins above or below the lines to which they relate, irregular lines leading from an incorrect letter or word to a correction, large marks, marks made with a blunt pencil, indistinct marks, a frequent use of the eraser to obliterate marks hastily or incorrectly made, are all faults to be avoided. ”

“ One is tempted to let fancy play around the bald facts, and to watch the artisan, wearily cutting the same letters again and again into the wood block, until he bethinks himself,—a half-dozen others likewise: “Why cannot I saw off the lettering cut on another block, cut it up, word by word, or, better yet, letter by letter, then put the letters together in words and sentences as I need them, and use them with my newly cut picture? ”

“ This is a punch-cutter—a man of exquisite finger and unerring eye—sitting amid keen and delicate tools and accurate gauges. There are but few of this kind of men in the world. On the end of a piece of steel he is forming a letter. A touch here and a touch there, and frequent testing by gauges,—so he proceeds, till the letter is done; then another, and another, till the alphabet is complete ”

“ The mark is sometimes a fixed target, and sometimes an object \\liich is made to move quickly past a small opening. Should the marksman hit the mark, he has a due share of honour; and he who is so skilful as to drive his ball through the centre, receives the wooden image itself as the reward of his skill. ”

“ Persons who can read fine print perfectly imagine that they see between the lines streaks of white whiter than the margin of the page, and persons who cannot read it also see these streaks, but not so well. ”

“ Where handwriting is questioned on notes, checks, drafts, receipts, wills, deeds, mortgages, bonds, anonymous letters, money orders, registered letter receipts, letters, pension papers, and in smuggling, and in short, on any kind of document where it becomes necessary to establish the identity of the writer, the expert is called in. Life, liberty, honor, and property are frequently balanced on a pen point—a few marks of the pen being the determining feature of many a case. ”

“ If any one wishes to get a thumb-print impression without the suspect's knowledge, simply hand him a piece of paper, asking him to identify it or examine it for one reason or another, afterwards sprinkling some special black powder over it which brings out the impressions as clear as life. ”

“ For there are usually some essential movements of the hands or fingers in each sign and some that are not essential, and a one-armed man making the necessary part of the signs with one hand instead of two against his body or a near-by object is readily understood. ”

“ When writing for practice always place your small black card to the right or to the left of your desk and after writing a sentence or two, raise your head and look over to the card at any letter that you see easily without straining. ”

“ The banker or business man who sends his pen through a series of gyrations, whirls, flourishes and twists and calls it a signature is making it easy for a forger to reproduce his signature, for it is a jumble of letters and ink absolutely illegible and easy of simulation. Every man should learn to write plain, distinct and legible. ”

“ For special purposes higher powers are sometimes useful. An ocular examination of the ink in the various parts of a written paper, document or instrument of any kind will generally decide whether it is the same. ”

“ In Russia, for example, it is affirmed that in old times the way in which an individual generally gave his signature to a writing was by covering the palm of his hand with ink, and then laying it on the paper. ”

“ When the drawing has been first drawn in with pencil and inked over, every vestige of pencil marks must be carefully removed, otherwise the process reproduces them, not as soft grey marks, but as black as those made in ink, and some very unpleasant surprises will be the result. ”

“ To begin with, for every single letter used in every word of the day’s issue—there is an average of about six letters to each word, nine words to a line, two hundred lines in a column, seven columns in a page and ten or twelve pages and often more in a standard morning daily—a reproduction in metal has to be made and placed in its right position between two others. ”

“ When due preparation has been made, and when the eyes and nerves of the writer are in good condition, the smallness of the distinctly readable letters that may be produced is wonderful. And in this connection it is an interesting fact that in many mechanical operations, writing included, the hand is far more delicate than the eye. ”

“ MARK in the MOUTH
.—The black cavity in the TEETH of a HORSE, by which his age is correctly known till seven years old, is called the mark; when which is obliterated, the age can be no longer precisely ascertained. Dealers adopt a successful mode of deception, by which the young and inexperienced are frequently imposed upon. See Bishoping and Colt. ”

“ Wherever we touch the history of civilized man we find some form of printing by the use of a seal, a stamp, or even a single letter. Some manuscripts long before the middle of the fifteenth century seem to have had the initial letters put in by means of stamps which were applied either by heavy hand pressure or by the blow of a mallet. These 19initial letters certainly show the use of color in making the impression. ”

“ Any rule differentiating the Printer’s Mark proper from a 47 vignette is not likely to give general satisfaction; for a writer on the subject of vignettes will unfailingly appropriate many that are Marks, and vice versa. The present writer has found it a fairly safe rule, to accept as a Mark a pictorial embellishment (on a title-page) to which is appended a motto or quotation. ”