So many people nowadays have to consult official publications, apart
from the income-tax payer, that a reform in Government printing would be widely appreciated. We are glad to find that the Stationery Office is giving serious attention to this question and has taken expert advice. It has just published the Report (4s. net) of the Committee appointed to select the best faces of type and modes of display for Government printing, and also an excellent Note on the Legibility of Printed Matter, by Mr. L. R. Legros (1s. 6d. net). Mr. Legros sets out very clearly the principles and practice of type-design, with many illustrations. The Committee give a large number of type-faces which they regard as suitable, and also specimen covers and title-pages which mark a very great advance on anything hitherto produced by Government printers. The cover and title-page of the Report itself are admirable. We cannot discuss the recommendations in detail, but we may note the Committee's very decisive con- demnation of " types in which the contrast between the thick and thin strokes is exaggerated, or in which the face is unduly compressed "—types such as the much over-rated Bodoni produced in the late eighteenth century for the delectation of misguided bibliophiles. As the Committee observe, " to set work in type of good design costs no more than to set it in type of poor design," but the saving to the reader's eyesight and temper is incalculable.
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