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Typography
Typography is especially significant in bibliographical analysis and description of periodicals for two reasons: first, because periodicals served as showcases for new types, especially display types; and second, because typography often plays an important part in establishing the visual style of a periodical, much more so than is usually the case in books.
The development of ornamental type is one of the major events of nineteenth-century printing technology. The demand for display types was great, and the profit derived from them led to the relative neglect of plainer types.[33] Books (with the exception of cheaper paper-backs) tended not to make use of ornamental type; periodicals, on the other hand, made the most of this and other technological novelties. Wrappers, title-pages, and headings are likely places for decorative type. Many ornamental type faces can be identified in Nicolete Gray's Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces (2nd ed., 1976), an essential reference for the bibliographer of Victorian periodicals. Plain type also underwent design modifications for use in newspapers and magazines. Perhaps the most famous example of innovation in magazine type is the new typeface designed by Theodore De Vinne and Linn Boyd Benton for the Century magazine; a version of this typeface is still in use (Lawson 283 — 284).
Typographical patterns such as text in columns, the use of rules or frames, and the designation of particular fonts for titles, bylines, or captions should be noted.
The headline and direction-line are especially important, since these will often include the date as well as the volume and issue numbers. Headlines and direction lines are often removed in bound volumes issued by the publisher; running titles in bound volumes should also be carefully checked for variation.
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