6 Spacing.  Separate words by space of one m and sentences by two m’s.  Leave uniform space between letters of a word.

7 Shading.  Make a uniform black line with no shading.  Avoid hair line strokes.

8 Uniformity.  Take great pains to have all writing uniform in size, slant, spacing, blackness of lines and forms of letters.

9 Special letters and figures.  In both joined and disjoined hands dot i and cross t accurately to avoid confusion; e.g.  Giulio carelessly dotted has been arranged under Guilio in the catalog.  Cross t one space from line.  Dot i and j one and one-half spaces from line.  In foreign languages special care is essential.

Joined hand.  Connect all the letters of a word into a single word picture.  Complete each letter; e.g. do not leave gap between body and stem of b and d, bring loop of f back to stem, etc.

Avoid slanting r and s differently from other letters.  They should be a trifle over one space in height.  The small p is made as in print, and is not extended above the line as in ordinary script.

Disjoined hand.  Avoid all unnecessary curves.  The principal down strokes in b, d, f, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, t, u, and the first line in e, should be straight.

SPECIMEN ALPHABETS AND FIGURES

[Illustration:  Joined Hand]

[Illustration:  Disjoined Hand]

Make all the small letters, except f, i, j, k, t, x and y, without lifting pen from paper.

Make g and Q in one stroke, moving from left to right like the hands of a watch.  Begin on the line.

Take special pains with the letter r, as carelessly made it is easily mistaken for v or y.

Make the upper part of B, R, and S a trifle smaller than the lower part.

Figures.  Make all figures without lifting the pen.  Begin 4 with the horizontal line.  Make the upper part of 3 and 8 smaller than the lower part; 8 is best made by beginning in the center.

CHAPTER XVIII

The care of books

Books of moderate size should stand up on the shelves.  Large books keep better if they are laid on their sides; when they stand, the weight of the leaves is a pull on the binding which tends to draw the books out of shape, and sometimes breaks them.  Books which stand up should never be permitted to lean over, but should be kept always perfectly erect; the leaning wrenches them out of shape, and soon breaks the binding.  A row of books which does not comfortably fill a shelf should be kept up at one end by a book support.  There are several good supports on the market.  The Crocker is excellent; so is the one described in the Library Bureau catalog.

[Illustration:  L.B. book supports. (Reduced.)]