Thomas Ewing French, Robert Meiklejohn Essentials of Lettering

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. We have taken a step farther in saying that there is no engineers' lettering as distinguished from other lettering. There is simply the adaptation by each draftsman of the style suitable to his particular needs. The map draftsman, the architectural draftsman, the machine draftsman will each select appropriate letters for his kind of work. Engineers' lettering, so called, is kept in bad repute by those who persist in making such mechanical caricatures as geometrical letters, block letters, etc. As there are forms, however, for each branch of drawing which are particularly adapted to it, the sub~ jcet should be taught to engineers with reference to their chosen branch. The civil engineer, for example, will practice the Modern Roman and the stump letter, as these have become standard letters in map drawing and similar work. The architect, on the other hand, will have no use for the Modern Roman, but should study in detail the Old Roman of both the early and Renaissance periods.