Showbills

Otherwise called placards, from a French word, are defined as public papers posted in a public place. They constitute a large and important branch of the jobbing work of a printing office, and by the variety of designs, sizes, and colours that may be effected in them present a wide and most interesting field for the exercise of the tact, taste, and skill of the compositor. There is far more of art in setting-up a showbill than many persons imagine, and art of a kind that is not less derived from constant practice, observation, and study, than due to natural aptitude and ingenuity. While cards and circulars are generally composed according to certain settled modes, according to the class of work to which they belong, placards vary in almost every single instance.

Great attention has been paid to this description of work in England during the last few years, and vast improvements have taken place in the manner of its execution, as a glance at any well-posted hoarding will show. Formerly a dense dullness and a melancholy kind of monotony pervaded all these products of our English press. An ordinary black letter on a white or blue or orange ground was thought quite sufficient to attract the public attention. It was quite an exhibition of enterprise to print in two, and more conspicuously so, in three colours, and even these were the ordinary red and blue inks. An advance in the public taste and a vast extension of the advertising system in time demanded something more artistic and more striking, and printers were compelled to take into consideration the demands of their customers.

They have been enabled to meet those demands by several advantages comparatively recently brought within their reach. The price of ink has been much reduced, and workmen have commenced to learn the system of blending and contrasting colours to the best advantage. Wood engraving has been brought more into use, not only for pictorial ornaments, but in the rougher way of introducing more tasteful letters with greater variety of form. The size, too, (if placards has been increased of late years, for where a mere double-demy, or even double-crown bill would suffice, a four or six-sheet bill is now considered necessary. In no branch of printing, in fact, has more progress been made within the last generation than in this. Extensive establishments are now found all over the country—notably in Birmingham, Glasgow, Lorftlon, Nottingham, and Carlisle—for the chief purpose of doing this kind of work, and the beauty and cheapness of their productions are marvellous. America and France have till within lately completely surpassed England in this respect; but many of the placards now seen in London and the large towns could hardly be excelled in any part of the world.

In designing a placard it ought first of all to be remembered that the object of the bill is to catch the public eye. Hence the attractiveness of a placard is its chief recommendation, and the measure of its value. This attractiveness may be secured either by the excellence of the printing or the originality of the design. It is true that mere size will catch the attention of the passer by; but to print a bill of inordinate dimensions with this sole object is very inartistic, and indicates a want of ingenuity and skill on the part of its designer. The smaller the bill in proportion to its showiness the better, both for the sake of appearance and of economy. For some sorts of showbills, indeed, even singularity may be aimed at, but whether this should be attempted or avoided depends upon the nature of the particular work in hand. It may be laid down as a general rule, that the fewer words in a bill the more effective it is likely to be.

An expert at placard composition displays his ability by the accomplishment of his design with the least amount of explanation. The reason of this is obvious. The fewer the words on a sheet of paper the larger may be the characters in which the words are set; and, besides, an undue quantity of small type on a posted bill rather repels than excites public attention. It should be left to the advertisement, the prospectus, the circular, to explain and to demonstrate; the province of the placard is to indicate and assert.

The wording of the latter should be terse, incisive; not liable to misunderstanding, not apt to be forgotten. A newspaper paragraph might commence, “Theatre Royal, Buckintown. During the past week this theatre has been, we are exceedingly glad to learn, completely filled in every part of the house.” But in a placard the same fact should be announced in the two words, “Crowded Houses!” And while it is permissable to say in the former that “the actor who will sustain the part of An English Gentleman will be Mr. Sothern, but he will not repeat it during the present engagement;” the latter will simply state, “An English Gentleman, Mr. Sothern, for this night only.” Simple as this rule may appear, it is constantly broken, to the detriment of the general effect of the bill, and the wasteful increase of the expense in printing it.

In writing out a bill, any one who strives after perfection will frequently lament the proportion in the English language of particles—of conjunctions, prepositions, &c., and even grumble at having to use so many adverbs and adjectives, valuable as is their assistance. Verbs, nouns, and pronouns, unfortunately, cannot compose every sentence without becoming dull and wearisome. So that auxiliary words have to be used: but they should be used as sparingly as possible.

The bill having been written out is placed in the hands of the printer, some hints having been given to him of its general intention and the comparative prominence to be given to the different displayed lines respectively. He should then underline the chief or primary lines, and it is advisable to make a kind of mental scale of the letters, and mark at the end of the words a if they are to be largest, b next smaller, c, and so on. Having marked all the primary lines, regard all the rest merely as secondary or subordinate lines—catch lines in the phraseology of the trade. These accessory lines should be as few as possible, and as small as is convenient—regard being had to legibility.

The more space devoted to the chief lines the better. Some printers set the small lines first, and then give all the remaining room to the big ones. This is a sort of rough-and-ready way, but one which seldom produces a good bill, as it rather reverses the order of things. The largest lines should be got up first, then those of a size smaller, and so on, diminishing to the smallest catch line. By this means only can a really good bill be arranged.

Placards, indeed, should be intelligible when only their chief lines are read, and the small lines passed over. By this means a double effect is gained, for the passer by on the opposite side of the street, who can from his distance only read the primary lines, and the passer by who is only a yard off and can read the whole are equally suited. But when read in this way the information which is intended ought to be distinctly conveyed, for it is possible by bringing secondary words into great prominence to give the bill a totally opposite appearance to what it really is—a plan sometimes adopted to excite public curiosity—as what appears by the chief lines to be a royal proclamation may be in reality a chimney sweep's notice, according to the lines that are “thrown up.”

A certain balance must be preserved; over display should be avoided, and all clumsiness guarded against. As far as possible, the chief effects should be made about the middle of the bill, just as in a work of art the chief figures are got into the middle. We read of artists who have attained the highest eminence incessantly taking notes of every minute effect that they discovered in the works of the great masters, and jealously hoarding them up till they could be brought into use. So ought the aspiring printer to observe and record for his future advantage any original idea, any ingenious or beautiful combination, so that his mind may be stored with expedients for attaining all kinds of effects. A dead wall decorated by the bill-poster affords more subjects for study than one person in a thousand imagines.