James Mosley

James Mosley (born 1935) is a retired librarian and historian whose work has specialised in the history of printing and letter design.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The main part of Mosley's career has been 42 years as Librarian of the

Particular areas of focus of his career have been, in Britain, William Caslon, Vincent Figgins and Talbot Baines Reed, Eric Gill (with whose brother Evan he worked in the 1950s), and, in Europe, the Romain du Roi.^{[1][11][12][13]}

Education

Mosley grew up in Twickenham in south-west London, where he became interested in printing, before studying English at King's College, Cambridge, where he with Philip Gaskell, later also a historian of printing, operated a small hand-press as an amateur project in the college cellar.^[2][14][15] During his time at university he worked with Eric Gill's brother Evan on sorting material for an exhibition on his work by Monotype, a printing equipment company with which Gill often collaborated.^[1][2][16]

Career

After a brief period working at the type foundry Stevens Shanks, one of the last remaining in London,^[15] Mosley was hired at St. Bride as assistant librarian in 1956, becoming librarian in 1958.^[2][17][18] As a writer, some of his most best-known articles are 'English Vernacular', on signpainting and lettering traditions,^[19][20] 'The Nymph and the Grot', on the early development of sans-serif letters before they became adopted by printers, which was later republished as a book,^{[21][22][23][24][25]} and 'Trajan Revived', on the Roman-style lettering revival of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.^[26] He has collaborated with historians on other projects, for example on a study of the early printing of works by Hume and with Justin Howes.^[27][28] He also worked with Harry Carter, and has also contributed to a book on his son Matthew.^[29]

Mosley helped to acquire for St. Bride a large range of printing materials, at a time when companies were disposing of their

Since retirement from St. Bride Mosley has continued to write, research and lecture, for example on the career of Eric Gill in 2015.[33] He also advised on creating historically accurate lettering for replica globes, Tate Britain and HMS Victory.^{[34][35][36][37]}

References