John Baskerville
John Baskerville | |
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type designer |
John Baskerville (baptised 28 January 1707 – 8 January 1775) was an English businessman, in areas including
Life
Baskerville was born in the village of Wolverley, near Kidderminster in Worcestershire, and baptised on 28 January 1706 OS (1707 NS) at Wolverley church.[4][5] Baskerville established an early career teaching handwriting, and is known to have offered his services cutting gravestones (a demonstration slab by him survives in the Library of Birmingham) before making a considerable fortune from the manufacture of lacquerwork items (japanning).
He practised as a printer in
Baskerville directed his punchcutter, John Handy, in the design of many typefaces of broadly similar appearance. His typefaces were greatly admired by Benjamin Franklin, a fellow printer,[6] but were criticised by jealous competitors and soon fell out of favour. He also pioneered a completely new style of typography, adding wide margins and leading between each line.[7]
In 1757, Baskerville published a remarkable quarto edition of
Bible in 1763.Baskerville innovated in printing, paper, and ink production. He worked with paper maker James Whatman to produce a smoother whiter paper, sometimes called wove paper, which showcased his strong black type.[13]
Death and interments
Baskerville died in January 1775 at his home, Easy Hill. He requested that his body be placed
in a Conical Building in my own premises Hearetofore used as a mill which I have lately Raised Higher and painted and in a vault which I have prepared for It. This Doubtless to many may appear a Whim perhaps It is so—But it is a whim for many years Resolve'd upon, as I have a Hearty Contempt for all Superstition the Farce of a Consecrated Ground the Irish Barbarism of Sure and Certain Hopes &c I also consider Revelation as it is call'd Exclusive of the Scraps of Morality casually Intermixt with It to be the most Impudent Abuse of Common Sense which Ever was Invented to Befool Mankind.[1]
However, in 1821 a canal was built through the land and his body was placed on show by the landowner until Baskerville's family and friends arranged to have it moved to the
Legacy
The 20th century renewed interest in and appreciation for Baskerville's typefaces. His most notable typeface,
Commemoration
In the 1930s, Baskerville House was built on the grounds of Easy Hill.
In 1947, BBC radio broadcast a radio play about his burial, named Hic Jacet: or The Corpse in the Crescent by Neville Brandon Watts. The original recording was not preserved but a performance was staged by students at the
A
Gallery
Some examples of volumes published by Baskerville.
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John Milton's Paradise Lost (1758)
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Volume One of The works of Joseph Addison (1761)
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Title-page of Baskerville's 1763 Bible
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The 1766 translation of Virgil into English, by Robert Andrews
See also
- William Caslon, a contemporary type-founder and printer
References
- Citations
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1624. Retrieved 17 November 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 9781108076227. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-521-52208-3.
- ^ "John Baskerville: Timeline". Typographic Hub. Birmingham City University. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ^ Mosley, James (1963). "English Vernacular". Motif. 11: 3–56.
- ^ Benjamin Franklin (1840). The Works of Benjamin Franklin: Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private, Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author. Hillard, Gray. pp. 212–5.
- ISBN 978-1-85326-911-0.
- ^ Lyons, Martyn. (2011). Books: A living history. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications. pp. 111
- ^ a b "Printer's Reburial Demanded". The Times. No. 55645. 9 March 1963. p. 6.
- ^ Curtis, Thomas (1833). The existing monopoly an inadequate protection of the authorised version of scripture. London: Effingham Wilson et al.
- ^ The Book of Common Prayer. printed 1762, John Baskerville. Church of England. 1662. p. 4.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "The Book of Common Prayer (1662) As printed by John Baskerville". justus.anglican.org. Church of England.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40776. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Petition Presented For Printer's Reburial". The Times. No. 55648. 13 March 1963. p. 5.
- ^ Meggs, Philip B., Purvis, Alston W. "Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution" History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2006. p.122.
- .
- S2CID 57569313.
- ^ "Baskerville revisited". Print. 50: 28D. 1996.
- ^ a b "Baskerville Society: Hic Jacet or The Corpse in the Crescent". Typographic Hub. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013.
- ^ "A rare revival of a macabre story". Birmingham Mail. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ "Industry and Genius". Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
- Bibliography
- Benton, Josiah Henry (1914). John Baskerville: Type-founder and Printer, 1706–1775. Boston: The Merrymount Press.
- Gaskell, Philip (1973). John Baskerville: A Bibliography. Paul P. B. Minet. ISBN 978-0-85609-029-5.
- Pardoe, Frank Ernest (1975). John Baskerville of Birmingham Letter-Founder and Printer. London: Frederick Muller, Ltd. ISBN 9780584103540.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ARCHER-PARRÉ, Caroline & Malcom DICK (Editors), JOHN BASKERVILLE: Art and industry of the enlightenment. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2017. 8vo, (240x160mm), xviii,269p
External links
- Works by John Baskerville at Open Library
- Birmingham City Council page on Industry and Genius (includes picture)
- Revolutionary Players website
- Baskerville the Animated Movie Archived 13 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- Some typographical studies on the use of the Baskerville font (in French).