The wooden platens were usually covered with thick tympanum which helped to absorb pressure and reduce type depth, however, Baskerville’s press used thin tympanum around the metal and the platens were even heated before using them. This routine resulted in the development of higher standards for presses altogether.įolio Bible patented by the Cambridge University Press in 1763, Baskerville brought his own press to the university to complete his printing (Source: Typefaces for Books)Įxisting printing presses did not capture the subtleties of his type, so Baskerville redesigned the press replacing the wooden platen with a brass one in order to allow the planes to meet more evenly. As printers would not willingly reveal the methods within their print shops, Baskerville followed other printers closely and made the same purchases as them in hopes of setting up the same press. He created an intense black ink color through the tedious process of boiling fine linseed oil to a certain thickness, dissolving rosin, allowing months for it to subside and finally grinding it before use. John Baskerville developed his own method of working, resulting in beautifully bright woven paper and darker inks. Baskerville grew out of an ongoing experimentation with printing technology. It is difficult to appreciate the qualities of Baskerville without first understanding the process of its creation. Hand-carving Baskerville on a headstone for John Baskerville by Gabriel Hummerston (Source: ) Achieving crisp perfection John Baskerville, preface to Milton, 1758 ( Anatomy of a Typeface) I formed to myself ideas of greater accuracy than had yet appeared, and had endeavoured to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion. Having been an early admirer of the beauty of letters, I became insensibly desirous of contributing to the perfection of them. The mathematically-drawn characters felt cold, and prompted Baskerville to create a softer typeface with rounded bracketed serifs and a vertical axis. At the time that John Baskerville decided to switch from owning a japanning business to a type foundry, Phillipe Grandjean’s exclusive Romain du Roi for Louis XIV had circulated and been copied in Europe. Baskerville was illiterate but became very interested in calligraphy, and practised handwriting and inscription that was later echoed in strokes and embellishments in his printed typeface.īaskerville is categorized as a transitional typeface in-between classical typefaces and the high contrast modern faces. As a servant in a clergyman’s house, it was his employer that discovered his penmanship talents and sent him to learn writing. The typeface was heavily influenced by the processes of the Birmingham-bred John Baskerville, a master type-founder and printer, who owed much of his career to his beginnings. Designed by a perfectionist and self-taught printer, Baskerville is the eighth font to be explored in our ‘Know your type’ series.īaskerville, designed in 1754, is most known for its crisp edges, high contrast and generous proportions.
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