John Baskerville

John Baskerville – born 28. 1. 1706 in Wolverley, Worcestershire, England, died 8. 1. 1775 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England – type designer, writing master, printer.

1725: moves to Birmingham. 1733–37: writing master in Birmingham. 1750: sets up his own type foundry and printing works. 1757: his first printed book is published, an edition of Virgil. 1758: publishes an edition of John Milton’s "Paradise Lost". 1758: appointed printer to the University of Cambridge. Here he produces several editions of the "Book of Common Prayer" and in 1763 a New Testament in a Greek type he designs. 1770–73: produces a four-volume edition of Ariosto’s "Orlando Furioso". 1953: Baskerville’s original letter stamps and matrices are donated to Cambridge University Press.

Publication: Ralph Straus and Robert K. Dent "John Baskerville", Cambridge 1907.

* TYPOGRAPHY – An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott (Editor), Bernard Stein, published by Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.