John Baskerville was a type designer and a printer. He was also a stone cutter and a master at English writing. Born in a village called Wolverley in Worcestershire he was a printer in Birmingham, England. He had established himself as an accomplished writer and engraver of headstones. He excelled in the technique of japanning and with the money he had made was able to start the printing business that would lead him to the recognition he has today. While he didn't always make the most money at times and often lost money on his ventures in the printing business those ventures contributed greatly to the printing industry. His attention to detailed perfection produced exquisite works of typefaces and books. Even though an atheist Baskerville printed a bible for Cambridge University. With the immaculate perfection that he had achieved with his printing came the disdain of his competitors. The undeserved harsh criticism he received soon pushed his designs out of favor with the business. Even though he was de-popularized his namesake font found its way to our time. He created a very consistent font that he thought improved upon the work of his rival William Caslon. The serif typeface that he created was simple and refined showing his taste of perfection. The serifs are what set his typeface apart from his competition. Most notably the tail of the uppercase Q where he adorned it with a distinctive tail. The typeface fell out of use like Baskerville himself did but was revived in 1917 for the Harvard University Press as well as for the British Monotype Company. Baskerville's picture perfect typeface is a rarity among typefaces that were developed in world where everything was done by hand with out the technology that we have today. So who was John Baskerville.
He was an underappreciated perfectionist who found relevance well after death.
Sources:
myfonts.comWikipedia John_BaskervilleWikipedia Baskervilleinfoplease.com
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