Baskerville Press
In the middle of the 18th century a talented printer John Baskerville burst on the scene whose work has given him a lasting place among typographers. At first a writing master at Birmingham, Baskerville when well past forty turned his attention to printing. He designed the typeface which still bears his name, based on old-style typefaces of the 16th century, but with changes that anticipate modern typefaces. In 1757, Baskerville published a remarkable edition of Virgil using his own type. It took three years to complete, but it made such an impact that he was appointed printer to the University of Cambridge the following year. His aim was to produce printed books in a finer style than had hitherto been known in England. To do this required a conjunction of new and beautifully-cut type, excellent ink, fine paper, and painstaking press work. Nothing could be neglected. Baskerville not only engaged the best punch-cutters that could be had; he made his own moulds, ink and presses, and almost everything that he required. The end result was the appearance of Prayer Books, Bibles and Classics which are collector’s items today and which rival the work of the finest printers of all time. His typefaces were greatly admired by Benjamin Franklin, a printer and fellow member of the Royal Society of Arts, who took the designs back to the newly created United States, where they were adopted for most federal government publishing.