Typeface Research: Baskerville

THE HISTORY OF BASKERVILLE





The Baskerville font was designed by type designer, writing master and printer, John Baskerville. John was born on the 28th of January 1706 in Wolverley England and died in 1775 in Birmingham England at the age of 68. He spent many years perfecting and improving existing fonts such as Caslon, however in 1730 John began developing his own style of font which was to become the beginning of Baskerville. John studied the ease of reading various faces and found that fine-stroked types were actually easier to read when printed in smaller sizes- a characteristic essential for books. It was this finding that lead to the design of Baskerville, a font that is characterised by its finer strokes. John Baskerville designed and first published the Baskerville font in 1757. Baskerville is a typeface that still to this day reflects John’s ideals for perfection, simplicity and quiet refinement.

During the time when the Baskerville font was designed, many other type designers throughout England claimed that John Baskerville’s font was too thin and stark in contrast to the fonts present at the time (such as Caslon). John’s fellow contemporaries believed that the typeface was going damage the eyes of anyone who try to read it. Despite this the Baskerville font was much admired overseas by the likes of Benjamin Franklin.

Baskerville fell out of use in the early 1900s with the onset of modern typefaces such as Bodoni. However in 1917, Baskerville was revived by a man named Bruce Rogers, for the Harvard University Press. In 1923 Baskerville was again revived, although this time in England by a man named Stanley Morison, for the British Monotype Company. The most recent revival of the Baskerville typeface was in 1996 when it was used as the basis for the design of the typeface ‘Mrs Eaves’, designed by Zuzana Licko.

Baskerville is still widely used today with many modified versions being created since its design in 1757. The refined feeling of the Baskerville typeface makes it an excellent choice when you would like to convey dignity and tradition. Baskerville is a typeface that is and will be continued to be celebrated as one of the best ever typefaces for printed books thanks to its traditional thin and start lines.