Baskerville is a serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in
Birmingham, England and cut by John Handy. Baskerville is classified as a
transitional typeface, intended as a refinement of what are now called
old-style typefaces of the period, especially those of his most eminent
contemporary, William Caslon. Compared to earlier designs, Baskerville
increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes, making the serifs sharper
and more tapered, and shifted the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical
position. The curved strokes are more circular in shape, and the characters
became more regular. These changes created a greater consistency in size
and form. Baskerville's typefaces remain very popular in book design and there
are many modern revivals, which often add features such as bold type which did
not exist in Baskerville's time. History
Baskerville's typeface was the culmination of a large series of
experiments. Baskerville, a wealthy industrialist who had begun his career
as a writing-master, sought to develop new and higher-quality methods of
printing, developing also finely pressed, smooth paper and a high quality
of ink. The result was a typeface that reflected Baskerville's ideals of
perfection, where he chose simplicity and quiet refinement. His background as
a writing master is evident in the distinctive swash tail on the uppercase
Q and in the cursive serifs in his italic.
In 1757, Baskerville published his first work, a collection of Virgil, which was
followed by some fifty other classics. In 1758, he was appointed printer to the
Cambridge University Press. It was there in 1763 that he published his master
work, a folio Bible, which was printed using his own typeface, ink, and paper.
At the start of his edition of Paradise Lost, he wrote a preface explaining his
ambitions. The perfection of his work seems to have
unsettled his contemporaries, and some claimed the stark contrasts in his
printing damaged the eyes. Baskerville was never particularly successful as a
printer, being a printer of specialist and elite editions. Abroad, however, he
was much admired, notably by Pierre Simon Fournier, Giambattista Bodoni, and
Benjamin Franklin. His work was later admired in England by Thomas Frognall
Dibdin, who wrote that 'in his Italic letter...he stands unrivalled; such
elegance, freedom and perfect symmetry being in vain to be looked for among the
specimens of Aldus and Colinaeus. Thomas Curson Hansard seems to have had
misgivings about his work, praising him in some ways but also suggesting that he
was a better printer than a type designer. On his death his eventually
sold his material to a Paris literary society connected to Beaumarchais,
placing them out of reach of British printing.
Baskerville's styles of type and printing, although initially unpopular
in Britain, proved influential for a brief transitional period in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century, with printers and type designers such as
Fry, Moore and Wilson of Glasgow. Bulmer, cut by the brother of
Baskerville's foremen, was one design inspired by it, as is Bell. This period
saw an increasing influence of Didone printing from the Continent, from
typefaces such as Didot and Bodoni. It then disappeared from view following a
trend towards Didone typefaces with a much darker style of impression; Updike
suggests that this change mostly happened around 1815-20. The Scotch
Roman genre which proved popular in Britain and America is something of an
intermediate between Didone typefaces and Baskerville's influence.
Baskerville was revived in 1917 by Bruce Rogers, for the Harvard University
Press, and released by G. Peignot et Fils in Paris. Modern revivals have
added features, such as italics with extra or no swashes and bold weights,
that were not present in Baskerville's original work.
The font is used widely in documents issued by the University of Birmingham
and Castleton State College. A modified version of Baskerville is also
prominently used in the Canadian government's corporate identity
program—namely, in the 'Canada' wordmark. Another modified version of
Baskerville is used by Northeastern University, and the ABRSM. Monotype
Baskerville is often used by the band Chvrches.
Characteristics Key features of Baskerville are its E
where the bottom arm projects further than the upper, a J with a ball terminal
at the bottom, an a where the loop rises to the top and right to join the main
stem and a g where the bottom loop is open. Many characters have clear ball
terminals, in contrast to the more wedge-shaped serifs of earlier fonts. In
italics, the J has a centre-bar, the p a tail pointing downwards and to the right
and a w with a centre loop and swash on the right. In general, Baskerville's
type has been described as 'rounder, more sharply cut' than its predecessors.
Baskerville's type featured text figures or lower-case numbers, the only form
which existed at the time. Hot type versions
The following foundries offered versions of Baskerville:
The original punches were sold by Baskerville's widow and eventually ended
up in the possession of G. Peignot et Fils by way of Beaumarchais. Charles
Peignot donated them to Cambridge University Press in 1953.
With Baskerville's equipment unavailable in France, the Fry type foundry of
Bristol cut its own version in the late eighteenth century, presumably by house
designer Isaac Moore who later showcased them on his own specimen. Moore's
designs feature a slightly different 'a' at large sizes followed in many
revivals. When Fry's successors closed, this
version was acquired and issued in hot metal by Stephenson Blake under the name
"Baskerville Old Face". Moore's italic was considered substandard by revivalist
printers, and Baskerville Old Face revivals have tended to either
synthesise their own or offer none. The Fry Foundry version was also sold by
American Type Founders with an italic designed in 1915 by Morris Fuller
Benton. Lanston Monotype's Baskerville was cut
in 1923 under the direction of Stanley Morison. Italic and bold versions were
cut by Sol Hess. These versions were modified slightly and then offered by
Intertype. As with other Monotype revivals, the design is sometimes called
Baskerville MT. It is bundled with OS X in a somewhat slender digitisation.
Schriftgießerei D. Stempel issued a revival in 1926 under the name
"Original-Baskerville". Linotype AG, the German arm of
Mergenthaler Linotype, adapted the Stempel cutting of the face for
linecasting in 1927. Linotype's Baskerville was cut in 1923
by George W. Jones, though it was subsequently re-cut in 1936. A bold
version was cut by Chauncey H. Griffith in 1939. It may sometimes be called
Baskerville LT. More loosely, the Scotch Roman genre of
transitional types reflects the influence of Baskerville's work, with
increasing influence of Didone type from the continent around the beginning of
the nineteenth century; the font Georgia is influenced by this genre. Due to the
cachet of the name, other completely unrelated designs were named
'Baskerville' in the hot metal period. Cold type versions
As it had been a standard type for many years, Baskerville was widely available
in cold type. Alphatype, Autologic, Berthold, Compugraphic, Dymo,
Star/Photon, Harris, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, Varityper, Hell AG and
Monotype, all sold the face under the name Baskerville, while Graphic Systems
Inc. offered the face as Beaumont. Digital versions
As a somewhat precise design that emphasises contrast between thick and
thin strokes, modern designers may prefer different revivals for different
text sizes, printing methods and onscreen display, since a design
intended to appear elegant in large text sizes could look too spindly for body
text. Factors which would be taken into account include compensation for size
and ink spread, if any. Among recent digitisations, František Štorm's
extremely complete range of versions features three optical sizes, the text
version having thicker strokes to increase legibility as metal type does.
Meanwhile, the common digitisation of Baskerville Old Face bundled with many
Microsoft products features dramatic contrasts between thin and thick
strokes. This makes it most suited to headings, especially since it does not
have an italic. Another common question facing revivals
is what to do with some letters such as 'N' in italics. On faithful revivals
such as the Storm digitisation they have a swash, but this may be thought too
distracting for general use or to space poorly in all-caps text. Accordingly,
many revivals substitute capitals without swashes.
Dieter Hofrichter, who assisted Günter Gerhard Lange in designing a Baskerville
revival for Berthold around 1980, commented:
We went to Birmingham where we saw original prints by Baskerville. I was
quite astounded by how sharp the printing of his specimens is. They are
razor-sharp: it almost hurt your eyes to see them. So elegant and high-contrast!
He showed in this way what he could achieve. That was Baskerville's ideal -
but not necessarily right for today. Many companies have provided digital
releases, including Linotype, URW++, and Bitstream as well as many others. These
may have varying features, for example some lacking small caps. Monotype
Baskerville is installed on Macs as part of OS X, while many Windows computers
receive Moore's adaptation under the name of Baskerville Old Face in the URW
digitisation without an italic or bold weight.
= Adaptations = A particularly idiosyncratic Baskerville
revival is Mrs Eaves, designed by Zuzana Licko. Named after Baskerville's
housekeeper-turned-wife, it uses a low x-height to create a bright page without
reducing stroke width. It is often used on book titles and headings. It uses a
variety of ligatures to create effects with linked characters. Harriet is an
adaptation by Okaytype inspired by American nineteenth-century printing.
Big Moore by Matthew Carter is a recent, complex digitisation of the larger sizes
of Isaac Moore's early adaptation, that often called Baskerville Old Face,
adding an italic. Effect on readers
A research study showed that the use of the Baskerville font increased the
likelihood of the reader agreeing with a statement by 1.5% as compared to the
average of five other fonts, including Comic Sans which had the most negative
influence on agreement of the six. Gallery
Some examples of volumes published by Baskerville.
References Lawson, Alexander S., Anatomy of a
Typeface, Boston: Godine, ISBN 0-87923-333-8 .
Meggs, Philip B. & Carter, Rob, Typographic Specimens: The Great
Typefaces, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, ISBN 0-442-00758-2
Meggs, Philip B. & McKelvey, Roy, Revival of the Fittest, New York: RC
Publications, ISBN 1-883915-08-2 . Updike, Daniel Berkley [1922], Printing
Types Their History, Forms and Use II, New York: Dover Publications, ISBN
0-486-23929-2 - general survey of printing including of the years after
Baskerville & his influence on printing. Many illustrations.
External links Typophile: Baskerville
John Baskerville I Love Typography, Sep. 23, 2007
Open Baskerville – an open-source revival of Moore's Baskerville, without
an italic