Description

Book Synopsis

The classic elegant English typeface, still widely used as a book text more than 250 years since its creation. Baskerville is a transitional design, poised between the first metal types and modern styles, notable for its combination of fat and thin strokes. When it was first used there was genuine concern that it would damage readers'' eyes.

John Baskerville was a maverick lacquer maker and printer in Birmingham, a flamboyant dresser, an important figure in the Enlightenment. Though it earned him little money, he was obsessive about both his typeface and its appearance on the page, a perfectionism culminating in his magnificent Bible. The story encompasses one of the first powerful women of the printing world, his wife Sarah Baskerville, and the many typefaces the Baskervilles inspired. And it examines why John Baskerville''s body was dug up and buried many times before it was finally allowed to rest in peace.

Baskerville

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    A Hardback by Simon Garfield

    £13.49

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    RRP £14.99 – you save £1.50 (10%)

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      Book details

      Publisher Orion Publishing Co
      Published 9 November 2023
      ISBN-13 9781399609272
      978-1399609272
      ISBN-10 1399609270
      Also in:
      Art & Photography Graphic design History of art History of design

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The classic elegant English typeface, still widely used as a book text more than 250 years since its creation. Baskerville is a transitional design, poised between the first metal types and modern styles, notable for its combination of fat and thin strokes. When it was first used there was genuine concern that it would damage readers'' eyes.

      John Baskerville was a maverick lacquer maker and printer in Birmingham, a flamboyant dresser, an important figure in the Enlightenment. Though it earned him little money, he was obsessive about both his typeface and its appearance on the page, a perfectionism culminating in his magnificent Bible. The story encompasses one of the first powerful women of the printing world, his wife Sarah Baskerville, and the many typefaces the Baskervilles inspired. And it examines why John Baskerville''s body was dug up and buried many times before it was finally allowed to rest in peace.

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