John Baskerville : art and industry of the Enlightenment / edited by Caroline Archer-Parré and Malcolm Dick ; foreword by Jenny Uglow.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Archer-Parré, Caroline, editor.

Dick, Malcolm, editor.

Series:

Eighteenth-century worlds.

Eighteenth-century worlds

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Printing--England--Birmingham--History--18th century.

Printing.

Early printed books--England--Birmingham--18th century--Bibliography.

Early printed books.

Printers--Great Britain--Biography.

Printers.

Type and type-founding--England--History--18th century.

Type and type-founding.

Baskerville, John, 1706-1775.

Baskerville, John.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 269 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press 2017.

Summary:

This book is concerned with the eighteenth-century typographer, printer, industrialist and Enlightenment figure, John Baskerville (1707-75). Baskerville was a Birmingham inventor, entrepreneur and artist with a worldwide reputation who made eighteenth-century Birmingham a city without typographic equal, by changing the course of type design. Baskerville not only designed one of the world's most historically important typefaces, he also experimented with casting and setting type, improved the construction of the printing-press, developed a new kind of paper and refined the quality of printing inks. His typographic experiments put him ahead of his time, had an international impact and did much to enhance the printing and publishing industries of his day. Yet despite his importance, fame and influence many aspects of Baskerville's work and life remain unexplored and his contribution to the arts, industry, culture and society of the Enlightenment are largely unrecognized. Moreover, recent scholarly research in archaeology, art and design, history, literary studies and typography, is leading to a fundamental reassessment of many aspects of Baskerville's life and impact, including his birthplace, his work as an industrialist, the networks which sustained him and the reception of his printing in Britain and overseas. The last major, but inadequate publication of Baskerville dates from 1975. Now, forty years on, the time is ripe for a new book. This interdisciplinary approach provides an original contribution to printing history, eighteenth-century studies and the dissemination of ideas.

Contents:

List of Figures vii

Acknowledgements xi

Foreword xiii

Timeline xv

Baskerville Family Tree xvii

Introduction: John Baskerville: Art and Industry of the Enlightenment; Caroline Archer-Parre and Malcolm Dick

The Topographies of a Typographer: Mapping John Baskerville since the Eighteenth Century; Malcolm Dick

Baskerville's Birmingham: Printing and the English Urban Renaissance; John Hinks

Place, Home and Workplace: Baskerville's Birthplace and Buildings; George Demidowicz

John Baskerville: Japanner of 'Tea Trays and other Household Goods'; Yvonne Jones

John Baskerville, William Hutton and their Social Networks; Susan Whyman

John Baskerville the Writing Master: Calligraphy and Typein the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries; Ewan Clayton

A Reappraisal of Baskerville's Greek Types; Gerry Leonidas

John Baskerville's Decorated Papers; Barry McKay and Diana Patterson

The 'Baskerville Bindings'; Aurelie Martin

After the 'Perfect Book': English Printers and their Use of Baskerville's Type, 1767-90; Martin Killeen

The Cambridge Cult of the Baskerville Press; Caroline Archer-Parre

The 'Baskerville Bindings'

Members of the Baskerville Club

Comparative Bibliography

Further Reading

General Bibliography

Notes on the Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Sep 2019).

ISBN:

1-78694-514-2

1-78694-860-5