John Baskerville

John Baskerville

John Baskerville , 1706-75, English designer of type and printer. He and Caslon were the two great type designers of the 18th cent. in England. He began his work as printer and publisher in 1757 and in 1758 became printer to the Univ. of Cambridge. Baskerville's first volume was a quarto edition of Vergil. His type faces introduced the modern, pseudoclassical style, with level serifs and with emphasis on the contrast of light and heavy lines. This style influenced that of the Didot family in France and that of Bodoni in Italy. Books printed by Baskerville are typically large, with wide margins, made with excellent paper and ink. His masterpiece was a folio Bible, published in 1763. After his death his wife operated the press until 1777. Then most of his types were purchased by Beaumarchais and were used in his 70-volume edition of Voltaire. The matrices, long lost, were rediscovered and in 1953 were presented to Cambridge Univ. Press. Among Baskerville's publications in the British Museum are Aesop's Fables (1761), the Bible (1763), and the works of Horace (1770).

Bibliography: See biographies by W. Bennett (1939) and H. Evans (1953); bibliography by Philip Gaskell (1959).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"John Baskerville." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"John Baskerville." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Baskervi.html

"John Baskerville." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Baskervi.html

Learn more about citation styles

Baskerville, John

Baskerville, John (1706–75), English printer, had established a printing office and type-foundry in Birmingham by 1754. His first book was a Latin Virgil, 1757, followed by a Milton in 1758. Baskerville's books are among the masterpieces of English printing; he gave his name to the roman typefaces based on his designs in current usage.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Baskerville, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Baskerville, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BaskervilleJohn.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Baskerville, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BaskervilleJohn.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Baskerville was one of our city's giants.(Features)
Newspaper article from: Birmingham Mail (England); 1/22/2011
John Baskerville and the afterlife; LOCAL HISTORY John Baskerville was one of...
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 11/11/2006
LOCAL HISTORY: Signs of the Baskerville; This year marks the 300th...
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 11/4/2006
Baskerville, John images
John Baskerville. Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)