2. Who is John Baskerville? Baskerville was born in the village of Wolverley, near Kidderminster in Worcestershire and was a printer in Birmingham, England. He was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, and an associate of some of the members of the Lunar Society. He directed his punchcutter, John Handy, in the design of many typefaces of broadly similar appearance.

6. Response… He has been called "the greatest printer England ever produced" but was very much disliked by his contemporaries. He was regarded as nouveau-riche, provincial, and had unpopular anti-establishment views on religion. He insisted on being buried standing up in a special building in his garden and was thence branded an atheist. In 1820, his body was dug up and used as a sort of local peepshow. The curious could view it for the sum of 6 pence.

7. Baskerville now… Since the 1920s many new fonts have been released by Linotype, Monotype, and other type foundries – revivals of his work and mostly called 'Baskerville'. Emigre released a popular revival of this typeface in 1996 called Mrs Eaves, named for Baskerville's wife, Sarah Eaves.

9. Baskerville Type

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