John Baskerville
Baskerville
John Baskerville was a silent hero of typography and someone that was really interesting to read about. Only few who knew him and respected his work. Even though his parents were financially comfortable, however Baskerville had a true calling upon typography.
Meeting Benjamin Franklin was what really struck me, as Franklin was visiting England at the time. He was really interested to meet with John; I was amazed "Franklin was probably just as interested to meeting Baskerville". Within that meeting he also meet James Watt (1736-1819) who was the person who improved steam and also made it commercially available & Joseph Priestley (1736-1806) carried out ground breaking work on gases, and discovered oxygen. These people were all well known except from Baskerville himself, a typographer; which is a huge achievement.
He definitely has a huge history through his way up the ladder, and towards his own type face. From his "early years "Japanning was the application of a black varnish to metal house-hold objects such as sniff boxes, buttons and candlesticks". This was later to become his greatest invention of blacker ink than anywhere and he also had "experimented with paper technology" having later "achieved an unprecedented smoothness, he then created a gloss surface"
John Baskerville, although being financially comfortable with his inherited wealth, he still made his own mark and set out on these new experiments that has defined and shaped the world of that century. His type however didn't pick up in England, however it was considered a hit over in "Italy". Italy was the next chapter that Baskerville didn't see as he died earlier before the font had journeyed; This was then pasted on by the young Italian "Giambattista Bodoni.
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