An important part of the Small Performances programme is the design of digital revivals of Baskerville’s original type. These revivals are developed through intensive workshops held at type design masters courses across Europe.
The first workshop was held at the Department of Typography of the University of Reading from 20 to 24 January 2025. It focused on Baskerville’s Great Primer, a type size of approximately 16 points by today’s standards. This was Baskerville’s first type, which he refined and modified throughout his career.
Students worked with enlarged reproductions of printed letters and images of the original punches. Most of the Great Primer punches have survived, and the vast majority appear to be original. After the initial detailed analysis, students began the revival process on their computers. The class was divided into two groups, one working on the roman and the other on the italic.
The aim was to create a faithful yet functional revival — one that preserved the original letterforms while adapting them to contemporary user habits and technological standards. Since digital technology lacks the inherent softness and warmth of letterpress printing, a perfunctory mechanical conversion of the original letterforms would produce unsatisfactory results. Instead, careful adjustments were necessary to preserve the visual qualities of the original printed type.
The workshop was an intensive week of design, with frequent reviews, discussions, and practical demonstrations. We encouraged students to exchange opinions and reflect on their design choices. By the end of the week, both groups had successfully completed a well-refined set of characters, including lowercase and uppercase letters, numerals, and punctuation, all with proper spacing.
Two more type revival workshops will follow in the autumn, one at ANRT in Nancy and another at ECAL in Lausanne. Each will focus on different sizes of Baskerville’s type, ranging from about 9 to 34 points.