Today, 8 January, is the 250th anniversary of Baskerville’s death. When Aris’s Birmingham Gazette published notice of Baskerville’s death on Monday 23 January 1775 the announcement was concise: Died. On Monday last, at Easy Hill in this Town, Mr John Baskerville; whose Memory will be perpetuated, by the Beauty and Elegance of his Printing, which […]
Small Performances is concerned with Baskerville’s punches, but it is not the first time that a group of Cambridge academics have come together to consider the work of the famous printer. The Baskerville Club was established in Cambridge in 1903 by a small group of Cambridge librarians, bibliographers and bibliophiles brought together through a common […]
On the 22nd of November, Julia Montes-Landa presented the first analytical results from the Baskerville punches at the Historical Metallurgy Society Research in Progress Meeting. There, she shared with colleagues the initial results of the analyses carried out to study the composition of the punches and the tool marks still visible on their surfaces. These analyses […]
After Baskerville’s death, his punches and other typographic material were sold, by his widow, Sarah, to France and they passed from one French foundry to another until they were final acquired by the Parisian Fonderies Deberny et Peignot. Its director, Charles Peginot (1897–1983), generously offered to return them to Britain and presented them to the […]
In 1758 John Baskerville was appointed Printer to the University of Cambridge where he printed his magnificent folio Bible and several editions of the Book of Common Prayer. Little is known, however, of Baskerville’s time in the city, where he lived, where he worked. However, David McKitterick in A History of Cambridge University Press, v. […]
On Monday 9 September at 13:00, Caroline Archer-Parre and Ann-Marie Carey will be delivering a talk at the Birmingham & Midland Institute’s series of lunchtime lectures. The talk will present Baskerville, the man and the typeface, provide an over-view of the project, introduce the Team and the work undertaken todate. The Birmingham and Midlands Institute […]
When Baskerville died in 1775 his apparatus for type-founding was sold by his widow, Sarah, to Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732–99) for £3,700. Beaumarchais regarded Baskerville’s type as the most beautiful printing types known and used them in the production of his Kehl editions of Voltaire’s works. Subsequently Beaumarchais took the punches to Paris where […]
On 11 July the Small Performances Team gathered for a one-day symposium and hands-on workshop, at the School of Jewellery (BCU), Birmingham. With the theme of ‘Capturing Craft’ the workshop united jewellers, engravers, blacksmiths and other artisans together with printing historians, heritage scientists, archaeologists, and type designers in order to bring multiple perspectives to the […]
On 8 March, Cambridge University Library was thrilled to host the launch of the AHRC-funded project ‘Small performances: investigating the typographic punches of John Baskerville (1707-75) through heritage science and practice-based research’. Around sixty attendees at the launch enjoyed a series of short talks from the project team, and displays of eighteenth-century materials relating to […]