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John Baske
1706 –1775 Japanning was the decorating of metal articles with coats of varnish and paintingsof floral and pastoral images.
Created in 1754, Baskerville is a typeface known for its crisp edges, high contrast, and generous proportions. The founder, John Baskerville, was a major name in the subject of typography back in this time. He made a name for himself by starting at the bottom. He was a servant in a clergyman’s house. It wasn’t until his employer discovered his penmanship talents, that he finally studied typography.
Baskerville spent his life as a successful businessman in japanning. It was not until he retired that he pursued typography. He was interested in designing the “perfect” letterform. Baskerville is a transitional typeface, in-between classical typefaces and the modern faces. The founder was inspired to create this “perfect” typeface from the looks of Romain du Roi for Louis XIV. He felt this typeface was cold, so Baskerville’s goal was to create a softer typeface with rounded bracketed serifs. Also, Baskerville wanted to shift the axis of rounded letters to a more vertical position.
Spur
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erville
Rounded Bracketed Serif
Baske
Rounded Bracketed Serif
Counter
Transitional period represent the initial departure from centuries of Old Style tradition and immediately predate the Modern period..
Compared to similar typefaces that were created during the Transitional period, Baskerville has a set of characteristics that differentiate it from the rest. The letterforms have rounded bracketed serifs, spurs and barbs, for example. In contrast to Adobe Garamond Pro, Baskerville is moreelegant and has more emphasis on line weight and stress on the letterforms. Baskerville’s little quirks such as the ear on the “g” and barbs on the uppercase “C” make it uniqueto other letterforms in this classification group. Even though it has been several decades since Baskerville was created, it is still popular today. It is praised for its unique characteristics and elegancy.
Stem
erville
Median Baseline
Regular, 80 pt.
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm N
Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt U
Vv Ww Xx Yy Z
e Ff Gg Hh
Nn Oo
Uu
Zz
Crotch
Swash
Regular, 12 pt.
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Italic, 12 pt.
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%?*} 456789 SemiBold, 12 pt.
Bold, 12 pt.
Ficatqui testeni optis aborrum nobistibus quatiur asi comnimet laccus dolecum destionsedit dolorest, omnis sum facera que pa dolorro quam volorep tatquat poresto doluptates verum archit laudiam harum ut ilignimus etum, et, tendae evelita tiustia eceatioribus nullorp orrovidi nonecae lit la qui doles everior reperio moloribus, solorat litio tore et re, officium inci nimi, ut aut viderspedi blam ipsa audis et eruptat urerspi endae. Ur, vendae pa ventet qui occum net, vit et officiae aut vendita nimiliquibus
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g
Barb
“Having been an early admirer of the beauty of letters, I became insensibly desirous of contributing to the
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perfectio
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Ear
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Spine
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of them. I formed to myself ideas of greater accuracy than had yet appeared, and had endeavored to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion.� — John Baskerville, 1758
Finial
Bowl
Baskerville