On this day in 1706 John Baskerville was baptized. He thus began life with a blessing, although he ended as a Free Thinker and—in the opinion of many of his contemporaries—an atheist. Honored now for his reputation as a great printer and as the designer of one of the universal typefaces, Baskerville’s personal life is not much [...]

Suggesting a scheme for preparing correct texts, the Birmingham printer John Baskerville wrote to Robert Dodsley, the foremost 18th century London publisher of belles-lettre, on this day in 1754:
“Tis this. Two people must be concerned; the one must name every letter, capital, point reference, accent, etc., that is, in English, must spell every part of every word [...]

On this day in 1775, John Baskerville died.
Born at Walverley, in Worchestershire, England, in 1706, Baskerville at an early age acquired such skill in penmanship that he was prompted to maintain a school in the subject in Birmingham. In 1735 he began a career in the japanning process which was then most popular for a variety of objects, [...]

In a letter to Horace Walpole, M.P., addressed from Easy Hill, Birmingham on this day in 1762, John Baskerville wrote:
“As the Patron and Encourager of Arts, and particularly that of Printing, I have taken the liberty of sending you a Specimen of mine, begun ten years ago at the age of forty-seven, and prosecuted ever since with the [...]