Baskerville Body Copy

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Introduction:

Baskerville is a transitional typeface developed in the early age of typography. It is known for its high contrast forms and finer serifs, with both positive and negative responses, garnering it a controversial type at the time of release. Designed by John Baskerville, it embodies his desire for proportion and a softer yet geometric edge. It is most commonly used as body copy for its larger x-height and higher readability, noticeably on the Kindle Paper white and in literature including The Holy Bible, James Joyce’s Ulysees and Milton’s Paradise lost. But is also a strong competitor in display types also seen in Hollywood and logo designs. The type remains as a popular book face with its suitability anchored in its legibility and beauty giving any work an air of elegance and debonair.


History:

Baskerville dates back as far as 1754 and was the work of printer John Baskerville. Baskerville, at the time a servant, was a keen calligrapher and was recognised for his penmanship by his master, who then sent him to develop his talent. He was passionate about his calligraphy and despite being illiterate spent time practicing his strokes. Baskerville formed his typeface as a reaction to the mathematical style of the popular Romain du Roi developed by Phillipe Grandjean for Louis XIV, which he believed was cold and too angular. In contrast, Baskerville used the humanist Caslon typeface as inspiration due to its higher contrast strokes and geometric letterforms.

To achieved his desired style of typeface, he was required to invent his own method of printing. Experimenting with printing technology at the time, he developed his method of boiling fine linseed oil to a certain thickness, dissolving the rosin, letting it subside and then finally grind before use. This resulted in an intense black ink that he could use on bright woven paper to achieve his contrasting strokes. He also redesigned the existing printing presses, replacing the wooden platen with brass to allow the planes to meet evenly. This combined with the intense ink captured the subtleties of his type and his high contrast letterforms.

“Having been an early admirer of the beauty of letter, I became insensibly desirous of contributing to the perfection of them. I formed to myself ideas of greater accuracy than had yet appeared, and had endeavoured to produce a set of types according to what I conceived to be their true proportion.” John Baskerville, preface to Milton 1758 (Anatomy of a typeface)

It is said that Benjamin Franklin was an admirer of Baskerville and used a sample of his typeface as the basis for the typefaces that occupied the U.S. Federal Government papers. His work was originally commissioned and to be used in the classic works for Cambridge University press, most notably the 1757 edition of The Holy Bible, regarded as his most characteristic specimen.

Despite this, Baskerville received little popularity with critics arguing blaming Baskerville of “blinding all the readers of the Nation; for the Strokes of [his] letters, being too thin and narrow, hurt the eye”. His widow released the Baskerville punches and matrixes to Europe where it made a large impact after being circulated among foundries.

The type was also revived in the 20th Century by American Typographer Bruce Rogers, who upon discovering a type specimen of Baskerville in a Cambridge bookstore in 1917, recommended the type for the Harvard University Press. Baskerville also inspired both Didot and Bodoni as the admiration for his high contrast typeface spread to France and Italy.


Anatomy:

Baskerville is a Transitional Serif typeface. These Typefaces have higher contrast to previous humanist styles and a more vertical stress. This stress axis can also vary between characters. They have a more regular shape and proportion with relatively even x and cap heights. The apertures are slightly smaller and the terminals have bulbous rounded shapes. Like the humanist typefaces, they still have gradual bracketed transitions from the stem.


Uses in the Media:

Baskerville was originally commissioned by Cambridge University for their print works, the most notable result being their 1757 edition of The Holy Bible. Known as his most renowned work, the piece evokes his style and character, considered his finest achievement in his lifetime. He also printed Milton’s Paradise Lost in 1758, and then reprinted the book in 1759 and 1760.

In present day, his work can be seen in film, particularly in the poster campaign for the 2007 film American Gangster, embodying the suave nature of the men in suits that also occupy the poster. The high contrast characters are bold and crisp presented in white on a black background.

It has also been used as the primary typeface in the new identity and rebranding of the New York Metropolitan Opera, since 2006. The logo features purely the typeface in a grey and black colour scheme with no other decoration, placing the character of the typeface at the forefront of the design.
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