Caslon
The Englishman William Caslon I (1692-1766), having previously trained as an engraver of guns, opened his own engraving shop in London in 1716. His work included making tools for bookbinders and led to him being commissioned to produce type punches. He designed an 'English Arabic' typeface to e used for a Psalter (a Book of Psalms ) and a copy of the New Testament. Designs for Roman, Italic and Hebrew typefaces followed and quickly met with commercial success. His roman typeface, first used in 1726, became known later as 'Caslon'. In 1725 he set up own foundry. Caslon's first specimen sheet featured 47 Roman and Italic typefaces in 14 different sizes. William Caslon II (1720-1788) joined his father's company and, in 1763, they produced the first English book of typefaces. The book contained 56 typefaces designed by Caslon senior and 27 of his son's designs. Caslon's Roman and English Roman typefaces, like Fell's, had slightly bracketed serifs and slight 'old style' irregularities that produced a homely charm. Caslon's influence spread throughout the British Empire as well as the American colonies. Not only have many Caslon typefaces been adapted, these adaptations are still in use in current times.
Baskerville
John Baskerville (1706-1785) is a good example of Caslon's influence. Baskerville went on to make important changes. He was the first to use custom-made 'wove' paper which was smoother than the traditional 'laid' paper. His Roman and Italic typefaces featured lower contrast, smooth trans axial modeling, finely-formed bracketed serifs and long stems. Baskerville's typefaces are distinctive in that they demonstrate the transition from old-style to modern designs. He became obsessed with creating a font which typified 'elegance, simplicity and, above all, clarity'. Baskerville was also devised more accurate presses, and created clear, crisp impressions by using black ink and sealing his paper with hot rollers to dry the ink before it had time to soak too far into the paper. The books he published achieved a high standard of elegance.
Rococo Design and Fournier
The aesthetic trends of the Baroque and Rococo periods had brought about a transition in type design that resulted in increased contrast between thick and thin strokes. Vertical stresses replaced tilted. Sharp and delicate serifs took over from the blunt. Detail became clean and precise.
The French type founder and designer, Pierre Simon Fournier (1712-1768), known as 'Fournier Le Jeune', trained at the company of his father, Jean-Claude Fournier. He also studied art before apprenticing at the Le Be type foundry. The Rococo love of complex, curving decoration was evident in Fournier's work. His italics were influenced by handwriting and 'copperplate hand', the engraved lettering. However, his most important legacy was the introduction in 1737 of a standardised, typographical system of measures, the 'point' system. Fournier's table of the dimensions and relatedness of type bodies was based on the now-obsolete French unit of measure called the'pouce' (0.349 mm). His system meant that a series of typefaces with varying stroke weights and letter widths but with size and design similarities could be used together in an overall design. With the point system printers could calculate how deep a given number of lines of type would be depending on the type size and this knowledge improved the quality of printing as accurate planning reduced visual disorder. Fournier also created many highly decorative ornaments and fonts and included them in his two-volume book about typography, 'Manuel typographique'. Fournier also recorded much European typographic history in the Manuel.
Bodoni
The designs of Giambattista Bodoni further refined the elegance of Baskerville's work and show the evolution from Rococo to the new classical style early in the second half of the 18th century. Bodoni's refinements made his typefaces well suited to headings, title pages and other situations where a heavy, yet graceful, style was desired. He increased the elegance of his types, as did Baskerville and the Didot family, by stressing the difference between the heavy line and the hairline of type characters. It is thought by many that Bodoni created the modern Roman type. He achieved a 'purity of form' through the use of uncluttered pages, wide margins and line spacing and the geometric nature of his typefaces that did not detract from the act of reading.
The Englishman William Caslon I (1692-1766), having previously trained as an engraver of guns, opened his own engraving shop in London in 1716. His work included making tools for bookbinders and led to him being commissioned to produce type punches. He designed an 'English Arabic' typeface to e used for a Psalter (a Book of Psalms ) and a copy of the New Testament. Designs for Roman, Italic and Hebrew typefaces followed and quickly met with commercial success. His roman typeface, first used in 1726, became known later as 'Caslon'. In 1725 he set up own foundry. Caslon's first specimen sheet featured 47 Roman and Italic typefaces in 14 different sizes. William Caslon II (1720-1788) joined his father's company and, in 1763, they produced the first English book of typefaces. The book contained 56 typefaces designed by Caslon senior and 27 of his son's designs. Caslon's Roman and English Roman typefaces, like Fell's, had slightly bracketed serifs and slight 'old style' irregularities that produced a homely charm. Caslon's influence spread throughout the British Empire as well as the American colonies. Not only have many Caslon typefaces been adapted, these adaptations are still in use in current times.
Baskerville
John Baskerville (1706-1785) is a good example of Caslon's influence. Baskerville went on to make important changes. He was the first to use custom-made 'wove' paper which was smoother than the traditional 'laid' paper. His Roman and Italic typefaces featured lower contrast, smooth trans axial modeling, finely-formed bracketed serifs and long stems. Baskerville's typefaces are distinctive in that they demonstrate the transition from old-style to modern designs. He became obsessed with creating a font which typified 'elegance, simplicity and, above all, clarity'. Baskerville was also devised more accurate presses, and created clear, crisp impressions by using black ink and sealing his paper with hot rollers to dry the ink before it had time to soak too far into the paper. The books he published achieved a high standard of elegance.
Rococo Design and Fournier
The aesthetic trends of the Baroque and Rococo periods had brought about a transition in type design that resulted in increased contrast between thick and thin strokes. Vertical stresses replaced tilted. Sharp and delicate serifs took over from the blunt. Detail became clean and precise.
The French type founder and designer, Pierre Simon Fournier (1712-1768), known as 'Fournier Le Jeune', trained at the company of his father, Jean-Claude Fournier. He also studied art before apprenticing at the Le Be type foundry. The Rococo love of complex, curving decoration was evident in Fournier's work. His italics were influenced by handwriting and 'copperplate hand', the engraved lettering. However, his most important legacy was the introduction in 1737 of a standardised, typographical system of measures, the 'point' system. Fournier's table of the dimensions and relatedness of type bodies was based on the now-obsolete French unit of measure called the'pouce' (0.349 mm). His system meant that a series of typefaces with varying stroke weights and letter widths but with size and design similarities could be used together in an overall design. With the point system printers could calculate how deep a given number of lines of type would be depending on the type size and this knowledge improved the quality of printing as accurate planning reduced visual disorder. Fournier also created many highly decorative ornaments and fonts and included them in his two-volume book about typography, 'Manuel typographique'. Fournier also recorded much European typographic history in the Manuel.
Bodoni
The designs of Giambattista Bodoni further refined the elegance of Baskerville's work and show the evolution from Rococo to the new classical style early in the second half of the 18th century. Bodoni's refinements made his typefaces well suited to headings, title pages and other situations where a heavy, yet graceful, style was desired. He increased the elegance of his types, as did Baskerville and the Didot family, by stressing the difference between the heavy line and the hairline of type characters. It is thought by many that Bodoni created the modern Roman type. He achieved a 'purity of form' through the use of uncluttered pages, wide margins and line spacing and the geometric nature of his typefaces that did not detract from the act of reading.
Also in the 18th century specialisations and collaborations became more common than solo endeavours. For example, the printer J-J Barbou used Fournier's typefaces and ornaments together with engravings by the French illustrator C Eisen and further illustrations and tailpieces by P-P Choffard.
The Didot family
The French family of printers, publishers, typeface designers and type founders used similar design purity as Bodoni. Brothers Pierre-l'aine and Firmin combined wide margins and uncomplicated linear boundaries, flawless technique, obsessive detail and contrasting light and shadow. FA Didot amended Fournier's point system and it became universally accepted. The Didot's too emphasised the difference between the heavy line and the hairline of a letter, a characteristic feature of Modern typefaces. The Didot family also had the advantage of recent improvements in paper production, composition and printing.
