John Baskerille
. This celebrated printer
was born at Wolverley, Worcestershire, in 1706.
In 1726 he kept a writing school at Birmingham,
but in 1745 he engaged in the japanning business,
to which in 1750 he added the profession
of type-founding. After expending a considerable
sum in this pursuit he succeeded, and the
works printed by him obtained celebrity. The
first of these was Virgil, in 1756, which answered
so well that he reprinted it in 1758. In the
latter year he was employed by the University
of Oxford on a new-faced Greek type, and soon
afterwards he obtained leave from the syndicate
of Cambridge to print a Bible and two editions
of the Common Prayer. The other productions
of his press were, Newton’s “Milton,” 2 vols.
4to; Dodsley’s “Fables,” 8vo; Juvenal and
Persius, 8vo; Congreve’s Works, 3 vols. 8vo ;
Horace, 8vo; Addison’s Works, 4 vols. 4to;
a Pocket Dictionary, 12mo; “Jennings on
Medals,” 8vo. He also printed editions of
Terence, Catullus, Lucretius, Sallust, and
Florus, in 4to. Mr. Baskerville died at Birmingham,
January 8, 1775, and his types were
sold to a society at Paris, by whom they were
used in printing the works of Voltaire.