it. He did not sell it. English-cast types did not become a marketable
ware for more than a century after printing was introduced into
England. As late as 1799, it was the statute law in England that no
one should be allowed to possess or use a printing-press or types for
printing without giving notice to a justice of the peace and obtaining
a certificate, and any justice of the peace might issue a warrant to
search any premises and seize any press or printing-types not thus
certificated. This remained the law with regard to type-founding
until 1869; but happily the law was not enforced, except for a few
years after it was passed. Printers received patents and monopolies
for printing certain books. The result was great degeneracy in the
quality of printing. A privileged printer, sure of his monopoly, had
no inducement to execute good work at more cost or pains than was
necessary. Old type would do as well as new, and bad type as well
as good. The typography of the whole Stuart period is a disgrace to
English art.[42]
Printing in England in the early part of the eighteenth century was
in a sorry state. Official broadsides, political pamphlets, works of
literature, and even Bibles show a depression and degeneration so
marked that one is tempted to believe the art of printing was rapidly
becoming lost in a wilderness of what may be termed “Brown sheets and
sorry letter.” No foundry was contributing anything towards the revival
of good printing, with the exception of the Oxford University, and
Oxford owed its founts to gifts procured mainly from abroad. Scarcely
one good piece of printing was the impression of English type, and
even the Scotch printers were rebuked for not stocking their cases
with Dutch type. Tonson, the foremost English printer, is said on one
occasion to have lodged in Amsterdam while a founder there was casting
him £300 worth of type. James, the only English founder who showed any
vitality, owed his success chiefly, if not entirely, to the fact that
all his letters were the product of Dutch matrices, and even these, in
his hands, were so indifferently cast as to be often as bad as English
type. How far this decline was due to the printer or the founder, or
how far both were the result of that system of Star Chamber decrees,
monopolies, patents, restraints, and privileges which characterized the
illiberal days of the Stuarts, it is impossible to say, but the fact is
that English typography was in a very bad way.
William Caslon, a gunsmith’s apprentice, made the first attempt, about
1720, to found English type, and in 1730 his types were very much used.
But the condition of printing was still anything but satisfactory;
and although under the influence of Caslon’s genius the press was
recovering from the reproach under which it lay at the beginning of
the century, England was still very far behind her neighbors both in
typographical enterprise and achievement. Fine printing was unknown.
Once more it was left to an outsider to initiate a new departure; and
in 1750 the art of printing found its deliverer in the person of an
eccentric Birmingham japanner, Baskerville. To him is due the honor of
the first real stride towards a higher level of national typography; an
example which became the incentive to that outburst of enthusiasm--that
“matrix and puncheon mania,” as Dibdin terms it--“which brought forth
the series of splendid typographical productions with which the
eighteenth century closed and the nineteenth century opened.”
The magnificent works which between 1759 and 1772 continued to issue
from his press not only confirmed him in his reputation, but raised
his name to a unique position among the modern improvers of the art.
The paper, the type, and the general execution of his works were such
as English readers had not been accustomed to, while the disinterested
enthusiasm with which, regardless of profit, he pursued his ideal,
fully merited the eulogy of the printer-poet who wrote:
“O BASKERVILLE! _the anxious wish was thine
Utility with beauty to combine;
To bid the o’erweening thirst of gain subside;
Improvement all thy care and all thy pride;
When_ BIRMINGHAM--_for riots and for crimes
Shall meet the long reproach of future times,
Then shall she find amongst our honor’d race,
One name to save her entire disgrace_.”
Straus and Dent say of him: “Baskerville is the English representative
of that Renaissance of printing which in a measure helps to distinguish
the second half of the eighteenth century. It needs but small bias to
place him above that trio of artists--Didot in Paris, Bodoni at Parma,
Ibarra at Madrid. Baskerville has been called the English Bodoni,
but it would perhaps be fairer to say that Bodoni is the Italian
Baskerville. His work cannot compare in bulk with that of the other
masters, but we have his reasons for confining his efforts to so small
an outlay. The subtle splendor of his work grants it a corner by itself
in the world’s book-shelf; his own peculiar genius is stamped upon
almost every one of his productions. The types themselves were cut
upon principles which might well be followed to-day by those who would
introduce into their making a geometrical exactitude. Whatever may
have been the popular dislike of his work in England at the time, there
can be no question that he has had a lasting influence upon all work of
the kind after his day. Printers and type-founders alike are indebted
to his inventive genius.”
* * * * *
Baskerville made his will January 6, 1773, writing it with his own
hand. As near as can be ascertained, it disposed of about £12,000.
He gave £2000 to discharge a settlement made before marriage to his
wife. He also gave her £2000 to be paid out of his book accounts,
stock in trade, etc. He gave £500 to his “little favorite,” being the
granddaughter of his wife, if she lived to be twenty-one years old;
if not, the £500 to his wife. He gave £1400 in trust to pay to the
children of his nieces, “to become payable on the day of my wife’s
future marriage, which if she choose I wish her happy equal to her
merit, but if she continues a widow the last mentioned legacies are
entirely void.” He gave £500 to the Protestant Dissenting Charity
School in Birmingham towards erecting a commodious building.
Then follows that portion of the will which Dr. Chalmers deemed too
indecent to print: “My further will & pleasure is and I Hearby Declare
that the Device of Goods & Chattles as Above is upon this Express
Condition that my Wife in Concert with my Exᵒʳˢ do Cause my Body to be
Buried in a Conical Building in my own premises, Heartofore used as
a mill which I have lately Raised Higher and painted and in a vault
which I have prepared for It. This Doubtless to many may appear a Whim
perhaps It is so--But is a whim for many years Resolve’d upon as I
have a Hearty Contempt of all Superstition the Farce of a Consecrated
Ground the Irish Barbarism of Sure and Certain Hopes &c. I also
consider Revelation as It is call’d Exclusive of the Scraps of Morality
casually Intermixt with It to be the most Impudent Abuse of Common
Sense which Ever was Invented to Befool Mankind. I Expect some srewd
Remark will be made on this my Declaration by the Ignorant & Bigotted
who cannot Distinguish between Religion & Superstition and are Taught
to Believe that morality (by which I understand all the Duties a man
ows to God and his fellow Creatures) is not Sufficient to entitle him
to Divine favour with professing to believe as they Call It Ceartain
Absurd Doctrines & mysteries of which they have no more Conception than
a Horse. This Morality Alone I profess to have been my Religion and
the [Rule] of my Actions, to which I appeal how far my profession and
practice have Been Consistant.”
And finally he gave to his executors each “6 Guineas to Buy a Ring
which I hope they will Consider as a Keepsake.”
Some time before his death, being consulted by friends, who were aware
of his opinions, as to how he would be buried, Baskerville said they
could “bury him sitting, standing or lying, but he did not think they
could bury him flying.”[43]
He was buried in the conical building, previously used as a mill, which
he had raised higher and painted, and in a vault which he had prepared,
at Easy Hill. The epitaph, written by himself, runs as follows:
STRANGER--
BENEATH THIS CONE IN UNCONSCRATED (_sic_) GROUND
A FRIEND TO THE LIBERTIES OF MANKIND
DIRECTED HIS BODY TO BE INHUM’D
MAY THE EXAMPLE CONTRIBUTE TO EMANCIPATE THY MIND
FROM THE IDLE FEARS OF SUPERSTITION
AND THE WICKED ARTS OF PRIESTHOOD
When Baskerville House was sold to a Mr. Ryland in 1789, the owner
did not disturb the body, and it remained for nearly fifty years in
comparative peace. During the Birmingham riots of 1791, Baskerville
House was stormed, sacked, gutted, and burned. It was not, however,
until alterations were made on the property for business purposes that
Baskerville’s coffin was removed, and taken to a warehouse, where it
remained for some time subject to visits from the curious, and even
to scientific observations of the condition of the body. Mr. Ryland,
ascertaining that a show was made of the remains, insisted that they
should be suitably interred, and Mr. Marston, in whose shop the coffin
had been placed, applied to the rector of St. Philip’s for permission
to bury the body there. This was refused on account of Baskerville’s
atheism, when Mr. Knott, the bookseller, said that he had a vault in
Christ’s Church, and should consider it an honor to have Baskerville’s
remains rest there, and they were there placed about 1829. Even
here Baskerville’s body did not rest permanently, for the necessary
extension of Birmingham caused Christ’s Church to be demolished, and
his remains, which should have been placed in St. Philip’s Church
by the side of his wife, being again refused interment there by the
rector, were placed in one of the catacombs of the Church of England
Cemetery at Warstone Lane. And so, finally, after being turned out
of the garden at Easy Hill for a canal-wharf, exposed to neglect and
ignominy in a plumber’s warehouse, interred by stealth in the vaults
of Christ’s Church, and then again removed by the march of business,
Baskerville’s bones at last found permanent rest in a quiet cemetery of
the Church of England. It is in a spot remote, not easily discoverable,
and where few are likely to see the stone, which has been transferred
thither from Christ’s Church. The inscription upon it reads as follows:
IN THIS CATACOMB RESTS THE REMAINS OF
JOHN BASKERVILLE
THE FAMOUS PRINTER
HE DIED IN 1775, BUT THE PLACE OF HIS BURIAL
WAS UNKNOWN UNTIL
APRIL 12, 1893, WHEN THE OPENING OF THE
UNREGISTERED CATACOMB NO. 521
DISCOVERED A COFFIN, WHICH ON FURTHER
EXAMINATION WAS FOUND TO CONTAIN HIS BODY
What is it that makes the life and work of this middle-aged, vain,
and silly Birmingham Englishman interesting to us? Why do we collect
his imprints, and why do we talk about him? I think it is because he
had the true artistic vision and courage. He conceived the idea of a
perfect book, such as had not been printed in England. He did not grow
into it. He did not make one book, and then a better one, and then a
better one, until at last he achieved the beautiful book. He conceived
the book as an artist conceives a statue before he strikes a blow with
his chisel into the marble. It was wonderful that he should have done
so. He had grown up in a manufacturing and mercantile business, making
japan work for sale, and profiting by its sale. Most men never get
out of the work and of the ideas of the work which they do until they
are fifty years of age. He did. Why was it? I think, as I have said,
it was because he had an artistic perception and conceived the thing
which he was to do, and adhered to his conception. Everything shows
that he wrought in the true artistic spirit: having conceived the thing
to be done, he proceeded to do it. All his work was executed upon a
hand-press. His printing-office was what we should call a private
printing-office in his house. He cut the type; he made the ink and
improved the press; he devised the paper; and from start to finish
the work was his. Everybody who will do better work than anybody else
must have this spirit and conception of the work he proposes, and must
adhere to it, or he will not produce perfect work. It is this that
makes Baskerville interesting to us, and makes the productions of his
little private press treasures in the world of art.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District, pages 211, 221._
[2] _Autobiography of Alexander Carlyle, D.D._
[3] _Hutton’s History of Birmingham (1783), page 90._
[4] _Gough’s British Topography (1780), volume ii, page 306._
[5] _Hutton’s History of Birmingham, page 90._
[6] _Frivolous._
[7] _Testy._
[8] _Mark Noble, who was born in Birmingham in 1754. His father
sold beads, knives, toys, etc., to the slave traders. In 1781 he
was presented to two “starvation livings,” as he called them, in
Warwickshire. He divided his interests then among his congregation,
his books, and his farm. His writings were those of an imperfectly
educated, vulgar-minded man. His ignorance of English grammar
and composition rendered his books hard to read and occasionally
unintelligible, while the moral reflections with which they abounded
were puerile._ (_Dictionary of National Biography._)
[9] _Chambers’s Biographical Illustrations._
[10] _Edward Rowe Mores was a crusty, crabbed clergyman, who collected
different founts of types, and obtained much information upon the
subject of type-founding. He printed eighty copies of the book quoted
above, and Nichols bought the whole of them. See Nichols’s Literary
Anecdotes, volume v, page 389._
[11] _The Bookhunter (1885), page 67._
[12] _Reed’s Old English Letter Foundries, pages 269, 271, 277, 279._
[13] _Dent and Straus, John Baskerville, page 64._
[14] _Autobiography of Alexander Carlyle, D.D._
[15] _Straus, Robert Dodsley, page 272._
[16] _Dictionary of National Biography._
[17] _Straus, Robert Dodsley, pages 219, 273._
[18] _Lettres inédites de Voltaire (1857), page 254._
[19] _Reed’s Old English Letter Foundries (1882)._
[20] _Hansard’s Typographia (1825), page 311._
[21] _Hansard’s Typographia, page 723._
[22] _Ibid., page 717._
[23] _Reed’s Old English Letter Foundries, page 276._
[24] _Macaulay’s History of England, volume ii._
[25] _Harwood’s Classics, page 172._
[26] _Hansard’s Typographia, page 311._
[27] _Dibdin’s Library Companion, page 716._
[28] _Dibdin’s Library Companion (1825), page 47._
[29] _Dibdin’s Library Companion, page 613._
[30] _Straus, Robert Dodsley, pages 289-292._
[31] _Baskerville’s work was greatly admired on the Continent,
especially in France. He was paid several very handsome compliments in
Pierre Didot’s “Épître sur les Progrès de l’Imprimerie,” published in
Paris in 1784; and in the notes to the poem attention is given to his
method of printing and to his glossy paper,--“qui fatigue la vue.” To
make such paper, says Didot rather loftily, “is not a secret, and if it
ever becomes one, will not be worth finding out.” This opinion did not,
however, prevent the Didots from attempting to imitate it._
[32] _Dibdin’s Greek and Latin Classics (1827), vol. ii, pages 555 et
seq._
[33] _Harwood’s Classics, page 176. See also Dibdin’s Classics, volume
ii, page 111._
[34] _Dibdin’s Library Companion, page 766._
[35] _Hansard’s Typographia, page 311._
[36] _Horne’s An Introduction to the Study of Bibliography, vol. i,
page 253._
[37] _Bibliography of Printing, page 37._
[38] _Fitzgerald’s The Book Fancier, page 77._
[39] _Reed’s Old English Letter Foundries, pages 286, 287._
[40] _Ibid., page 332._
[41] _Theodore Low De Vinne’s Title-Pages as seen by a Printer (1901),
pages 154, 155._
[42] _Reed’s Old English Letter Foundries, pages 134, 136._
[43] _Secular Review, September 8, 1877._
_FINIS_
_BASKERVILLE EDITIONS_
IN THE COLLECTION OF J. H. BENTON
_COLLECTION_
OF J. H. BENTON, U. S. A.
[_Numbers refer to Straus and Dent’s Bibliography_]
BASKERVILLE EDITIONS
_No._ _Date_ _Title_
7. 1757. VIRGIL. Opera. Royal 4to. _Plates by Hollar.
Map inserted._
8. 1757. VIRGIL. Opera. Royal 4to. _Extra illustrated._
15. 1758. MILTON. Paradise Lost. Imperial 8vo.
17. 1758. MILTON. Paradise Regain’d, Imperial 8vo.
20. 1758. [HUCKELL.] Avon. 4to. _Sig. K2 printed 2K._
22. 1759. MILTON. Paradise Lost. 4to.
23. 1759. MILTON. Paradise Regain’d. 4to.
31. 1760. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Long lines without borders.]
Imperial 8vo. _Finely executed painting on the
fore-edge. Price erased._
32. 1760. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Long lines with borders.]
Imperial 8vo.
38. 1760. [MALLET.] Edwin and Emma. Royal 4to.
40. 1761. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Double column without
borders.] Imperial 8vo.
43. 1761. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Long lines with borders.]
Imperial 8vo.
44. 1761. ÆSOP. Fables. 8vo.
45. 1761. JUVENAL AND PERSIUS. Satyrae. Royal 4to. _Two copies,
2d copy has plates by Hollar inserted._
46. 1761. CONGREVE. Works. 3 vols. Imperial 8vo.
48. 1761. ADDISON. Works. 4 vols. Royal 4to. _Two copies, one
not trimmed and in original boards._
52. 1762. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Long lines without borders.]
Imperial 8vo.
54. 1762. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. [Double column without
borders.] 12mo. _Two copies, each with Psalms
bound in._ _See_ Nos. 55, 56.
55. 1762. STERNHOLD AND HOPKINS. Psalms in Metre. 12mo.
_Bound at end of larger copy of No. 54._
56. 1762. TATE AND BRADY. Psalms. 12mo. _Bound at end of
smaller copy of No. 54._
59. 1762. HORACE. Opera. 12mo.
65. 1763. HOLY BIBLE. Cambridge. Imperial folio.
69. 1764. JENNINGS. On Medals. 8vo.
71. 1765. BARCLAY. Apology. Royal 4to.
75. 1766. VIRGIL. Works. By R. Andrews. In English. Imperial
8vo.
78. 1766. VIRGIL. Opera. 8vo. _No frontispiece._
86. 1770. HORACE. Opera. Royal 4to. _Manuscript errata inserted._
90. 1772. LUCRETIUS. De rerum natura. Royal 4to.
91. 1772. CATULLUS. Opera. Royal 4to.
92. 1772. CATULLUS. Opera. 12mo.
93. 1772. TERENCE. Comoediae. Royal 4to.
94. 1772. TERENCE. Comoediae. 12mo.
98. 1773. ARIOSTO. Orlando Furioso. 4 vols. Imperial 8vo.
_Errata in vol. 4._
99. 1773. ARIOSTO. Orlando Furioso. 4 vols. Imperial 8vo.
_Corrections in text._
102. 1773. SHAFTESBURY. Characteristics. 3 vols. Imperial 8vo.
104. 1773. LUCRETIUS. De rerum natura. 12mo. _Two copies._
105. 1773. SALLUSTIUS. Opera. Royal 4to.
109. 1774. SALLUSTIUS. Opera. 12mo.
UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD
113. 1763. NEW TESTAMENT, GREEK. Imperial 8vo. _676 pages._
SARAH BASKERVILLE
116. 1777. HORACE. Opera. 12mo. _No dedication._
ROBERT MARTIN
117. 1767. SOMERVILE. The Chase. Imperial 8vo. _This copy reads
“chace” on page 43._
_INDEX_
A
Adam, James, 16.
Addison, Joseph, works of, printed, 34, 46.
_Aesop’s Fables_, edition of, 34, 46.
Akenside, Mark, 36.
Aldus Manutius. _See_ Manutius, Aldus.
Alfieri, Vittorio, Conte, works of, printed with Baskerville types, 52.
Anderton, William, type-maker, 19.
Ariosto, edition of, for the Brothers Molini, 41-42.
B
Baldwin, R., London bookseller, buys remainder of edition of
Baskerville’s Bible, 31.
Banks, Sir Joseph, 16.
Bartolozzi, Francesco, 42.
Baskerville, John, birth and death, 1;
settles in Birmingham, teaches writing and practises stone-cutting, 2;
builds up great trade in japanned ware, 3, 4, 5, 6, 19;
his estate, Easy Hill, 4-6;
High Bailiff of Birmingham, 6;
his dress, 6, 8, 9;
his connection with Mrs. Eaves, marriage, death of son, 7;
his private character and habits, 8-9;
lack of education, 9, 10;
general remarks and quotations on his character and work, 11-19;
probable origin of his interest in printing, 19;
his statement of his purpose to improve the arts of type-founding and
printing, 20-22;
his tribute to Caslon, 20;
his type-making, 22-24, 27;
construction of presses, 24;
his improvement of printing-ink, 25-26;
his edition of Virgil, 27-29;
of Milton, 29-30;
of the Bible, 30-32;
of the Book of Common Prayer, 32-34;
of Addison, 34;
of _Aesop’s Fables_, 34-35;
of Rev. John Huckell’s _Avon_, 35;
his prices, 35;
reasons of the financial failure of his printing business, 35-36;
his Greek type, cut for the University of Oxford, 36-37;
notice of, by Dibdin, 37-39;
his quarto editions of the classics, 39-41;
prints Ariosto, for the Brothers Molini, 41-42;
his paper-making, 43-45;
does little binding, 45;
duration of his printing business, 45;
books upon which his fame rests, 45-46;
his influence upon the art of printing, 46-47, 57-58;
his efforts to sell his business, 48-50;
these efforts continued by his widow, 51;
sale to a French society, 51;
printing-press reëstablished at Kehl, for printing of Voltaire’s
works, 52;
business broken up and type scattered, 52-53;
Baskerville’s title-pages, 54-55;
provisions of his will, 59-60;
his tomb and epitaph, 60, 61;
successive removals of his remains, 61-62;
inscription over last grave, 62;
his artistic vision, 62-63;
list of his works in collection of J. H. Benton, 67-69.
Baskerville, Sarah, wife of John, 7, 9;
advertises her late husband’s business for sale, 51;
sells to a French society, 51.
Baskerville House. _See_ Easy Hill; _also_ Smart, Mr.
Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de, forms society for printing
Voltaire’s works with Baskerville’s types, 51.
Bedford, Dr. John, quoted, 12.
Bensley, Thomas, 39.
Berners, Juliana, her _Treatyse of Fysshinge wyth an Angle_ printed with
Baskerville’s types, 53.
Bible, edition of, 5, 21, 30-32, 46, 49, 55.
Birmingham, in the early eighteenth century, 1;
noted for freedom in religion and in industry, 1, 2.
Blanché, Augustin, quoted, on Baskerville’s improvement in paper-making,
43.
Boden, Nicholas, 18.
Bodoni, Giambattista, 58.
Bowyer, William, 13;
criticises Baskerville’s Greek type, 36-37.
Boydell and Nicol, press of, 53.
Bridgewater, James, buys some of Baskerville’s type, 51.
Brunet, Jacques Charles, 42.
Bulmer, William, 39.
Burke, Edmund, 36.
Burton, John Hill, quoted, 14, 15.
Bute, Lord. _See_ Stuart, John, 3d Earl of Bute.
C
Cambridge, University of. _See_ University of Cambridge.
Carlyle, Alexander, describes visit to Baskerville, 4, 15-16.
Caslon, Samuel, type-founder, 13, 19.
Caslon, William, type-founder, 19, 57;
Baskerville’s tribute to, 20.
Catullus, edition of, 39, 40, 46, 55.
Chambers, John, quoted, 8, 9, 10.
Chesterfield, 4th Earl of. _See_ Stanhope, Philip Dormer, 4th Earl of
Chesterfield.
Chiswick Press, 54.
Cibber, Colley, 36.
Classics, Baskerville’s quarto editions of, 39-40, 41, 46, 55.
Clive, Robert, Lord Clive, 1.
Colinaeus, Simon de, 38.
Common Prayer, Book of, 5, 21, 32-34, 46, 48, 49.
Cooper, Sir Anthony Ashley, 3d Earl of Shaftesbury, Baskerville’s
edition of his _Characteristics_, 17.
Cotton, H., on Baskerville’s Bible, 32.
Culloden, battle of, 1.
D
Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, 16.
Day, Thomas, 16.
De Vinne, Theodore Low, quoted, on Baskerville’s title-pages, 55.
Dent, Robert K. _See_ Straus, Ralph, and Robert K. Dent.
Derrick, Samuel, quoted, 5, 43.
Dibdin, Thomas F., quoted, 10, 28, 30, 32, 33-34, 37-39, 42, 57.
Didot, François Ambroise, 58.
Didot, Pierre, quoted, on Baskerville, 38 _n._
Divine right of kings, collapse of, 1.
Dodsley, James, 26.
Dodsley, Robert, his edition of _Aesop’s Fables_ printed by Baskerville,
5, 34, 35;
Baskerville’s acquaintance and correspondence with, 7, 16, 17, 18, 22,
24, 26, 28;
business relations with, 35,41.
_Douglas_, tragedy of, 15.
E
Easy Hill, Baskerville’s residence, 4-6, 61, 62.
Eaves, Richard, 7.
Eaves, Sarah, wife of Richard. _See_ Baskerville, Sarah, wife of John.
Elzevir family, 38.
Enamel, invention of, 3.
English power in the East and in the New World, 1.
Epitaph, 61.
F
Fitzgerald, Percy Hethrington, quoted, 48.
Florus, edition of, 39, 40, 46.
Franklin, Benjamin, 7, 17, 28, 29, 48;
letters of, on Baskerville’s work, 13-14, 45;
undertakes negotiations for Baskerville with French government, 50.
Frederick the Great, 1.
G
Galton, Samuel, 16.
Garbett, Samuel, 15.
German Empire, foundation of, 1.
Gilt buttons, boxes, etc., 3.
Goldsmith, Oliver, 36.
Gravelot, Hubert François Bourguignon, 40, 41.
Gray, Thomas, 36.
Greek type, cut by Baskerville, 36-37.