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“So-called Baskerville Old Face of the type foundry Stephenson Blake & Co. … is probably not immediately linked to Baskerville, but it is very much influenced by it. It is one of the most beautiful types of which the mats still exist; it has an incomparably different spirit than the ‘streamlined’ re-cuts of today’s Baskerville. Even keeping the general restraint extremely expressive. According to Berthold Wolpe (Signatures No. 18), the punches were cut and shown in samples in 1776 by Isaac Moore, who came from Birmingham to Bristol.” – Jan Tschichold, Meisterbuch der Schrift

ATF’s Baskerville Roman a.k.a. American Baskerville was “produced from strikes (unfinished matrices) brought from Stephenson Blake, English typefounders, in 1915. In England it is known as the Fry Foundry version, and is said to have been cast from original matrices cut about 1775 by Isaac Moore as a close copy of Baskerville's own types. Small sizes to 14-point tend to be rather light and narrow, while sizes from 30-point up have more weight and vigor. Production was discontinued about 1950, perhaps because most specimens didn’t show the handsome larger sizes in sufficient detail; it was reinstated in 1957 without the sizes below 18-point. ATF Baskerville Italic was designed in 1915 by Morris F. Benton. It is a handsome typeface in itself, but has little in common with its roman mate other than adjustment to the narrowness of small sizes. It is not made above 18-point, nor – since More…

“So-called Baskerville Old Face of the type foundry Stephenson Blake & Co. … is probably not immediately linked to Baskerville, but it is very much influenced by it. It is one of the most beautiful types of which the mats still exist; it has an incomparably different spirit than the ‘streamlined’ re-cuts of today’s Baskerville. Even keeping the general restraint extremely expressive. According to Berthold Wolpe (Signatures No. 18), the punches were cut and shown in samples in 1776 by Isaac Moore, who came from Birmingham to Bristol.” – Jan Tschichold, Meisterbuch der Schrift

ATF’s Baskerville Roman a.k.a. American Baskerville was “produced from strikes (unfinished matrices) brought from Stephenson Blake, English typefounders, in 1915. In England it is known as the Fry Foundry version, and is said to have been cast from original matrices cut about 1775 by Isaac Moore as a close copy of Baskerville's own types. Small sizes to 14-point tend to be rather light and narrow, while sizes from 30-point up have more weight and vigor. Production was discontinued about 1950, perhaps because most specimens didn’t show the handsome larger sizes in sufficient detail; it was reinstated in 1957 without the sizes below 18-point. ATF Baskerville Italic was designed in 1915 by Morris F. Benton. It is a handsome typeface in itself, but has little in common with its roman mate other than adjustment to the narrowness of small sizes. It is not made above 18-point, nor – since it was reinstated – below small 18-point.” [McGrew 1993]

Letraset produced a version for dry transfer lettering in 1972.

Digital versions by URW, Scangraphic, Linotype, Elsner+Flake, KTKM. Bitstream’s is named Fry’s Baskerville. See also Big Moore and Baskerville Old.

Foundries

• Stephenson Blake(1199)
• ATF(3940)
• Elsner+Flake(2629)
• Fry’s(17)
• KTKM(15)
• Letraset(4474)
• Linotype(13619)
• Scangraphic(1918)
• URW(7237)

Designers

• Isaac Moore(18)
• Morris F. Benton(2532)

Release Date

• circa 1776

Related Typefaces

• AC Kolektiv(1)
• Baskerville(89)
• Baskerville Display PT(2)
• Baskerville Old(1)
• Baskerville Swirl
• Bell(15)
• Big Moore
• F37 Britain Serif(1)
• Fry’s Baskerville(1)
• Kolektiv
• Linotype Baskerville(3)
• Monotype Baskerville(56)

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