As a result of this care Baskerville produced the best books which had yet been made in England. They were very expensive. No cost was spared in their production and there was no catering to the popular taste which would enable him to reduce unit costs by publishing large editions. Baskerville frankly printed for the few. He believed that there were lovers of good books and good literature who were ready to pay what might be necessary to obtain their favorite authors in a fitting dress. In this he was somewhat disappointed. The number of such persons was less numerous than he had supposed and it is probable that on the whole Baskerville lost rather than made money by his printing and type-founding enterprises. He printed about sixty-seven books, all of which were reprints of the classics or standard authors. Not a single new book came from his press, although these were the flourishing days of Samuel Johnson, Goldsmith, Pope, Gray, Burke, Chesterfield, Young, Akenside, and other famous writers. The booksellers would not support him. He was not willing to cheapen his work or to lower his prices to meet their wishes, nor would he consent to being, like so many printers, a mere servant of the publisher. He felt that he had his artistic message to give to the world and he insisted upon giving it in his own way, making himself his own publisher as well as printer. Very likely his editions would have made a larger sale if he had had the support of the booksellers in putting them on the market, but this was denied him. Disheartened and disgusted by the lack of appreciation and support, Baskerville tried to sell out his type-foundry, but was unsuccessful. He negotiated with several of the leading printers of the continent and with Franklin, but was not able to effect a sale. Twenty years after his death, however, his type was used in the famous Boydell Shakspeare. His type obtained partial recognition. His work has been called too artistic for his time. It is said that Baskerville was an artist, but the England of the eighteenth century was not artistic. Perhaps it might better be said that Baskerville’s standard of perfection was higher than his time could appreciate and that he failed because there was not yet a sufficiently large public ready to spend considerable money for de luxe book making. Baskerville unquestionably possessed great taste and a very high degree of mechanical skill. One does not find in his work, however, the artist’s spirit which manifests itself in the work of the old masters or their late nineteenth century followers. Baskerville’s work, nevertheless, was not in vain. No man can ever do anything better than it has yet been done without contributing to the progress of true art, even though his productions are appreciated by but few people. Unquestionably Baskerville’s work influenced the Whittinghams, who are the great figures in the world of printing in the early nineteenth century.