A History of the Old English Letter Foundries: with Notes, Historical and Bibliographical, on the Rise and Progress of English Typography.Reed, Talbot Baines
History
A History of the Old English Letter Foundries: with Notes, Historical and Bibliographical, on the Rise and Progress of English Typography.
Reed, Talbot Baines
Printing -- England -- History; Type and type-founding -- England -- History
(_De Worde_) (_Day_)
│ │
│ (_Privileged
│ printers_)
│ │
│ The Polyglot
│ Founders Moxon (Walpergen)
│ 1637–1667 1659–1683 1673–1714
│ │ │ │
+──────────────+───────────+ │
│ │ │
│ +────────────+ │
│ │ │
Jas. Grover R. Andrews (_Rolij_) S. Andrews Ilive Head
1680–1700 1683–1733 1710 1714–1733 1730–1740 1685–1700 (?)
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ +────────────+───────────+ │ │
│ │ │ │
Thos. Grover Thos. James │ Mitchell
1700–1758 1710–1736 │ 1700–1739
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ +────+────+
│ │ │ │ │
+──────────────────────────+──────────────────────+─────+ │
│ │
John James Caslon
1736–1772
the last of the Old English Letter Founders.
{222}
With the exception of the circular already mentioned, nothing of the
nature of a specimen of this large foundry appeared during the lifetime
of its owner. As early as 1736, Rowe Mores informs us, a specimen was
begun, designed to show the variety of matrices with which the foundry
then abounded, and from which types could be supplied to the trade. But
although so early begun, and progressed with for several years, the
work was left incomplete at the time of James’s death in 1772.[420]
Two causes may be assigned for this fact, one being the frequent and
numerous additions to the foundry from time to time, which would
render any specimen undertaken at an early stage of its existence
incomplete; and the second and more cogent reason is to be found in
the fact that the excellence and growing popularity of Caslon’s founts
at this particular period tended rapidly to depreciate the productions
of the old founders, and, as Rowe Mores himself states, to render many
of their founts altogether useless in typography; so that a letter
which in 1736 might have commanded a tolerable sale, would in 1756 be
despised, and in 1770 scoffed at.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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