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
pulmonary attack, in consequence of which she was advised to try the
effect of the air of Bristol Hotwells, which probably protracted her
life during a twelvemonth of extreme suffering, but could not eradicate
the fatal disease. Her fortitude and resignation under this long
continued, and helpless affliction could not be surpassed, and were
truly admirable. Her sufferings were terminated in March 1809, when
she was buried in the Cathedral of Bristol. The worthy and active Mr.
Nathaniel Catherwood did not long survive his associate, being seized
with a typhus fever which baffled the medical art. He died on the 6th
of June, ætat. 45, very generally regretted.”[510] A portrait of Mrs.
Strong is preserved at Chiswell Street.
In 1805 was published the first Specimen containing the new Romans of
Messrs. Caslon and Catherwood, among which, however, the Canon and
Double Pica referred to by Hansard are not included. The dates affixed
to the various specimens[511] show that most of them were completed
between 1802 and 1805, the {253} earliest being the Great Primer,
dated May 1802. The Specimen also contained the Caslon Orientals. In
1808 a further Specimen of the Romans, including a few additional
founts, appeared as a supplement to Stower’s _Printers’ Grammar_.[512]
These two Specimens, which are the only ones known to have been issued
during twenty-three years, indicate clearly the important revolution
through which the Chiswell Street Foundry, in common with all the
other foundries of the day, had passed in respect of the model of
its characters. All the once admired founts of the originator of the
Foundry have been discarded, and between the Specimen of 1785 and that
of 1808 there is absolutely no feature in common.[513]
On the death of his mother and her partner, Henry Caslon II assumed the
management of the business, and fully maintained its reputation. The
former name of the firm was retained, and a fresh specimen of Roman
letters and modern Blacks was issued about the year 1812.
In 1814 Mr. Caslon took into partnership Mr. John James
Catherwood,[514] brother to Mr. Nathaniel Catherwood, and in this
association proceeded vigorously with the improvement of the foundry.
The partnership continued until 1821, during which period, says
Hansard, “the additions and varieties made to the stock of the Foundry
have been immense. Nothing that perseverance in labour and unsparing
effort could effect, either to meet the fashion and evanescent whim
of the day, or with the superior view of permanent improvement, has
been wanted to keep the concern up to its long-established eminence,
and to enable it to rank high among the many able competitors of the
present age. The ancient stock can never be equalled—the modern never
excelled.”[515]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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