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
In 1843 a revival of the Caslon old-style letter took place under the
following circumstances, which, as they initiated a new fashion in
the trade generally, call for reference here. In the year 1843, Mr.
Whittingham of the Chiswick press, waited upon Mr. Caslon to ask his
aid in carrying out the then new idea of printing in appropriate type
_The Diary of Lady Willoughby_,[521] a work of fiction, the period and
diction of which were supposed to be of the reign of Charles I. The
original matrices of the first William Caslon having been fortunately
preserved, Mr. Caslon undertook to supply a small fount of Great
Primer. So well was Mr. Whittingham satisfied with the result of his
experiment, that he determined on printing other volumes in the same
style, and eventually he was supplied with the complete series of
all the old founts. Then followed a demand for old faces, which has
continued up to the present time.
An attempt to sell the Foundry in 1846,[522] not being successful, the
business, again took the style of Caslon and Son.
Mr. Henry Caslon died May 28, 1850, and in the same year the important
step was taken of uniting the London Branch of the Glasgow Letter
Foundry with that of Chiswell Street, which was now carried on under
the style of H. W. Caslon and Co., Mr. Alexander Wilson, of the Glasgow
Foundry, being for some time associated with Mr. H. W. Caslon in the
management.
In 1873, Mr. Caslon, being in ill health, retired, and died in the
following year. He was the last of his race, and the Chiswell Street
Foundry, after an uninterrupted dynasty of five generations, covering
a period of nearly 160 years, was by his death left without a Caslon
to represent it. The management of the business devolved on Mr. T. W.
Smith, in whose hands it has since remained. {256}
LIST OF SPECIMENS OF THE CASLON FOUNDRY, 1734–1830.
1734. A Specimen by William Caslon, Letter-founder in Chiswell
Street, London. 1734. Large post broadside. . . . . (Caslon.)
1738. A Specimen by William Caslon, Letter-founder in Chiswell
Street, London. Large post broadside. . . . . (Chambers’ _Cycl._,
1738.)
1742. A Specimen by Caslon and Son, (referred to by Nichols, _Lit.
Anec._, ii, 365). . . . . (_Lost._)
1748. A Specimen by Caslon and Son (referred to by Nichols, _Lit.
Anec._, ii, 721). . . . . (_Lost._)
1749. A Specimen by William Caslon and Son, Letter-founders in
Chiswell Street, London. 1749. Large Broadside. . . . . (Sohmian
Coll., Stockholm.)
1749. A Specimen of Mr. Caslon’s Roman Letter, and the names of
the sizes now in use. . . . . (Ames’ _Typ. Antiq._, p. 571.)
1763. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon and Son.
Printed by Dryden Leach, London, 1763, 8vo. . . . . (Amer. Antiq.
Soc.)
1764. A Specimen of Printing Types by William Caslon and Son.
Printed by Dryden Leach. London, 1764. 4to and 8vo. . . . . (T. B.
R.)
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