John Baskerville Conference, Birmingham

This conference explores the life, context and significance of the eighteenth-century typographer, printer, industrialist and Enlightenment figure John Baskerville [1706—75] from the perspective of different subject disciplines. It will consider Baskerville’s contribution to both typographic and eighteenth-century history.

Keynote speakers: Prof. James Mosley and Dr Susan Wyman

Speakers include: The Baskerville Club, Dr Caroline Archer; The regularization, standardization, systematization, & unitization of roman type from its Renaissance origins until Baskerville’s time, Frank E. Blokland; Creating an impression: why choose Baskerville? Anne Brady; Baskerville and the written roman letter, Ewan Clayton;Baskerville and Bodoni, Dr Andrea de Pasquale; Baskerville’s buildings, George Demidowicz; The topographies of a typographer: interpreting John Baskerville since the eighteenth century, Dr Malcolm Dick; Do you believe? an examination of typeface effectiveness, Joey Hannaford; John Baskerville and William Shenstone, John Hemingway; Printing and the ‘English Urban Renaissance’, Dr John Hinks; Baskerville and the Baroque stage,Joanna Jarvis & Mary Collins; John Baskerville: ‘Japanner of tea trays and other household goods’, Yvonne Jones; The Baskerville Collection at the Cadbury Research Library, Martin Killeen; The Presence of John Baskerville in the Southern Slavic Enlightenment, Persida Lazarevic; John 1, Victor 0: a reappraisal of Baskerville’s Greek types,Gerry Leonidas; The Eginton family and the development of printed images, Dr Val Loggie; Franklin and Baskerville: how a typefounder nearly saved the first British Empire, Simon Loxley; A pretty art: decorated papers of the eighteenth-century, Barry McKay; The types of Claude Jacob, ‘élève de Baskerville’ (1784-9, Sébastien Morlighem; Baskerville: a man of parts, Diana Patterson; Books bound after what manner you please: English bookbinding in the mid-eighteenth century Prof. Nicholas Pickwoad; Laying the Groundwork for John Baskerville’s innovations: the Star Chamber, the Stationers’ Company and William Caslon, Jeff Pulaski; John Baskerville & Benjamin Franklin, Lady Joan Reid; Loose ends, Ben Waddington; Rough Diamonds: John Baskerville & William Hutton, Dr Susan Whyman and A modular typeface design inspired by John Baskerville, Jesvin Yeo.

http://www.typographichub.org/diary/entry/baskerville-enlightenment/