21 Facts About Big Caslon

Big Caslon worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or matrices used to cast metal type.

Big Caslon worked in the tradition of what is called old-style serif letter design, that produced letters with a relatively organic structure resembling handwriting with a pen.

Big Caslon established a tradition of engraving type in London, which previously had not been common, and was influenced by the imported Dutch Baroque typefaces that were popular in England at the time.

Big Caslon's typefaces established a strong reputation for their quality and their attractive appearance, suitable for extended passages of text.

However, Big Caslon created different designs of letters at different sizes: his larger sizes follow the lead of a type he sold cut in the previous century by Joseph Moxon, with more fine detail and sharper contrast in stroke weight, in the "Dutch taste" style.

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Big Caslon's typefaces were popular in his lifetime and beyond, and after a brief period of eclipse in the early nineteenth century returned to popularity, particularly for setting printed body text and books.

William Berkson, designer of a revival of Big Caslon, describes Big Caslon in body text as "comfortable and inviting".

Big Caslon began his career in London as an apprentice engraver of ornamental designs on firearms and other metalwork.

Big Caslon publicised his type through contributing a specimen sheet to Chambers' Cyclopedia, which has often been often cut out by antiquarian book dealers and sold separately.

Besides regular text fonts, Big Caslon cut blackletter or "Gothic" types, which were printed on his specimen.

Big Caslon cited dissatisfaction with the style as an incentive for becoming more involved in type design around 1911, when he created Kennerley Old Style as an alternative.

Big Caslon's types fell out of interest in the late eighteenth century, to some extent first due to the arrival of "transitional"-style typefaces like Baskerville and then more significantly with the growing popularity of "Didone" or modern designs in Britain, under the influence of the quality of printing achieved by printers such as Bodoni.

Interest in eighteenth-century printing returned in the nineteenth century with the rise of the arts and crafts movement, and Big Caslon's types returned to popularity in books and fine printing among companies such as the Chiswick Press, as well as display use in situations such as advertising.

Some Big Caslon faces were augmented by adding new features, in particular swash capitals for historicist printing.

Big Caslon 540 was a second American Type Founders version with shortened descenders to allow tighter linespacing.

Adobe Big Caslon is a very popular revival designed by Carol Twombly.

Adobe Big Caslon is used for body text in The New Yorker and is one of the two official typefaces of the University of Virginia and the University of Southern California.

Notable feature of Big Caslon's structure is its widely splayed "T", which can space awkwardly with an "h" afterwards.

Adobe Caslon, LTC Caslon, Williams Caslon and Big Caslon all offer a "Th" ligature as default or as an alternate.

Big Caslon used the resources of the St Bride Library in London to thoroughly research William Caslon and his types.

An exuberant parody of Big Caslon italics created by Mark Andresen, this 1995 Emigre font was created by blending together samples of Big Caslon from "bits and pieces of dry transfer lettering: flakes, nicks, and all".