23 Facts About Caslon

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

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.

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.

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

However, 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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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 Caslon, describes Caslon in body text as "comfortable and inviting".

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

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, Caslon cut blackletter or "Gothic" types, which were printed on his specimen.

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.

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.

Caslon's Caslon foundry remained in business at Chiswell Street, London, but began to sell alternative and additional designs.

Interest in eighteenth-century printing returned in the nineteenth century with the rise of the arts and crafts movement, and 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.

Scholarly research on Caslon's type has been carried out by historians including Alfred F Johnson, Harry Carter, James Mosley and Justin Howes.

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

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

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

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

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

Caslon Old Face is a typeface with multiple optical sizes, including 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 22, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60, 72, 96 points.

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