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25-584: The Society was founded in London in 1964 by a group of teachers, scholars, students of design and bibliography, librarians, professional printers and amateur enthusiasts, notably James Mosley , James Moran , John Dreyfus , Michael Turner , Berthold Wolpe , David Chambers and Michael Twyman . At the time, and to some degree ever since, the PHS had close connections with the St Bride Library (then called

50-466: A book on his son Matthew . Mosley helped to acquire for St. Bride a large range of printing materials, at a time when companies were disposing of their hot metal typesetting and foundry type equipment or going out of business altogether. This included material from Monotype , H. W. Caslon & Company , Figgins and the Chiswick Press , as well as materials from printing shops including

75-503: A bookbinder's tool cutter. Having contact with printers, he was induced to fit up a type foundry , largely through the encouragement of William Bowyer . He died on 23 January 1766, and was buried in the churchyard of St Luke Old Street , London, where the family tomb is preserved (bearing his name and others). Though his name would come to be identified with an enduring style of Latin alphabet, Caslon's first typefaces were what contemporary typefounders called "exotics." His first design

100-538: A foundry of their own in direct competition to their employer in 1757. In 1759 Jackson entered the Navy leaving Cottrell to carry on alone. Jackson left the navy in 1763 and continued to be employed in Thomas Cottrell, Neveil's court 1759–1785 Foundry for a short time. He commenced business in a separate Foundry with two fellow workman who helped to find the capital 1764 – 1792. When Jackson died in 1792 it

125-404: A printing equipment company with which Gill often collaborated. After a brief period working at the type foundry Stevens Shanks , one of the last remaining in London, Mosley was hired at St. Bride as assistant librarian in 1956, becoming librarian in 1958. As a writer, some of his most best-known articles are 'English Vernacular', on signpainting and lettering traditions, 'The Nymph and

150-480: Is a retired librarian and historian whose work has specialised in the history of printing and letter design. The main part of Mosley's career has been 42 years as Librarian of the St Bride Printing Library in London, where he curated and worked to expand the museum's large collection of printing and lettering materials, books and examples. This collection greatly expanded with the close of

175-617: The Dutch Baroque types, the most commonly used types in England before Caslon's faces. Caslon typefaces were immediately popular and used for many important printed works, including the first printed version of the United States Declaration of Independence . Caslon's types became so popular that the expression about typeface choice, "when in doubt, use Caslon," came about. The Caslon types fell out of favour in

200-718: The metal type era, which saw many companies and printing shops selling off their equipment and archives. Mosley also expanded the library's collection of lettering and signs. He has also been a lecturer and professor at the University of Reading since 1964, and founded the British Printing Historical Society in that year. Particular areas of focus of his career have been, in Britain, William Caslon , Vincent Figgins and Talbot Baines Reed , Eric Gill (with whose brother Evan he worked in

225-500: The 18th and early 19th centuries. He acquired moiety of half of Robert Mitchell and Jacob Ilive in 1740. A later and important purchase was the foundry of Thomas Grover in 1758. James ultimately combined under his own direction nine old English Foundries. John James, William Caslon I and John Baskerville were left by consolidation as the only three representatives of the trade in the country. Caslon had two apprentices in his Foundry, Thomas Cottrell and Joseph Jackson . They started

250-647: The 1950s), and, in Europe, the Romain du Roi . Mosley grew up in Twickenham in south-west London, where he became interested in printing, before studying English at King's College, Cambridge , where he with Philip Gaskell , later also a historian of printing, operated a small hand-press as an amateur project in the college cellar. During his time at university he worked with Eric Gill 's brother Evan on sorting material for an exhibition on his work by Monotype ,

275-668: The Caxton International Congress, 1976. In 2015 the Society issued An epitome of the history of printing in sixteen leaves as a keepsake for its fiftieth anniversary (which included pages printed by all the main reproductive processes, from woodcut to digital) and a special number of the PHS Journal . The Journal was originally issued annually and latterly published twice a year, has a good reputation for learning, originality, accuracy and detail, and for

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300-650: The Foundry was acquired by T. W. Smith and partners. However, the Company name remained H. W. Caslon and Co. Ltd., and continued running until 1937, when it was acquired by Stephenson Blake. Meanwhile, following his sale of his share in the original foundry in 1792, William Caslon III had purchased (in the same year) the Salisbury Square foundry from the estate of the recently deceased Joseph Jackson, and renamed it W. Caslon & Son. In 1807, W. Caslon & Son

325-618: The Grot', on the early development of sans-serif letters before they became adopted by printers, which was later republished as a book, and 'Trajan Revived', on the Roman-style lettering revival of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. He has collaborated with historians on other projects, for example on a study of the early printing of works by Hume and with Justin Howes. He also worked with Harry Carter , and has also contributed to

350-652: The St Bride Printing Library) and the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading . The PHS was the first society to be instituted specifically for the study of printing history, and has been followed by several others, notably the American Printing History Association . The aims of the PHS are stated to be "to foster an interest in the history of printing and encourage both

375-733: The business to his mother and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth née Rowe, Henry's widow: the two Elizabeth Caslons continued to run it until the elder Elizabeth's death in 1795. As a result of a legal dispute over the terms of her will, the Foundry was then thrown into Chancery and put up for auction in 1799. It was bought by the younger Elizabeth Caslon, who took into partnership a distant relative, Nathaniel Catherwood. Both partners died in 1809. The subsequent proprietors were: Henry Caslon II and F. F. Catherwood, 1809–1821; Henry Caslon II, H. W. Caslon and M. W. Livermore (trading as Caslon, Son and Livermore), 1821–1840; Caslon & Son, 1840–1850; H. W. Caslon and Co., 1850–1873. H. W. Caslon died in 1873, when

400-467: The career of Eric Gill in 2015. He also advised on creating historically accurate lettering for replica globes, Tate Britain and HMS Victory . Mosley's Type, Lettering and Calligraphy reading lists: William Caslon William Caslon I (1692/93 – 23 January 1766), also known as William Caslon the Elder , was an English typefounder . The distinction and legibility of his type secured him

425-545: The century after his death, but were revived in the 1840s. Several revivals of the Caslon types are widely used today. William Caslon I founded the Caslon Foundry in 1739, based on what previously had been Godfrey Head's (1685–1700). The other half of that business was purchased by John James, son of Thomas James. John James in the period 1716–1764 also built up by purchase what became the leading English type foundry of

450-494: The collections of Oxford University Press and the Victoria & Albert Museum , supplementing the personal collections of William Blades and Talbot Baines Reed which the library already owned. He has also advised on revivals of historic typefaces and lettering, for example one of traditional French metal stencil lettering. Since retirement from St. Bride Mosley has continued to write, research and lecture, for example on

475-419: The general public. An occasional monograph series has included reprints of works and specimens of historical significance, as well as original books on printing type , printing presses , lithographic printers and other aspects of the discipline. In 1976 to celebrate the quincentenary of the introduction of printing into England the PHS held the Caxton International Congress and published Papers Presented to

500-559: The patronage of the leading printers of the day in England and on the continent . His typefaces transformed English type design and first established an English national typographic style. Caslon was born in Cradley, Worcestershire in 1692 or 1693 and trained as an engraver in nearby Birmingham . In 1716, he started business in London as an engraver of gun locks and barrels and as

525-737: The reproduction of specimens of historical printing processes and documents. The Society has also published a Bulletin and, after 2000, joined with the Friends of St Bride and the National Printing Heritage Trust in issuing the quarterly Printing History News (edited by Paul W. Nash 2005–2015 and Ken Burnley 2015 onwards). The Journal has had a series of distinguished editors and guest-editors, including Mosley, Twyman, Margaret M. Smith, Richard Lawrence and John Trevitt . It has been edited by Paul W. Nash since 2014. James Mosley James Mosley (born 1935)

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550-442: The study and the preservation of printing machinery, records, and equipment of historical value". In 2016 it subsumed the National Printing Heritage Trust , and added to its aims to raise funds to preserve printing equipment and archives, and to lobby for the creation of a national printing museum for the U.K. Since its inception, the PHS has produced a series of scholarly publications which are available to members, and often also to

575-546: Was William Caslon I's grandson, William Caslon III who purchased the foundry in Salisbury Square. Following the death of William Caslon I in 1766, his son William Caslon II took over the Caslon Foundry, running it with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth née Cartlich, until his own death in 1778. Elizabeth Caslon then continued to manage it jointly with her two sons, William Caslon III (1754–1833) and Henry Caslon (c.1755–1788) trading as "Elizabeth Caslon and Sons". Henry died in 1788, and in 1792 William III sold his share of

600-554: Was an Arabic made at the English size (14pt), commissioned by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge before 1725, followed by a Hebrew created for William Bowyer in 1726, and a Coptic for Wilkins first used in 1731. His first Latin typefaces were a roman and italic cut in the pica size (12pt), of a style that was fully realized by the publication of his foundry's specimen sheet in 1734. Caslon's typefaces were inspired by

625-528: Was passed to William Caslon IV . In 1819, William IV sold the business to the new Sheffield foundry of Blake, Garnett & Co. In 1837, the Salisbury Square Caslon Foundry became the property of Stephenson, Blake & Co. In 1998, Justin Howes reestablished the Caslon foundry, under the name H. W. Caslon & Company Limited , with an expanded version of ITC Founder's Caslon as the company's initial product. However, following

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