20. Caslon, William, and Son.
A / SPECIMEN / OF / Printing Types, / BY / W. Caslon and Son, /
Letter Founders, / London. / Printed by JOHN TOWERS, / MDCCLXIV.
Small 8vo. Engraved portrait added; title page (1 leaf); text (37
leaves).
William Caslon (1692-1766) was born in Worcestershire. Apprenticed
to an engraver of gun locks and barrels there, he set up shop in 1716 in
London, where he began cutting type punches at the request of John
Watts, the printer. Watts then backed a small foundry for Caslon
where he cut type in the "English Arabic," pica roman, italic, Hebrew,
and Coptic. From 1742 he worked with his son William (1720-78). The
firm was continued by William II's wife after his death, and by their
two sons, William III and Henry. William III removed to Sheffield,
where his new firm, later known as Stephenson, Blake, and Co., has had
a very long life. Henry's firm, under the later name of A. W. Caslon
and Co., has had an equally long tenure.
The book of type samples ranges from a very clear Roman to a
series of non-Roman alphabets - Greek, Hebrew, Coptic. "Aethiopick,"
Etruscan, Syriac, "Arabick," Armenian, Samaritan, and Saxon - as well
as music and typographical ornaments.
Sowerby points out that Jefferson bought his copy at the sale of the
library of the Rev. Samuel Henly in March 1785, a copy which must
have been either the 1763 or 1764 edition, since it seems too early for the
1785 edition to have reached this country. Since Jefferson usually preferred
a later edition, it is supposed that the 1764 edition would be the
more suitable.
Jefferson's own copy was sold to the Library of Congress. It was
not ordered for the University. The library's present copy is a gift of the
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.
M?
Sowerby 1135
*Z250.C343.1764
