II.
In attributing the Mein and Fleeming type to John Baine, a new pattern in American
type history is made possible, a new continuity with British typography established.
In his essay on "British Influences upon American Printing," recently published in his
Typographic Heritage (1949), Mr. Wroth recognizes the
rôle played by John Baine and his grandson in casting the type used by Thomas
Dodson in printing Rees's Encyclopœdia, although the face
used is a traditional face unlike the bold-face roman of Mein and Fleeming.
Continuing, Mr. Wroth speaks of the work of Binny and Ronaldson of Philadelphia, the
first type founders to achieve significant and lasting stature in America. Both were
Scotchmen, and in the partnership it was Binny who contributed the knowledge of
printing and of punch cutting. Although they began business in 1797 their first
specimen book of types did not appear until 1812. Of the two distinct faces displayed,
the first was a transitional letter which, recast in recent times, has been named
"Oxford," and, even more recently, has been recut by the Linotype Company as
"Monticello."
The other face cast by Binny and Ronaldson is one which, in Stanley Morison's words,
is a "fat grotesque," one of the "bold, bad faces" which none the less achieved great
popularity. But in speaking at some length of this face Mr. Wroth does not call
attention to the fact that its resemblance to the Baine type is most remarkable. The
obvious question arises: Was there any connection between Baine and his fellow Scots
Binny and Ronaldson?
The evidence for such a connection is at present inconclusive. The research in which
Mr. P. J. Conkwright, of the Princeton University Press, is currently engaged
concerning Binny and Ronaldson should ultimately clarify the matter. In the meantime
we do know that Baine and his grandson came to Philadelphia around 1790, where shortly
thereafter the elder man died. There is reason to believe that Binny was as a young
man apprenticed to Baine, and the ledgers of the firm record that on June 12, 1799, J.
Baine (presumably the grandson) sold to Binny and Ronaldson $300 worth of
tools. What these tools included is not specified, but in the sale there is evidence
of continuity. That the boldface Binny and Ronaldson type is a lineal descendant of
the Baine face becomes a very real possibility.[7]
