William Caslon

William Caslon I (1692/1693 – 23 January 1766), also known as William Caslon the elder, was an English gunsmith and designer of typefaces. The distinction and legibility of his type secured him 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.

Life

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 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 (bearing his name and others) is preserved.

Typefaces

Caslon's typefaces were inspired by the Dutch Baroque types, the most commonly used types in England before Caslon's faces. His designs influenced John Baskerville and are thus the progenitors of the transitional and Didone typeface classifications.