William Caslon I

By Ethan FeldmanTypography for New Media

Ms. Hannigan

Background

• William Caslon I was born in Cradley, Worcestershire, in 1692. He was one of the founders of typde design. He was a British punchcutter and typefounder. He established British typefounding by crafting copies of earlier Dutch type designs.

How he got Started• He first started out as an

apprentice to a London gunsmith, and in 1716 he set up his own business engraving gunlocks and bookbinding tools. William Bowyer took William Caslon I to see James Foundry in 1720, and helped Casslon set up as a typefounder. William Casslon I’s reputation mostly stems from one of his biggest projects in 1734, where he showed type designs of his that were inspired by Dutch typographic designs, but reigned superior to the Dutch designs from which they were based upon.

Success• Because of his success,

the English didn’t have to rely on Dutch types anymore. He went on to cut many more non-latin types (including Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic and Armenian) as well as some amazing ornaments. His types were highly regarded in America, and the Declaration of Independence was set in Caslon.

William Caslon Lives On• William Caslon I died in

Bethnal Green, London, in 1766, and his son, William Caslon II, took over the business, as well as William Caslon III, who took over after William Caslon II died. William Caslon I’s foundy eventually became known as H.W Caslon & Co, and was passed down through various members of the family until 1937, when the rights were transferred to Stephenson Blake.

Fonts by William Caslon I• ITC Founder’s Caslon

• ITC Founder’s Caslon Ornaments

• Caslon Graphique

• ITC Caslon No. 224

• Caslon Old Face

• Big Caslon

Activities that William Casslon I did

• Type Founding– Type Founding is the

manufacturing of lead type, type you make by hand.

• Punchcutting– Punchcutting is making the hard

metal punches that are used to make matrices for type founding. Molten lead flows into a matrix to produce a single piece of type, ready for typesetting.

• Type Design– Type Design is designing

letterforms intended for eventual manufacture as fonts.

John Updike’s thoughts on William Caslon

• John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and typographer, said the following about William Caslon, and why his types were so successful:

• “While he modelled his letters on Dutch types, they were much better; for he introduced into his fonts a quality of interest, a variety of design, and a delicacy of modelling, which few Dutch types possessed. Dutch fonts were monotonous, but Caslon’s fonts were not so. His letters when analyzed, especially in the smaller sizes, are not perfect individually; but in their mass their effect is agreeable. That is, I think, their secret: a perfection of the whole, derived from harmonious but not necessarily perfect individual letterforms.”

More Information about the Caslon Foundry

• Caslon Foundry• Located in London, United Kingdom• It was Founded by William Caslon in 1720. It was the

leading English typefoundry of both the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. William Caslon II took up this business after William Casslon I died. When William Casslon II died in 1778 the foundry was split between his wife and his son, William Caslon III. In 1792 William Casslon II sold his part of the foundry to his mother and his sister-in-law. He then bought foundry of their rival, Joseph Jackson. The family of the sister-in-law kept the Caslon foundry running until 1937, when it closed and it and the designs were passed to Stephenson Blake.

Pictures of His Fonts• ITC Founder's

Caslon

Pictures of His Fonts (continued)

• ITC Founders Caslon Ornaments

Pictures of His Fonts (continued)

• Caslon Graphique

Pictures of His Fonts (continued)

• ITC Caslon No. 224

Pictures of His Fonts (continued)

• Caslon Old Face

Pictures of His Fonts (continued)

• Big Caslon