Caslon

Caslon worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or matrices used to cast metal type.^[1][2][3] He worked in the tradition of what is now called old-style serif letter design, that produced letters with a relatively organic structure resembling handwriting with a pen. Caslon established a tradition of engraving type in London, which previously had not been common, and was influenced by the imported Dutch Baroque typefaces that were popular in England at the time.^[4][5][6][7] His typefaces established a strong reputation for their quality and their attractive appearance, suitable for extended passages of text.^[8][9]


The letterforms of Caslon's roman, or upright type include an "A" with a concave hollow at top left and a "G" without a downwards-pointing spur at bottom right. The sides of the "M" are straight.^[10] The "W" has three terminals at the top and the "b" has a small tapered stroke ending at bottom left.^[10] The "a" has a slight ball terminal.^[11] Ascenders and descenders are relatively short and the level of stroke contrast is modest in body text sizes. In italic, Caslon's "h" folds inwards and the "A" is sharply slanted.^[10] The "Q", "T", "v", "w" and "z" all have flourishes or swashes in the original design, something not all revivals follow.^[10] The italic "J" has a crossbar, and a rotated casting was used by Caslon in many sizes on his specimens to form the pound sign.^[3] However, Caslon created different designs of letters at different sizes: his larger sizes follow the lead of a type he sold cut in the previous century by Joseph Moxon, with more fine detail and sharper contrast in stroke weight, in the "Dutch taste" style.^[12] Caslon's larger-size roman fonts have two serifs on the "C", while his smaller-size versions have one half-arrow serif only at top right.


Caslon's typefaces were popular in his lifetime and beyond, and after a brief period of eclipse in the early nineteenth century returned to popularity, particularly for setting printed body text and books. Many revivals exist, with varying faithfulness to Caslon's original design.^[13] Modern Caslon revivals also often add features such as a matching boldface and "lining" numbers at the height of capital letters, neither of which were used in Caslon's time.^[14][a] William Berkson, designer of a revival of Caslon, describes Caslon in body text as "comfortable and inviting".^[15]