Baskerwille

In 1784 Claude Jacob, with his
partner Henri Rolland, engraved
a copy of Baskerville for his
new foundry, the Société Typographique
de Strasbourg. With
its rounded forms and marked
contrasts it closely resembled
Baskerville’s types, except for the
italics which were less calligraphic
and more rational. Jacob’s italics
echoed those of François-Ambroise
Didot and thus Jacob’s typeface
provided a link between the English
style and the seeds of French
typographic modernity.
This talk will return to Jacob,
whose name is eclipsed by that of
Baskerville, to present a digital
interpretation of Jacob’s typeface,
produced at the Atelier National
de Recherche Typographique in
Nancy (Alexis Faudot, Rémi Forte,
Morgane Pierson, Rafael Ribas,
Tanguy Vanlaeys, Rosalie Wagner)
in autumn 2017. This new version
is based on historical records at
the Imprimerie Berger-Levrault &
Cie (1878) and composed in ‘type
characters Baskerwille (property of
the House)’ now in the possession
of the company Berger-Levrault.