DeVinne says that Joseph Jackson (1733-1792), a former apprentice of William Caslon I, first attempted a typefoundry in 1757 with Thomas Cottrell, another former Caslon apprentice. it was unsuccessful. Jackson tried again in 1763 with different backing. Somewhat confusingly, DeVinne notes that "in 1773 he organized a small but valuable foundry." [But Talbot Baines Reed places the origin of the foundry at 1763.] He died in 1792, after which his foundry was acquired by William Caslon III (see the history of William Caslon [& Co.]).
William Caslon III took his son, William Caslon IV, in to partnership in this firm in 1803 [Reed], styling the firm "W. Caslon & Son" (but not to be confused with the separate firm, the "main thread" of the Caslon lineage, at that time operated by Mrs. Henry Caslon).
William Caslon III retired in 1807 and it was renamed "W. Caslon, Junior." [Reed]
Sold by William Caslon IV in 1819 to Blake, Gannett & Co. (later Stephenson, Blake), a firm formed for the purpose of acquiring the Jackson/Caslon IV foundry [Reed, p. 328].
[Most of the information in the above is from DeVinne, The Practice of Typography. Vol. 1. and Talbot Baines Reed.]
1795, 1796. Ornaments, Types
This book contains two specimens: First, A Specimen of Printing Types by Wm Caslon, Letter-Founder to the King . (London: Printed by C. Whittingham, 1796) and second, A Specimen of Cast Ornaments by Wm Caslon, Letter-Founder to the King . (London: Printed by C. Whittingham, Dean Street, Fetter Lane, 1795). Talbot Baines Reed lists neither of these, but his list of specimens for the "main branch" of the William Caslon foundry does not show C. Whittington as a printer. The Jackson/Caslon III foundry, on the other hand, does. I presume therefore that these are specimens issued by the Jackson/Caslon III foundry, and that the title "Letter-Founder to the King" went along with William Caslon III to his new firm.
A digital version of this book, including the original page scans, is available at The Internet Archive; the link at left goes there. Here is a local copy of the PDF version and the (nicer) DjVu version.
All of the specimen books reproduced here or from which images are reproduced here are in the public domain. Any material from them reproduced here remains in the public domain.
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2011 by David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
Circuitous Root is a Registered Trademark of David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution - ShareAlike" license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for its terms.
Presented originally by Circuitous Root®
Select Resolution: 0 [other resolutions temporarily disabled due to lack of disk space]
