The Baskerville typeface is familiar to billions of readers and users of standard computer software across the world. However, the story behind its creation by John Baskerville, in eighteenth-century Birmingham, is much less widely known, even though he was England’s foremost printer, and his typeface is one of the world’s most popular and influential. 

 This exhibition, at the Library of Birmingham, which coincides with the 250th anniversary of Baskerville’s death, presents the man, his typeface, his books and legacy. It also presents some of the research that is going on to try and understand the man and his work. 

THANKS TO Arts & Humanities Research Council ; Birmingham City Council; Birmingham City University; Baskerville Society; Centre for Printing History & Culture; University of Cambridge 

Monday to Tuesday: 9am to 7pm;

Wednesday to Saturday: 9am to 5pm

Sunday: Closed