‘It is not my desire to print many books, but such only as are books of Consequence…’ John Baskerville’s Preface to Milton's Paradise Lost, 1758
January 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the death of famed Birmingham printer and polymath John Baskerville (1707-75). To commemorate this important anniversary and celebrate Baskerville’s legacy, an online exhibition will be curated by the Cadbury Research Library, with the generous support of colleagues from the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University.
'John Baskerville: Books of Consequence'. An exhibition from the Cadbury Research Library showcasing Baskerville's typography and book arts will launch on CRL Flickr in January 2025.
The exhibition will highlight some of Baskerville’s most beautiful ‘books of consequence’ housed at Cadbury Research Library. Drawing out John Baskerville’s astonishing advancements across a variety of printing technologies and his significant contribution to print history in Birmingham and beyond through examples of his work.