Given words rule the world, the way those words are expressed typographically determine tone and meaning. Every typeface tells a story.
Baskerville is a serif typeface created in 1757 by John Baskerville in 1757 in Birmingham, England. It’s the quintessential Transitional serif, neatly positioned between the dynamic calligraphy of the Humanists and the static construction of the Rationalists.
Characteristics include a long, straight leg on the capital ‘R’ that’s heaviest at the baseline, a small eye in the ‘e’, and a fairly large x-height. Baskerville has a certain confidence, a certain swagger.
According to a typographic study undertaken by Errol Morris, Baskerville is the most trusted typeface in the world.
A comparable typeface is Mrs Eaves (designed in 1996 by Zuzana Licko in Berkeley, United Sates and named after John Baskerville’s housekeeper who later became his wife and on his death sold Baskerville to the French to place it out of reach of British printing).