Note 560 — Chapter XIII · JOHN BASKERVILLE, 1752.

Writing to Mr. R. Richardson of Durham on Oct. 29, 1758, Dr. Bedford says: “By Baskerville’s specimen of his types, you will perceive how much the elegance of them is owing to his paper, which he makes himself, as well as the types and ink also; and I was informed whenever they came to be used by common pressmen and with common materials they will lose of their beauty considerably. Hence, perhaps, this specimen may become very curious (when he is no more, and the types cannot be set off in the same perfection), and a great piece of vertû.” (Nichols, Illust. Lit., i, 813).