Note 545 — Chapter XIII · JOHN BASKERVILLE, 1752.

He appears to have continued his original business to the end of his days. Writing in 1760, Mr. Derrick, in a letter to the Earl of Cork, dated July that year, after describing Baskerville’s printing achievements, adds: “This ingenious artist carries on a great trade in the Japan way, in which he showed me several useful articles, such as candlesticks, stands, salvers, waiters, bread-baskets, tea-boards, etc., elegantly designed and highly finished.” The name of Baskerville had previously been associated with typography, as we find in the lists of the Stationers’ Company a Gabriel Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1622, and a John Baskerville, who took up his freedom in 1639.