The Interesting Journey Of The Body Of The Father Of Many Of Our Fonts

John Baskerville lived an interesting life, but the after-life of his “earthly” remains is a Gothic tale of Poe-tic proportions.

Baskerville had a lifelong passion for beautiful lettering and books. Around 1726, Baskerville moved to Birmingham, England and in 1738, he began experimenting with different types of papermaking, ink manufacturing, typefounding and printing. Baskerville invented his first of many typefaces in 1754 and most “serif” style fonts, even Times New Roman which was developed for the London Times newspaper, have been adaptations of Baskerville fonts. 

Baskerville would later go on to be the printer for the Cambridge University Press, and ironically for an atheist, is best known for his C.U. printing of the Bible. Baskerville even became a close friend of Benjamin Franklin while working with Cambridge University.

Baskerville died in 1775 after a long, interesting life, but he could not have even imagined the journey his body was in for. Baskerville’s will decreed that he did not care in which manner he was buried, but only that he not be buried on consecrated ground, so he was placed in a lead coffin and buried on the grounds of his home.

In 1791, the Baskerville home was destroyed in the Birmingham riots and the land was sold to John Ryland who left it to his son Samuel, who sold it to Thomas Gibson who cut a canal through the grounds to create wharf land.

In 1821, workers came across Baskerville’s coffin and though Baskerville’s descendants didn’t want it, Gibson did not want to bury it in consecrated ground per Baskerville’s original wishes, so he placed it in his warehouse, where after eight years it was placed in John Marston’s plumbing shop. Baskerville's coffin was placed in a corner and sometimes even used as a workbench.

After eight years in the plumbing shop, Martson’s curiosity got the best of him and he opened the coffin only to make on-lookers ill at the sight. Once having opened it, Marston didn’t want the coffin around anymore, so he applied to have it buried in his family’s vault at St. Philip’s Church, but permission was refused.

A bookseller by the name of Nott who knew and appreciated Baskerville’s work agreed to bury the coffin in the Nott family vault, so Marston put it in a wheel barrow, wheeled it across town and left it on the floor of the Nott vault at Christ Church.

In 1892, Baskerville’s coffin was finally encased in cement, of course after being opened by the curious again, and placed properly in the Nott vault. Then, in 1899, after only seven years of proper burial, nearly 125 years after his death, the Christ Church was demolished to make way for a shopping district and Baskerville’s remains, along with the remains of 600 others were finally laid to rest permanently at the Warstone Lane catacombs, although still against his wishes, in consecrated ground.

His body’s legacy and journey lasted much longer than Baskerville’s actual life.

Attacking Credit Card Debt

There are far too many Americans asking themselves how they can attack their credit card debt.

The first thing you need to do is to stop charging things!

Now, I know how difficult this can be, but it really is the only way. You will need to get out of the red before you attempt to better your financial standing. If you absolutely have to use your cards, then you’re not ready to get out of debt yet.

Trust me, you won’t get out of debt unless you want to and you won’t do it by continuing to charge.

Once you’ve stopped charging, take a look at your accounts and their interest rates. Transfer all that you can to the lowest rate cards, then once you’ve done so, call every credit card company you still have a balance with and ask for a lower interest rate.

When you are denied, threaten to transfer your balance with them to another card and they will usually comply. I was able to get Capital One to drop my card from 18.9% to a fixed 12.9% in just a single phone call.

Once you’ve gotten your interest rates as low as you can, determine how much you can send towards the credit card bills each month. Make sure you can make at least the minimum payment on time for every card to avoid late fees and penalties.

Attack the highest rate card first with as much money as you can spare after you have made your minimum payments on everything else. Be diligent and dedicated. It will take time, but if you can avoid charging and attack your balances, even if it’s only one at a time, you will win the war against your credit card balances.

Geographic Diversification In Investing

There are so many things in our everyday lives that we are looking at differently now, after 9/11.

Financial Journalist Andrew Feinberg captured the new way that we must look at portfolio diversity best when he wrote, “In the post-9/11 world, I fear that our painstakingly diversified portfolio is actually dangerously concentrated. I mean, we are overweighted in Manhattan big-time.”

This is something new in investing, but a very valid point in the world we are living in today. Every analyst will preach non-stop about the importance of your portfolio being diversified. In yesterday’s world, diversifying amongst different countries, different sectors, different companies, different sized-companies and different company philosophies was enough, but with terrorism threatening U.S. cities, investors even need to diversify where their investments lie in the U.S.

Business in Manhattan literally ground to a halt on 9/11 and some investors learned that their diversified portfolios were extremely heavily invested in companies that resided in Manhattan. Investors need to check their portfolios to ensure that their U.S. investments are spread out over the geography of the nation as well.

Eye-Opening Comment On 9/11

I think even after all the time we’ve had to ponder since the morning of September 11, 2001, it is still hard for the average American to truly grasp what happened that morning.

I believe eSpeed, Inc.’s Executive VP Joseph Noviello really put the events of that fateful morning into perspective for me in a way I hadn’t really thought about yet.

Think about where you work, the people you work with, and the tasks that you share at your job as you read Noviello’s comments:

”People did whatever it took. Those whose managers had died showed their skills as natural leaders. Their instincts for what to do were so strong.”

That’s not a military officer talking about soldiers, but a business executive talking about his employees.

While September 11th showed us the worst of mankind, it also showed us the strength in the average American.

Fred Alger, An American Hero

My thoughts are with all Americans today as any true American will be in mourning for the loss of our collective innocence one year ago today...Let us never forget the tragic and heroic events of that fateful day as we push forward into our future...

Seven years ago, Fred Alger, the founder of Fred Alger Management decided it was time for some rest after taking himself, investors, and his company to the forefront of the investment world.

Fred handed the reigns over to his brother David who had been with him all along and then made his way to retirement split between Switzerland and parts of the U.S. This past September as Fred and his wife were getting ready to leave the house in East Hampton, New York, which they had leased for a month’s vacation, Fred glanced at the television and saw One World Trade Center ablaze.

Fred Alger had chosen the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center for his offices and recalls that it took him quite some time to realize not only that his brother and former colleagues were in harm’s way, but that they had been killed in the attack. Nearly all of the firm’s employees perished.

Fred Alger Management was virtually wiped out on September 11th, but in the typical Fred Alger style, instead of leaving his investors in peril, he immediately cancelled retirement indefinitely and is now working to get the firm back on its feet.

Former employees who had moved on after coming into their own at Fred Alger immediately lined up to help run the now-leaderless funds and pensions. Today, almost a year later, Fred Alger Management is pretty much back on its feet and pushing forward, a symbol of the spirit and determination of American will.

What’s In My Wallet, Huh? Cash, You Damned Vulture...

Gold cards are out and platinum cards are in. Credit card companies are already working on their next wave of smoke and mirrors to rope people into the “prestige” of high-end credit card patronage. Titanium cards allow you to carry a balance of $100,000, have no annual fee, and perks like free internet access and magazine subscriptions. The vultures are trying to market titanium cards to law and medical students who they are hoping will rack up large bills now, but have the earning power later to eventually pay them off. If that’s not enough, ultra-elite cards like diamond, quantum, infinite and black are also making their debuts with credit lines that start at six figures. American Express Black has benefits like roadside assistance and guaranteed airport parking, but carries an annual fee of $2500. My advice on credit cards? Whether your card is gold, platinum, titanium, or Ukrainian, don’t carry a credit card balance, and always try to get cards without an annual fee. If you’re looking for a status symbol, how about being able to say you have no credit card debt in a nation where the average household carries $35,000 in credit card debt? If you need to carry a balance, look for a low-rate card, which is not necessarily going to be a “metal” or “element” or “smoke & mirrors” card. Watch out for “rebate” cards. Sure, you might get a free tank of gas every month, but are you paying $300 in finance charges instead of just spending your own $30 on gas? Always pay your minimum due and pay it on time...if you don’t there are clauses in the credit card application you signed that are there just to stick it you. Always be firm, almost a problem customer to your credit card companies. Be courteous, of course, but also demanding, and always threaten to take your business elsewhere Call your credit card companies and tell them you are going to transfer balances away from them if they don’t lower your rate. You’d be surprised at how quickly they may lower your rates if you scare ‘em.

“Is that daddy?”

Now, for the latest installment in our “Are you working too much?” series. Last Wednesday, while discussing Quietly Working strategy at the Ruby’s in Newport Beach, we were seated next to one of the Newport wives and her two children. While waiting for Tim to retrieve his cell phone from his car, I took out my Palm Pilot to make some schedule changes. The three-year-old boy at the table next to us asked his mom what I was doing. She told the boy that I was using a Palm Pilot like Daddy. The boy then asked, “Is that Daddy?” I thought to myself, is someone’s daddy’s Palm Pilot so full of appointments and long hours that his three-year-old son doesn’t even know what he looks like from five feet away? Don’t get me wrong, we work 80 hour weeks, but our loved ones can still pick us out in a restaurant.