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.