Caslon made a further addition to his stock of matrices in 1739 by the purchase of half of Mitchell’s foundry,[474] of which the most interesting items were a Pica Greek, sets of Music and flower matrices, and six sizes of Black. The remainder, consisting of Romans and Italics, do not appear to have added much to the resources of the Chiswell Street foundry.[475]
In the year 1742 Mr. Caslon’s eldest son, William—at that time twenty-two years of age—entered the business, and in the Specimen of the same year his name first appears in conjunction with his father’s. Unfortunately, no copy of this Specimen (which had evidently been seen by Nichols[476]) is known to be extant. Another Specimen, also unfortunately missing, is mentioned by the same authority, who says, “the abilities of the second Caslon appeared to great {242} advantage in the specimen of the types of the learned languages in 1748.”[477] A further Specimen was issued in the following year, in broadside form, which displayed a large variety of letters, from Canon to Pearl, many of them being the handiwork of Caslon the younger. It is possible that this last sheet may have been sent, for the most part, abroad; for while no copy of it is to be found in this country, we find one mentioned with commendation by Fournier in 1766,[478] and another preserved to this day in the Sohmian Collection at Stockholm, where, along with several other rare English and foreign specimens, it has been recently discovered by, the indefatigable Mr. William Blades.
In Ames’ Typographical Antiquities,[479] published in 1749, appears a specimen of “Mr. Caslon’s Roman letter and the names of the sizes now in use,” the introductory note to which affords the first definite notice of the younger Caslon in connection with the foundry. “The art,” says Ames, “seems to be carried to its greatest perfection by Mr. William Caslon, and his son, who, besides the type of all manner of living languages now by him, has offered to perform the same for the dead, that can be recovered, to the satisfaction of any gentleman desirous of the same.”
Another contemporary record of equal interest, which seems, moreover, to allude to one or more of the three missing Specimens above mentioned, is contained in a little essay on the Original, Use, and Excellency of Printing, published in 1752[480]; in which the anonymous writer, after dealing with the invention, remarks: “Altho’ the chief honour is due to the Inventor, yet the perfection and beauty that Printing is now arrived at is very much owing to them that came after. Many in the present age have not a little contributed thereto. Among whom I cannot but particularly mention Mr. William Caslon and his Son, Letter Founders in Chiswell Street, who have very much by their indefatigable labours promoted the honour of this Art, and who have lately printed three broadsheet specimens of their curious types; one of them consisting of all the common sorts of letter used in printing; the second sheet is {243} divers sorts of their Orientals, Old-English, and Saxon; and the third contains a great variety of curious Flowers and Fancies for Ornamenting of Title Pages, Tickets, &c., also several sorts of Titling letter of Roman, Old-English and Greek; and the whole, for their master strokes and curious flourishes, outdo all that have been cast in England, Holland or any other place before.”
The above is one of many compliments paid to Caslon at this period by his contemporaries. Smith, in his Printer’s Grammar in 1755, goes out of his way more than once to commend the founder by whose genius “letter is now in England of such a beautiful cut and shape as it never was before.” Baskerville, in a passage quoted elsewhere,[481] frankly acknowledges him as the greatest master of the art. Ames and Chambers, as has been noticed, vie with one another in proclaiming his pre-eminence; Mores himself styles him the Coryphæus of modern letter founders, and Lemoine awards him the title of the English Elzevir.
In 1750 Mr. Caslon’s reputation was such that his Majesty George II. placed him on the Commission of the Peace for Middlesex, which office he sustained with honour to himself and advantage to the community till the time of his death.
In June of the same year, the Universal Magazine[482] contained an Article on Letter Founding, extracted chiefly from Moxon, and accompanied by a view of the interior of Caslon’s Foundry, containing portraits of six of his workmen. The view (of which our frontispiece is a reproduction) represents four casters at work, one rubber (Joseph Jackson), one dresser (Thomas Cottrell), and three boys breaking off, etc. Considering the extent of the business at the time, it may be doubted whether this represents the entire working staff of the establishment, or whether the view is of a portion only, in which, for the convenience of the artist, the four processes of the manufacture are assembled. The processes of punch-cutting and justifying were conducted in private by the Caslons themselves; yet not, as history shows, in such secrecy as to prevent their two apprentices, Cottrell and Jackson, from observing and learning the manual operation of that part of the “art and mystery.”[483]
A movement among the workmen of the Foundry in 1757 for a higher scale of wages, although decided in favour of the men, resulted in the dismissal of the two ex-apprentices, who were supposed to have been ringleaders in the {244} movement. With the experience acquired during their term of service at Chiswell Street, both these men were enabled to establish foundries of their own; and it is to the credit of Cottrell’s good sense, if not of his good feeling, that he subsequently supported his own claim to the patronage of the trade by announcing on his specimens that he had “served his apprenticeship to William Caslon, Esq.”
The active part taken by the Second Caslon in the operations of the Foundry may be best judged of by a reference to the Specimen Book of 1764.[484] In this book the number of founts which originally appeared on the broadside of 1734 is more than doubled,[485] most of the additions (with the exception of those which had formed part of Mitchell’s Foundry) being the handiwork of Caslon II. The following advertisement appears on the last page:—
“This new Foundery was begun in the year 1720, and finish’d 1763; and will (with God’s leave) be carried on, improved and inlarged by William Caslon and Son, Letter-Founders in London.—Soli Deo Gloria.”