Dr Caroline Archer-Parré

What do you do with eight cases of Baskerville font punches?!
Have lots of digital letter fun of course!
There's even RTI and 3D Models to play with ...
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Take some time out of your day to browse this incredible Baskerville Punches resource on Cambridge Digital Library. cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Preserving the Craft: Baskerville’s typographic legacy lives on as punches go online for first time Hundreds of rare steel punches used to create the original Baskerville typeface have been digitised and made freely available online, allowing unprecedented insight into the work of one of Britain’s m...

Thanks to the work of the amazing Small Performance team, we are delighted to announce that Baskerville’s typographic legacy lives on as his punches go online for first time. Read the press release. www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/bask...

Today, for the first time in 2026, we sat in the garden and had lunch in the sunshine. The weather probably wont let us do this again for another 30 days, but it was a joy whilst it lasted.

Yesterday, some of the Small Performances team had a trip to Oxford University Press museum to have a look at Baskerville's Greek punches and matrices. Thanks to OUP for allowing us to rummage through your precious Victorian type cabinet.

Anke Gowda: The Karnataka man who built a library of two million books Anke Gowda, whose library is open to everyone, recently received an Indian government award.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wow! no wind. no rain. just calm.

Midland History Midland History publishes on the history of the English Midlands region and historical comparisons with other areas.

From Roman forts in Rutland to brutalism in Bedfordshire, nobility in Nottinghamshire to workers in Warwickshire

Whatever your interests in the English Midlands we want to hear from you

Submit an article to Midland History and bring your research to the world 👇

tandfonline.com/journals/ymdh20

Applications are open for the Munby Fellowship 2026-27 📚
An opportunity to spend a year conducting bibliographical research based on the world-class collections of Cambridge.
⏰Closing date: 1 Feb 2026
More information on applying: https://loom.ly/stSFkzg

Midland History Midlands Metal Trades. Volume 50, Issue 3 of Midland History

From enamel to iron, printing to interior design, 1430 to present, the latest special issue of Midland History all about the Midlands Metal Trades is available online now.

www.tandfonline.com/toc/ymdh20/5...

Read how our team has been 'relighting' the surface of the Baskerville punches from different angles, revealing details like scratches, rust, and engraving marks that are invisible under normal lighting baskervillepunches.org/how-rti-reve...

Contents page of Midlands History special issue on Midlands Metal Trades. Volume 50 Number 3.

Look what I came home with! Special issue of Midlands History on Midlands Metal Trades. Guest-edited by @typetweets.bsky.social and #Ann-MarieCarey. Plenty to keep me going here.

The English Print Revolution: Caxton and Beyond — CPHC The Printer in Residence Scheme

In February, Senate House Library will launch an exhibition The English Print Revolution: Caxton and Beyond. They are also looking to appoint a Printer in Residence to produce a contemporary response to the exhibition. Sounds fun. www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2026...

Small Performances: an interlude — CPHC One-day conference

In 2024 a team of researchers from the @theul.bsky.social and @BCU launched an AHRC-funded project investigating the typographic punches of John Baskerville. In March the team is taking an interlude from their work to present their research and findings. Come join us. www.cphc.org.uk/events/2026/...

National Archives Workshops — CPHC art, design, photography and other visual cultures

The National Archives (UK) is holding a series of interesting workshops focusing on art, design, photography and other visual collections. More details here: www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2026...

TypoItalia Workshop 2026 — CPHC see the alphabet in its myriad forms and trace their evolution to the type collection held by Tipoteca 

Fancy two weeks in Venice? Yes? Then there are two places left on TipoItalia'26. Be guided on a typographic odyssey of hand-painted Venetian street signs, inscriptions from the Renaissance and Tipoteca’s collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco wood and metal typefaces. www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2026...

Print, Printing and Industrial Heritage — CPHC Call for papers

Don't forget the deadline is looming for submitting proposals for the PrintNetworks/CPHC annual conference which this year is in Cornwall. The theme is Print, Printing and Industrial Heritage (surfboards welcome!) www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2025...

The 2025 number of the Journal of the Printing Historical Society has just been published. Members should receive their copies this week.

Small Performances project has inspired artistic responses from theatre performances to photography to jewellery. We never expected our work to be captured verse. Here's an ode to the Baskerville punches by the poet Kathleen Bell who was inspired by the project.

Print, Printing and Industrial Heritage — CPHC Call for papers

Inspired by the industrial heritage of Cornwall, the theme of the 2026 CPHC/Print Networks Conference is Print, Printing and Industrial Heritage. It will be held at Kresen Kernow, Cornwall 10-11 June 2026. Deadline for abstracts is 31 January. More here: www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2025...

This morning, in Birmingham, a blue plaque commemorating the life and work of John Baskerville was installed on the facade of Baskerville House. Hurrah!

Plates for a Herbal — CPHC New Book from The Old School Press

Played for a Herbal. A lovely new Books from the Old School Press. www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2025...

A drawing of a skeleton.

#BirminghamHistory Don’t forget to Join us for the annual Chris Upton Memorial Lecture on Monday 3rd November, 5.30pm - tinyurl.com/UptonBaskerville Ref: MS 897,Volume II, Image 218 #LibraryofBham @typetweets.bsky.social #BaskervilleSoc

Baskerville's death, burial and post-mortem life — CPHC Chris Upton Memorial Lecture

If you are knocking around the Library of Birmingham on 3 November, then I'm giving a little talk on Baskerville's death, burial and post-mortem life and dispelling some of the myths that surround his demise and after life. www.cphc.org.uk/events/2025/...

Birmingham as seen through its display typography — CPHC Part of the Baskerville 250 lecture series

Still time to book to hear Dr David Osbaldestin's talk 'Birmingham as seen through its display typography'. David Osbaldestin will present a range of interconnecting stories told through the display typefaces and jobbing printers of the city. www.cphc.org.uk/events/2025/...

So sad to hear of the death of Prof Michael Twyman, who nurtured many budding printing historians (including me) and whose support of and contribution to typographic history is celebrated in the most recent issue of the 'PHS Journal', demonstrating the breadth of his knowledge.

Image 1 : A book - front cover facing on. Cover is a reproduction of a painting depicting a male figure wearing the traditional eighteenth-century garb of a gentleman - wig with curled up sides and frock coat with neckerchief. Title of the book at the top of the page is John Baskerville: art and industry of the Enlightenment. Names of the editors beneath this on the left of the cover.

Image 2 – Two books resting on a table, both front covers facing on. Title is A History of Birmingham in the top left of the front cover. An illustration of a bustling square – Georgian and early Victorian architecture. A group of people carrying a jardinière in the bottom left of the picture and a horse and carriage in the right. People populating the various corners of the illustration. A bookcase behind the table on which the books are resting.

Join us for the annual Chris Upton Memorial Lecture on Mon 3rd November at 5.30pm tinyurl.com/UptonBaskerv... Professor Caroline Archer-Parré will be giving her talk: Inhuming and exhuming: John Baskerville’s death, burial, and post-mortem life #LibraryofBham @typetweets.bsky.social #BaskervilleSoc

Pleased to announce that on this day is published 'Script, print and letterforms in global contexts' edited by Sahar Afshar and Darryl Lim for CPHC and published by PeterLangGroup www.cphc.org.uk/script-print...

This will be a lovely job for someone. Assistant Keeper Grade 1, Rare & Antiquarian Books National Library of Ireland. www.nli.ie/about-us/wor...

Baskerville & Birmingham | Midlands Arts Centre 250 years ago, John Baskerville, the Birmingham printer, publisher, craftsperson, inventor, and freethinker passed away. His work, particularly his typefac

Just twelve ticket left for wonderful Theatre(ish) performance of 'Baskerville & Birmingham' (Bab!). Get them whilst you can. macbirmingham.co.uk/events/baske...