Funt Fact: In 1758, our friend Baskerville happened to be rubbing elbows with one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was an advocate of Baskerville’s work and a major influence in the widespread adoption of the typeface in federal government published works in the U.S. He was such a fan that in a letter he wrote to Baskerville in 1760, he recounted his defense of his type to an English gentleman who ranted that Baskerville’s ‘ultra-thin’ serifs and narrow strokes would blind readers.
It’s apparent that Baskerville has stood the test of time, despite opposing opinions.
Other Transitional typefaces include: Baskerville (in many flavors), Bookman (Linotype), Cheltenham (ITC), Clearface (ITC), Fournier, Joanna, and Slimbach (ITC).
Side note: Ever wonder what the word oblique in a font family means? It looks just like italic, you think. Jaugeon was in fact one of the first to design this complementary sloping roman which is actually an alternative to a true italic. In fact, a font does not have to be sloping to be italic, some of the earliest italic types were not sloped.
Flash forward a couple years and you’ll see John Baskerville’s work arriving on scene, truly epitomizing the departure from traditional letterforms. Below we can see the change from the more calligraphic flow of typefaces.