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The italic "J" has a crossbar, and a rotated casting was used by Caslon in many sizes on his specimens to form the pound sign. The "Q", "T", "v", "w" and "z" all have flourishes or swashes in the original design, something not all revivals follow. In italic, Caslon's "h" folds inwards and the "A" is sharply slanted. Ascenders and descenders are relatively short and the level of stroke contrast is modest in body text sizes. The "W" has three terminals at the top and the "b" has a small tapered stroke ending at bottom left. The letterforms of Caslon's roman, or upright type include an "A" with a concave hollow at top left and a "G" without a downwards-pointing spur at bottom right. His typefaces established a strong reputation for their quality and their attractive appearance, suitable for extended passages of text. Caslon established a tradition of engraving type in London, which previously had not been common, and was influenced by the imported Dutch Baroque typefaces that were popular in England at the time. He worked in the tradition of what is now called old-style serif letter design, that produced letters with a relatively organic structure resembling handwriting with a pen.
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CaslonĬaslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692–1766) in London, or inspired by his work.Ĭaslon worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or matrices used to cast metal type. For other uses, see Caslon (disambiguation).
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