"Small performances": investigating the typographic punches of John Baskerville (1707-75) through heritage science and practice-based research

巴斯克维尔字体为全世界数十亿读者和标准计算机软件用户所熟悉。然而，约翰·巴斯克维尔（John Baskerville，1707- 1775）创作的故事却鲜为人知。尽管他是英国最重要的印刷商，他在字体设计上的“小表演”“让欧洲所有的图书馆员都感到骄傲”。从更广泛的角度来看，印刷术被认为是千年的发明，是知识的民主化者，但它仍然无处不在，但看不见，它是如何发生的也不为人所知。这个跨学科的项目旨在为印刷技术的历史做出实质性的贡献，同时确保这是一个将持续到未来的活生生的过程。其核心是特殊的集合印刷冲床设计，削减，并在巴斯克维尔的车间在伯明翰使用，现在在剑桥大学图书馆举行。冲压机是金属活字制造的三个阶段中的第一个阶段，它们单独刻在钢上，在材料和设计方面都提出了挑战，因此它们保存了可以通过科学研究解锁的其他无法获取的信息。将印刷历史学家，遗产科学家，工匠和字体设计师聚集在AHRC资助的剑桥遗产科学中心（CHERISH）周围，我们将使用开创性的科学和手工方法重建18世纪的冲压切割技术。我们的方法将涉及显微镜，化学分析，3D建模和实验室中的先进成像，但也涉及珠宝商，雕刻师，铁匠和字体设计师的实际实验，他们将帮助解开工艺，同时学习可能在自己的贸易中使用的历史技术。该项目将成为世界技术史上一个新的重要篇章，并作为学者，从业者和外行之间的研究参与的一种新形式，通过3D模型，数字版本，新字体设计以及实用和创意研讨会变得可见。这项工作将改变我们对巴斯克维尔冲床收藏的理解，并使当前的工业和工艺应用以及教育项目受益。最近，数字人文和手工艺的复兴促使人们对模拟形式的通信和使其成为可能的技术重新产生兴趣。凸版印刷，几个世纪以来占主导地位的印刷工艺，现在在商业上已经过时，但已经通过使用冗余凸版设备的小型印刷机压印获得了新的生命。印刷设备，以前用于指导印刷学徒，激起了艺术家和设计师的兴趣。但是，接受历史印刷技术培训的人数正在下降，他们的技能很少转移到新一代的创意印刷商身上。遗产组织往往很难找到空间，资源或专业知识来策划他们的印刷收藏。可用的设备和材料正变得越来越稀缺，而那些拥有维修和恢复知识的人正在消亡。作为传统工艺协会红色名录上的一种濒危工艺，凸版印刷面临着不确定的未来。它的保存需要文献和实践，但也需要富有想象力的方法来适应和使用它们。“小表演”将是朝着这个方向迈出的一步。

The Baskerville typeface is familiar to billions of readers and users of standard computer software across the world. However, the story behind its creation by John Baskerville (1707-75) is much less widely known. This is in spite of the fact that he was England's foremost printer, and what he called his "small performances" in typeface design "went forth to astonish all librarians of Europe". From a broader perspective, printing is recognised as the invention of the millennium, and a democratiser of knowledge - and yet it remains ubiquitous but invisible, and how it happens is not generally known.This interdisciplinary project seeks to make a substantial contribution to the history of printing technology, while ensuring this is a living process that will continue into the future. At its heart is the exceptional collection of typographic punches designed, cut, and used at Baskerville's workshop in Birmingham, which are now held at Cambridge University Library. Individually engraved in steel, punches were the first of three stages in the manufacturing of metal type - one that posed challenges in both materials and design - and therefore they preserve otherwise inaccessible information that can be unlocked through scientific study.Bringing together printing historians, heritage scientists, craftspeople, and type designers around the AHRC-funded Cambridge Heritage Science Hub (CHERISH), we will reconstruct 18th-century punch-cutting techniques using pioneering scientific and artisanal methods. Our approach will involve microscopy, chemical analyses, 3D modelling and advanced imaging in the laboratory, but also practical experimentation involving jewellers, engravers, blacksmiths, and typeface designers who will help disentangle the craft while also learning historical techniques that may be of use in their own trade. The project will materialise as a new and essential chapter in the history of world technology, and as a novel form of research engagement among academics, practitioners, and laypeople, made visible through 3D models, digital editions, new typeface designs, and practical and creative workshops. This work will transform our understanding of the collection of Baskerville punches and benefit current industrial and craft applications, as well as educational projects. Recently, digital humanities and craft revival have prompted a resurgence of interest in analogue forms of communication and the technologies that enabled them. Letterpress, for centuries the dominant printing process, is now commercially obsolete but has been given a new lease of life through small-press imprints that use redundant letterpress equipment. Typographic equipment, previously used to instruct printing apprentices, has piqued the interest of artists and designers. However, the number of people trained in historical printing techniques is declining, and their skills are seldom transferred to the new generation of creative printers. Heritage organisations often struggle to find the space, resources, or know-how to curate their printing collections. Usable equipment and material are becoming increasingly scarce, and those with the knowledge to repair and restore it are a dying breed. An endangered craft on the Heritage Craft Association's Red List, letterpress faces an uncertain future. Its preservation requires documentation and practice but also imaginative approaches to their adaptation and use in the present. "Small performances" will be a step in that direction.