Figure 262
First Broadside Specimen issued by William Caslon
From a copy in the Library of the American Type Founders Company, Jersey City (facsimile), Internet Archive (scan)
1734
Though Caslon began his foundry about 1720, it was not until 1734 that he issued his specimen-sheet, which exhibited the results of fourteen years of labour. It shows various fonts of type, all cut by Caslon except the Canon roman, which came from Andrews (a “descendant” of the Moxon foundry); the English Syriac, cast from matrices used for the Paris Polyglot Bible of Le Jay, and a pica Samaritan cut by Dummers, a Dutchman.