Figure 258
Earliest English Specimen-sheet: Nicholas Nicholls, London
From Reed’s History of Old English Letter Foundries (facsimile)
1665
The earliest English specimen-sheet…submitted to Charles II…with a petition for the post of royal letter-founder—which two years later he obtained. The types were probably cut expressly for the specimen, and besides roman include Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Samaritan, Ethiopic, and Arabic.