Figure 268
Title-page of Baskerville’s Virgil, Birmingham
From Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica et Aeneis (scan)
1757
…Virgil, which (in Macaulay’s phrase) “went forth to astonish all the librarians of Europe.”
This book was issued in square quarto. The title-page is set in lines of widely spaced capitals—a very characteristic feature of Baskerville’s work. His rather condensed italic capitals are employed for two lines only. These italic capitals are used for running-titles, and elsewhere—the F, K, J, N, Q, Y, Z being peculiarly, “Baskerville” in design.