Some punchcutters worked in London in the seventeenth century, including Arthur Nicholls[2] and Joseph Moxon, who wrote a manual of how type was made.

[3][a] In the second half of the seventeenth century the Dutch Republic was one of the largest centres of printing expertise, and both Oxford University Press in 1670–2[4] and the London typefounder John James in 1710 imported matrices from it.

He began a career in London with work like cutting the royal coat of arms into government firearms and tooling for bookbinders.

[28] They therefore did not follow the more delicate, stylised and experimental "transitional" styles gaining ground in Europe taking inspiration from calligraphy and copperplate engraving.

[43] Jackson had in fact secretly drilled a hole through a wall to observe Caslon I teaching his son how to cut punches.

[43] Nichols wrote that after a dispute over the price of labour, Caslon II dismissed Cottrell and Jackson on suspicion of organising a deputation of workmen appealing to his retired father.

[48] Alexander Wilson set up a Scottish type foundry in the 1740s and the low cost of labour in Scotland allowed it to undercut London prices.

[50] John Baskerville's 1757 edition of Virgil, printed in new types taking inspiration from calligraphy, attracted considerable attention.

"[52][i] Decades later, Dr. Edmund Fry, the foundry's last owner, commented that the foundry began operations "about the year 1764, commencing with improved imitations of Baskerville's fonts...but they did not meet the encouraging approbation of the Printers, whose offices generally, throughout the kingdom, were stored from the London and Glasgow Founderies with types of the form introduced by the celebrated William Caslon...By the recommendation, therefore, of several of the most respectable printers of the Metropolis, Doctor Fry, the proprietor, commenced his imitation of the Chiswell Street Foundery...at vast expense, and with very satisfactory encouragement, during the completion of it.

"[j][51]James Mosley describes the Fry Foundry imitation of the Caslon types as "a very close copy that is not easy to tell from the original.

Mrs Caslon...had for many years habituated herself to the arrangements of the foundry; so that when the entire care devolved upon her, she manifested powers of mind beyond expectation from a female not then in very early life.

In a few years her son, the present Mr. William Caslon, became an active co-partner with his mother, but a misunderstanding between them caused a secession, and they separated their concerns...the urbanity of her manners, and her diligence and activity in the conduct of so extensive a concern, attached to her interest all who had dealings with her, and the steadiness of her friendship rendered her death highly lamented by all who had the happiness of being in the extensive circle of her acquaintance.

James Mosley felt that the specimen of 1785 contained "little that is really new", with only two new typefaces compared to 1766, a script and an extra size of Syriac, although new flowers had been added.

In 1793, the major type founders in London formed a society or association, with the goal of functioning as a cartel for price fixing.

"[62][m] A. E. Musson felt that although the foundry had depreciated, this value exaggerated the situation and the price "was doubtless because she [Elizabeth Caslon, née Rowe] and her young son already had a large share in the firm.

According to Hansard: The management of the foundry devolved on Mrs. Henry Caslon, who, possessing an excellent understanding, and being seconded by servants of zeal and ability, was enabled, though suffering severely under ill health, in a great measure to retrieve its credit.

Finding the renown of William Caslon no longer efficacious in securing the sale of his types, she resolved to have new fonts cut.

Finding herself, however, from the impaired state of her health...unable to sustain the exertions required in conducting so extensive a concern, she resolved, after the purchase of the foundry, to take as an active partner Mr. Nathaniel Catherwood, who by his energy and knowledge of business fully equalled her expectations.

[76] Less successfully, around 1802–4, the foundry was commissioned to make Rusher's Patent Type, an attempt to create a new paper-saving typeface with no descenders.

[80][r] When he died childless in 1792, William Caslon III bought up the Jackson foundry and sold his shares in the family business.

He apparently was able to take matrices for non-Latin and textura types from his family foundry on leaving the business, and these appear in his specimens.

[92] In the view of James Mosley, they renewed the foundry's material "completely, making the firm a credible competitor in the sale of modern-face text types and the big new commercial letters which had been developed during the first two decades of the century.

[106][107] Catherwood left the firm in 1821 and later joined the Bessemer foundry,[108][109][110] and the company foreman Martin William Livermore became a partner.

[115] The sale catalogue offered "to capitalists...a most valuable property for investment...containing the original works of its founder, William Caslon, which have been recently much in request for reprints, also a most extensive modern foundry".

[116] The sale catalogue which survives is however historically notable, as it lists the punchcutters of each of the foundry's more modern types from about 1795.

[93] A later article wrote that "during one of these disagreements...Caslon was so apprehensive of personal violence that, to avoid a bombardment of rotten eggs and other objectionable missiles, he took the prudent course of leaving the foundry by a window which opened on to the parade ground at the rear of the premises.

[133] The Caslon foundry continued to be prosperous for some more decades, licensing the Cheltenham typeface from American Type Founders[134] and issuing a specimen designed by the leading printer George W.

[142][143] The company name and many punches and matrices were bought up by Stephenson Blake, especially those of its best-selling types including the Caslon Old Face materials.

[149] This includes Brunel, a large family based on the work of John Isaac Drury and revivals of many other Caslon typefaces.