Fann Street Foundry

[3] In 1838, the typographer Robert Besley was taken into partnership by William Thorowgood at the Fann Street Foundry.

[1] He created Clarendon in 1845, the first typeface registered under the Ornamental Designs Act 1842, and retired from the business in 1861, becoming Lord Mayor of London in 1869.

[6][7] In 1881, following his father's death, the author and typefounder, Talbot Baines Reed, became head of the Fann Street Foundry.

[8] By then, he had begun his monumental History of the Old English Letter Foundries, published in 1887, which was hailed as the standard work on the subject.

[9] Fann Street Foundry closed in 1906, after which its designs passed to the Sheffield-based Stephenson Blake.