[1] The punchcutter Richard Austin was commissioned by the Cambridge University Press to cut a type based on his handwriting, probably from 1806 onwards.
[2][3] It was cast by the Caslon foundry, but it never appeared in their specimens, seemingly as the type was proprietary to Cambridge.
[6] By the end of the 19th century, it has become the predominant Greek type used in Britain,[4] with Victor Scholderer's New Hellenic typeface (favored by Cambridge University Press) the only notable exception.
[7] The standard model for Greek typefaces from the 1540s until the mid-eighteenth century was the Grecs du roi type cut by Claude Garamond and its many imitations from other punchcutters, also known as "Old Style".
[7] John Bowman describes it as "the single most important contribution to Greek type design in Britain"[10] and two designs based on it by from the Figgins foundry as "the most beautiful Greek type ever".