Vincent Figgins (1766 – 29 February 1844) was a British typefounder based in London, who cast and sold metal type for printing.

His company was extremely successful and, with its range of modern serif faces and display typefaces, had a strong influence on the styles of British printing in the nineteenth century.

[12][22]Figgins' foundry was established at White Swan Yard, Holborn, moving in 1801 to West Street, Smithfield.

[26][27]) He was also commissioned by Oxford University Press (OUP) for work such as carefully repairing matrices for a sixteenth-century Greek typeface.

[32] In 1793, Figgins was one of the major type founders in London who formed an association with the goal of functioning as a cartel for price fixing.

"[42] Perhaps the strangest aspect of Figgins' career was its beginning, in which one of his tasks was to finish a Greek type begun by Jackson for Oxford University Press.

Vincent Figgins II in 1855 wrote that his father's career began in this way: The mystery thrown over the operations of a Type-foundry, within my own recollection (thirty-four years), and the still greater secrecy which had existed in my father's experience, testifies that the art had been perpetuated by a kind of Druidic or Masonic induction from the first.

I knew him and could never understand the origin of his sobriquet, unless Black was meant for dark, mysterious, from the manner of his coming and going from Mr. Jackson's foundry.

[44] Wolpe noted that a Perry also cut a type for the Caslon foundry and suggested that Edmonston, who lived at Alfred Place, Cambridge Heath,[45] is the same man as the punchcutter recorded as Edmiston who cut an extremely small 4.5pt Greek type for the Caslon foundry,[44] known from 1828, according to Bowman "so small that its clarity is remarkable".

I do not believe it can be the Double Pica that appears in Figgins' later specimens [see below], for the style of that type would have been impossible at this early date.

[63][64] Cobbett's Political Register reported a rowdy meeting on 26 December 1828 which degenerated into arguments, stating that Hunt, after first conceding that rumours that he had left his wife for another woman were true, said (speech is reported): His opponent, Mr Figgins [visited pot-houses where] it was a constant practice to sing songs of the most beastly and indecent description...songs that would almost make humanity shudder and yet these songs were allowed and applauded, and his opponent, Mr. Figgins, sat and laughed at them until his old rotten teeth almost dropped out of his head.

He [Mr. Hunt] had heard that songs were sung at these houses that would not be tolerated by the lowest prostitutes that visited the Finish...[In response] Mr. Figgins never appeared before them with so much pleasure.

"[66] Figgins also reportedly advised in a meeting of 4 October 1827 against sending nightwatchmen out on patrol and supported the traditional approach that they waited in watchboxes, because (speech again reported): if the watchman goes to sleep in his box, when you want him you know where to find him, but on the altered plan proposed, in case of an accident, there would be to seek him through half the public-houses in the ward[71]In 1829 William Heath published a cartoon, "The charleys [nightwatchmen] in grief or the funeral of the city watch boxe's" showing a procession of nightwatchmen protesting against the change with a banner of "Figgins for ever".

[9][75] Nicolas Barker felt that Figgins' early types "constitute the largest and best of the 'transitional' group, in which the genius of Bodoni was most effectively translated into English.

[75] Reed speculates that "within a few years of the establishment of his foundry, the public taste...experienced a complete revolution...the circumstance may possibly account for the somewhat remarkable absence of any specimen bearing his name for a lengthened period [up to 1815].

"[77] Matthew Carter designed a digital font based on his type for Bensley under the name of "Vincent Text" for Newsweek, introduced in 1999.

[78][79] The second part of Figgins' career, from around 1805, coincided with the rise of the mass-market printed poster and an increasing need for dramatic display typefaces.

[84][85][86] Librarian and historian James Mosley, the leading contemporary expert on Figgins' career, suggests that the "unusually large range of lighter types" in his specimens suggest some reservations on his part towards the ultra-bold styles of the period, as does the line in his 1823 specimen book that asks the question "The increased fatness in JOB-LETTER is an improvement, but is it not in many cases carried to an extreme?

"[86] In 2014, graphic designer Leila Singleton commented "sure, Vincent Figgins was an important figure in the history of type, but let's face it -- his letterforms were imbalanced and hideous.

[86] Slab serifs proliferated during the nineteenth century, using alternative names including "Egyptian", "Ionics" and "Clarendons".

[105][j] In 1828 Figgins became the second typefounder to sell a face of sans-serif capitals, and quickly introduced a large range of sizes.

[95] Figgins first showed a sans-serif, a quite bold design of normal width, in 1828,[107][109][110] before quickly releasing a large range of sizes from 1832 onwards.

[108][111] David Ryan felt that the design was "cruder but much larger" than William Caslon IV's, making it a success.

[113][115] Figgins sold many non-roman types, according to Hansard Greek, Hebrew, Irish,[120] Persian, Saxon, Syriac and Telugu by 1825.

[21] In 1825 he was hired by the linguist John Gilchrist to produce type for his proposed "Universal Character", a phonetic alphabet intended for transcribing foreign languages.

[141] It still retains the original cast iron railings bearing the monogram VJF (Vincent & James Figgins).

[83][18][156][157] The materials of Figgins' foundry were acquired by St Bride Library, London, in 1968–73, along with others from Stevens Shanks, [158] through the work of James Mosley, then its librarian.

[159][160][161] According to Mosley some of the largest matrices were sold for scrap by the 1950s,[41][80] and some damaged by unwise attempts to cast type from them in the twentieth century using high-pressure modern casting equipment,[162] but many of Figgins' materials are extant and have been used for research, for example by the digital font company Commercial Type and its co-founder Paul Barnes.