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 | | Copyright Birmingham Picture Library |
Between the Hall of Memory and Baskerville House, stands a sculptural
tribute to John Baskerville. He had a japanning and paper-mache business
amongst others, but is best remembered as a printer. He printed works
for Cambridge University in 1758 and although a non-believer, printed a
splendid folio Bible in 1763. Baskerville (1706-75) lived and worked at
Easy Hill, a mansion then on the edge of town where Baskerville House
(formerly the Civic Centre) stands today. It is thought that Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle may have borrowed his name for one of his Sherlock Holmes
stories.
On the columns of Portland Stone are reversed bronze
letters spelling Virgil, the Roman poet whose works were printed by
Baskerville in the famous typeface that bears his name, in 1757.
A poem in praise of the printer appeared in the Aris's Gazette in 1751,
entitled 'Industry and Genius' from which the sculpture takes its name.
The artist is David Patten, born in Birmingham in 1954, and the monument was
placed in Centenary Square in 1990 as part of the ICC 'Percentage for
Art scheme'.
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