Robert Besley

Robert Besley (1794–1876) was an English typographer, creator of Clarendon (typeface) in 1845 and the Lord Mayor of London in 1869.

Career

Besley was taken into partnership by William Thorowgood at the Fann Street Foundry in Fann Street, City of London in 1838, having been employed as a traveller there since 1826.[1] He worked with Thorowgood until the latter's retirement in 1849. Thorowgood had been the first to use the term "Grotesque" to describe a Sans-Serif typeface and the first to design one in lower case with Seven Line Grotesque.[2][3]

When Besley created Clarendon in October 1845 he had it registered under the recently passed Ornamental Designs Act of 1842.,[4] but the typeface became so popular that its rights were soon broken by people creating knock-offs, though Clarendon is still known as the first Registered typeface.[5]

Besley retired from the type-founding business in 1861[6] and went on to become Sheriff of the City of London in 1863 and the Lord Mayor of London in 1869.

References
  1. A History of the Old English Letter Foundries, Talbot Baines Reed, 1887
  2. The First Sans Serif Graphic Design History, 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  3. Alexander Lawson's Anatomy of a Typeface on Google Books
  4. Anthony Camp, On the City's Edge: a history of Fann Street, London (2016) 24-31; the design was not patented.
  5. Article Archived 2008-08-23 at the Wayback Machine on Popperfont.com, Fontlove section, by David Ng. Citing a thesis essay from Mitja Miklavcic, 2006.
  6. Anthony Camp, On the city's edge: a history of Fann Street, London (2016) 24-31.
Civic offices
Preceded by
Sir James Lawrence, Bt		 Lord Mayor of London
1869 – 1870		 Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Dakin


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