"When John Baskerville designed his namesake typeface, his goal was to perfect the styles of a much older typeface, Caslon. The idea was to make it more legible, for the time period was experimenting with readability as well as paper and readability as well as paper and ink manufacturing. However after Baskerville started to be used, many claimed that his style was 'too stark' and the printing'damaged the eyes.' Unfortunately John Baskerville passed in 1775, so he never got any real fame or wealth for his now loved font."

"Baskerville". Typophile.