In 1757, printer and letter-founder John Baskerville released his quarto Virgil from a Birmingham workshop, its type cut to his design by punchcutter John Handy. The face split Old-Style from Modern: sharpened, tapered serifs, a near-vertical stress and startling stroke contrast for its day. Baskerville pressed each sheet of James Whatman's new wove paper between hot copper plates, glazing it to a smooth, faintly grey sheen rather than the warm cream of laid stock. That glazed grey-tan ground, not ivory, is the authentic surface this system restores. Wide margins, centred title pages and sparkling display type carry the calm authority of Enlightenment fine printing into a modern, editorial register.