The modern
typeface called Baskerville is based on those designed by
John Baskerville (1706-1775), who studied every part of the
printing process, including making his own
paper and
ink. He became printer to
Cambridge University, and among his many great editions was a Bible, though he himself was an
implacable foe of superstition, and insisted on being buried in his own garden under a monument of his own design.
His type was one of the last great designs of the kind called Old Face, which were supplanted between around 1800 to 1920 by the hideous New Face styles.
Baskerville is somewhat blacker and wider than faces like Garamond. These days it is commonly seen in Puffins, the children's book imprints by Penguin.