James Mosley’s ‘History of Letterforms’ lectures
James Mosley’s lectures on the history of letterforms were delivered in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication over many years. In 2020–21, they were recorded as still images with voice-over. Following Prof. Mosley’s death in August 2025, the Department is pleased to make the recordings generally available in agreement with the Mosley estate.
> View the playlist of lectures on YouTube
> Review Prof. Mosley’s reading list (pdf)
About the lectures
These lectures represent the sequence of lectures given by Prof. Mosley to students in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication over the course of one academic year. They were recorded for the Department as teaching and learning materials to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had made in-person lectures untenable. In this respect, the pandemic provided a valuable impetus for Prof. Mosley to record the lectures, something he had previously resisted, given his view of them as living statements that constantly evolved as knowledge advanced – and because they might include critical asides he felt were best reserved for a lecture setting.
James Mosley joined the University of Reading in 1964. His was the first appointment made by Michael Twyman to support study in what would become the Typography Unit (and, in 1974, the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication). Prof. Mosley’s lectures took place for many years on Saturday mornings to accommodate his full-time position as Librarian of the St Bride Printing Library. Later, after his retirement from St Bride, the lectures were delivered on Tuesdays. They were intended both for undergraduates, for whom they were compulsory, and postgraduates, though in time they became elective for undergraduates.
When Prof. Twyman appointed James Mosley, no brief was given as to what Prof. Mosley should teach. Although both scholars shared interests in type, letterforms, and letterpress printing, Prof. Twyman knew that his new colleague would wish to cover these areas himself while also adding expertise on specific topics such as Renaissance letterforms, early sanserifs, or the work of William Morris. And indeed, Prof. Mosley developed his lectures along these lines. Prof. Twyman consequently turned his attention more to pictures, illustration, and printing methods such as lithography. In this way, histories of graphic communication, printing, letterforms, and type, each important to the emerging study of typography and graphic communication at Reading, were all encompassed in its teaching programme.
Prof. Eric Kindel, September 2025
A note on images
Prof. Mosley placed great importance on the inclusion of high quality images in his lectures and was tireless in producing or acquiring these. He was also fastidious about his own copyright and that of others. We believe all images in the lectures are used with permission or constitute ‘fair use’. However, if anyone wishes to query the use of an image, or images, we ask that they contact the Department.
A note on production
These recordings were made under the technical direction of James Lloyd with design development and support by undergraduate student, Caitlin Wilton.