Professor James Mosley, a Memoir

Abstract

James Mosley, who died on 25 August 2025, was a historian of letterforms, type, typography, and printing. From 1958 until 2000 he was librarian of the St Bride Printing Library in London, and from 1960 until 2021 he taught at University of Reading in what became the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. Underpinning both roles was Mosley’s peerless scholarship, which was both expansive and distinguished by the particular attention he devoted to cultures of letterforms in Britain and two other countries for which he felt a great affection, Italy and France. As teacher, advisor, and mentor to students and colleagues at Reading, he brought to these roles his knowledge and the exemplary research, writing, and publishing that were features of it. The remarks that follow offer a brief account of Mosley’s work at the place of learning where he taught for more than six decades, with the intention of memorializing his contributions and their lasting value.