The first of a new series of lectures organized by the Friends of Christ Church, Southgate, takes place next Wednesday, 7 October, at the church on The Green, N14 7EG. These talks are intended to mark the 400th anniversary of Christian worship on the site by featuring people associated with Southgate in general and the church in particular.
A page from an 1815 Figgins specimen bookOn Wednesday the church is extremely privileged to have secured the services of Professor James Mosley, one of the foremost historians of printing and letterforms, to talk about the Figgins family, residents of Southgate and benefactors of the building of the present church in 1862, and world-famous as type-founders from 1792 until 1933 when the Figgins foundry merged with P. M. Shanks to become the Stevens, Shanks Foundry. When this ceased operations in the 1980s all the materials, including Figgins’s punches and matrices from which the type was cast, went to the St Bride Printing Library where at the time James Mosley was Librarian. Figgins coined the term 'sans-serif' and some of his designs formed the basis of modern newspaper types.
Professor James MosleyIn the course of preparing this illustrated talk, Professor Mosley has unearthed new information and uncovered at least one unresolved puzzle relating to Figgins – who is commemorated in the great Clayton & Bell east window of Christ Church – which he will share with his audience at what promises to be an enthralling evening for everyone interested in the history of Southgate. Not to be missed!
Links
Vincent Figgins: a talk by Professor James Mosley. Christ Church, The Green, N14 7EG; Wednesday 7 October 2015 at 7.30 p.m. Tickets £2.00 on the door.