James Mosley obituary

James Mosley, who has died aged 90, was an esteemed librarian, teacher, historian and typographic scholar. From 1956 to 2000, James worked at the St Bride Foundation Printing Library in London, becoming one of its most knowledgable and dedicated custodians. He was known for his tireless efforts to preserve the material legacy of printing. The library acquired a range of iron printing presses, and James rescued invaluable archives, type specimens and printing artefacts from London print houses that were closing, ensuring their safekeeping. Together with his wife, the food historian Gillian Riley, also a typographer, he was among the early members of the department of typography and graphic communication at the University of Reading. His work there started in 1964, and he remained part of its academic community until his retirement in 2021. Born in Driffield, east Yorkshire, James was the son of Eric Mosley, an economist and a director of the East Midlands division of the National Coal Board, and his wife, Margery (nee Black), who worked for the BBC and wrote novels. He grew up with a curiosity for books, printing and the history of design. His early fascination with letterforms and the printed word would shape a distinguished career devoted to preserving and interpreting the craft of typography. After leaving Thames Valley grammar school, he went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied English, and ran a small printing press in the basement at King’s College. In Cambridge he met Gillian, and they eventually married in 2000. In 1983, in addition to his work at Reading and the St Bride Library, James joined the School of Library Service founded by Terry Belanger at Columbia University, New York, and later moved with the Rare Book School to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. There, he taught the history and structure of letterforms with his characteristic clarity, wit and enthusiasm. There are many examples of James’s knowledge and expertise in typefaces and letterforms visible on public buildings. During the restoration of HMS Victory in 2015, he intervened when the ship’s name was about to be painted in a style that bore no likeness to the English vernacular lettering on the original stern. He also helped preserve the lettering on the former LCC Fire Station on Euston Road in London. He never approved of the inscription carved into the portico of the National Gallery – an example of fine workmanship, he conceded, but of poor typographic judgment. The wobbly “0” on the door of 10 Downing Street always annoyed him, as did the spurious justification later offered by the then prime minister’s press office – that it echoed the lettering that would have been used when the street was first built. James pointed out that London houses were not numbered in the 1680s. Gillian died in 2024. James is survived by two half-brothers, Paul and Francis, and a half-sister, Catherine (my wife).