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Rh in Finsbury, and Baskerville, who admired his genius as well as coveted his fame, determined to enter the lists with him as a competitor. To this end he went to work with extraordinary energy and enthusiasm. He spared no money or labour in bringing the art to its highest perfection. As Boulton expended £50,000 on Watt's steam-engine before it was fully developed, so Baskerville, it is said, expended £600 before he produced a letter to satisfy himself. His success brought him fame but not fortune. He printed various works, which, however, did not repay him the amount he had expended on the art. Like other inventors and public benefactors he incurred many losses and disappointments, which the enviable reputation he acquired probably made him feel all the more keenly. He expresses this feeling in a letter to Horace Walpole, in which he said he was heartily tired of the business of printing, and wished to retire from it. The masterpiece of his typography was what was called "The Baskerville Bible," a few copies of which are still extant. It is a noble specimen of type and printing, showing to what perfection he raised the art in his day. But he seems to have been better pleased with the estimation in which the type and paper of his Bible were held than with the acceptance and practice of the holy principles of the volume by those who professed to preach and live them.