Typefounder in Paris (d. 1789). His work can be found in Caractères de la fonderie de J. Gillé, graveur et fondeur du roi pour les caractères de l'imprimerie de la loterie royale de France,&autres (Paris, Rue&petit marché Saint-Jacques, 1778). This book still shows mainly transitional faces, with slight hints of the start of the geometric trend in typography. Gillé seems to be mostly remembered for being the author of the ornamental face called Madame.

On digitizations. In 2011, Jose Jimenez of Celebrity Fontz created Parisian Ornamentals after a design by Gillé. Home Style (2003, Michael Hagemann, Font Mesa) is an exquisitily detailed family based on work by Joseph Gillé, and implemented elsewhere under the names Circus, Roma and Madame. See also Gillé Classic (2004, Michael Hagemann). I think that this is a renaming of home Style. Initiales ombrées (2007, Ari Rafaeli, ARTypes) is based on Gillé's original all caps face (from 1828, it is claimed).

EXTERNAL LINKS
Joseph Gillé
 [Designer info]
Google search page

INTERNAL LINKS
Foundries of the 18th century ⦿ Type design in France ⦿ Ornamental caps typefaces ⦿

Luc Devroye ⦿ School of Computer Science ⦿ McGill University Montreal, Canada H3A 2K6 ⦿ lucdevroye@gmail.com ⦿ http://luc.devroye.org ⦿ http://luc.devroye.org/fonts.html