TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Wed Nov 20 11:39:39 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Giambattista Bodoni

Italian typographer and type designer, b. Saluzzo (1740), d. Parma (1813). Bodoni began his career as a typesetter at the Vatican's Propaganda Fide printing press in Rome before setting up a Royal Press (Stamperia Reale) for the Duke of Parma. In 1782, he was appointed court typographer for Charles III of Spain and opened his own printing press, Tipi Bodoni. Bodoni designed hundreds of fonts in his lifetime. In 1788, he published his masterpiece, the Manuale Tipografico (look at it here), which contained 291 alphabets, and was full of ornaments and borders. In 1818, 5 years after his death, his wife Margherita Dall'Aglio published a second edition, which contained 373 alphabets. He was influenced by Fournier and Firmin Didot. Today, most of his work resides in the Museo Bodoni of Parma.

The early modern attempts at recreating his type are due to ATF (ATF Bodoni by Morris Fuller Benton, 1907-1915), Mergenthales Linotype Bodoni (1914-1916), Haas Bodoni (1924-1939), Bauer Bodoni (by Louis Hoell, 1924), and Berthold Bodoni (1930). Today, Linotype lists 114 weights/versions/faces of Bodoni. Some find Bodoni too severe, but I like its proud upright strong and mathematically exact look.

Links: The story of Bodoni Open. Bio by Nicholas Fabian. Another URL for that piece by Fabian. Another bio. FontShop link. MyFonts link. Wiki. Another wiki. Giambattista Bodoni, génie ou assassin? (2007, Jonathan Perez's thesis at Estienne). Linotype link. Klingspor link

Pink poster below created by Michael Robinson (Raleigh, NC).

EXTERNAL LINKS
Giambattista Bodoni
 [Designer info]
Monotype link
Behance page
Klingspor Museum page
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type design in Italy ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Morris Fuller Benton ⦿ Fournier ⦿