Typography Tuesday
This week we present some facsimile pages from Pierre Simon Fournier’s small 1764 publication Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie. This facsimile production, which only includes sample pages from the original volume, was published by the German type foundry H. Berthold AG in 1968 under the title Manuel Typographique as part of the series "Schatze aus der Berthold-Bibliothek" (Treasures from the Berthold Library).
Fournier was an influential 18th-century French designer, type founder, and theoretician who made significant contributions to typography. In 1737, he devised the first point system for the standardization of type sizes. In 1739, he established his own type foundry, which continued to operate into the 19th century, and designed several new typefaces, one of which, the eponymous Fournier, was re-designed and issued by Monotype Corporation in 1924. His fleurons and dingbats spawned a revival of 16th-century-style ornaments, especially after the 1742 publication of his Modèles des Caractères. And in 1754, with the German music publisher and typographer J. G. I. Breitkopf, Fournier developed and patented in 1762 types for the rounded musical notation system we use today.
Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie appears to have been issued as a printer’s specimen book, copies of which range in length from 124 to 168 pages. Much of this work was incorporated into the second volume of his notable 1764-66, 2-volume treatise Manuel typographique utile aux gens de lettres. Our copy of Les Caractères de l’Imprimerie is yet another donation from our friend and benefactor Jerry Buff.
View our other Typography Tuesday posts.