Bodoni, Giambattista

Childhood and adolescence

Giambattista Bodoni was born on February 16, 1740 in the Italian town of Saluzzo in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont . His father, the printer Francesco Agostino ^[1] , taught him his craft from an early age. Barely at the age of 18, on February 15, 1758, Bodoni went to Rome in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had once been a typesetter in the printing office della Camera. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Propaganda of the Faith at the Holy See instructed him to arrange the typefaces of the Garamon font, acquired by Pope Sixtus V in the 15th century. He then worked in the printing house of the Congregation, leaving her after the suicide of the director of the printing house, who was also his teacher.

He used his presence in Rome to study at the University of Rome La Sapienza the basics of several oriental languages. In 1766, he decided to go to London , where typography flourished thanks to John Baskerville and , but was unable to do so due to illness.

After recovering, at the suggestion of , Prime Minister Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma , who wanted to establish the same significant printing house in Parma as Paris, Bodoni was appointed director of the Parma ducal printing house in collaboration with and took office on March 24, 1768 . Subsequently, he received permission to open his private printing house, in which worked from 1773 to 1791, which affected most of the Bodoni fonts.

Parma Ducal Printing House

The printing house, in which Giambattista Bodoni has worked for over 45 years, was located in the old ducal palace of the , where the Bodoni museum is currently located. The printing house employed 20 people.

From October 1768, Bodoni printed books on typographical equipment, ordered at Saluzzo , in Turin and from the famous engraver Pierre-Simon Fournier . In 1770, he was joined by his brother Giuseppe, who led the foundry. In 1771, he published his first collection of vignettes and capital letters , inspired by the works of Fournier; This and subsequent collections will make Bodoni famous in Italy and abroad.

In 1775, he published Epithalamia exoticis linguis reddita in honor of the wedding of the king of Sardinian kingdom, Charles Emmanuel IV , prince of Piedmont , and Clotilde of France , sister of the king of France. This remarkable work, designed by the best engravers of that time, was created in collaboration with the teacher of oriental languages ​​of the University of Parma, Paolo Maria Pachaudi and Gian Bernardo di Rossi.

In 1788, he compiled and published the first edition of the Typographic Manual ( Manuale tipografico ), including the alphabet of his own invention ^[1] . In France and Italy there were rumors that the letters of this alphabet were actually implemented by the Amoretti brothers, which Bodoni denied.

On behalf of the Spanish royal ambassador to Rome, José Nicholas de Azar , Bodoni published works by Horace in 1791, Virgil in 1793, Tibulla and Propercia in 1794. On March 18, 1791, Bodoni married Marguerite dell'Allo ^[2] , who helped him conduct extensive correspondence and continued his business after his death. In the same year, with the permission of the Duke of Parma, he founded his own private printing press, in which he then tried to implement a large-scale project to create fonts for all known languages ​​of the world . Among other things, he published in 1806 a sample of the prayer “Our Father” in 155 languages.

French occupation

Bodoni continued his activities after the occupation of Parma by Napoleon's troops (1796–1797) and annexation in 1802.

Around 1798, Bodoni drew a letter with high-contrast lines and completed endings, which was a great innovation in the typographic community and served as the starting point of modern letters.

Bodoni was in charge of printing the famous edition of the Oratio Dominica (“Our Father”), published in 1806. He published a prologue in French, Italian and Latin with the Bodoni fonts and a dedication to Prince Eugene Beauharnais , who financed the publication. The book contains a translation of the prayer "Our Father" in 155 languages. This is the largest catalog of alphabets and previously unpublished fonts. Bodoni himself engraved and prepared the matrix, and each page is an elegant piece containing the most outlandish letters of languages ​​almost unknown in Europe at the beginning of the XIX century, which increases the charm of this unique publication.

The Bodoni publications were a huge success mainly due to their quality, the use of rich illustrations and elegant typography. Representatives of the European aristocracy used the best quality paper, invented elegant pages that were carefully printed and bound. Bodoni won the awards of the Pope, various kings of Europe and the city of Parma, where a medal was created in his honor. The curious fact of correspondence with Benjamin Franklin on the subject of typography is mentioned.

In 1808, he published the result of a five-year work, the Iliad on 800 pages, dedicated to Napoleon and published in 122 copies, two of which were on parchment paper intended for Napoleon and the Vice-King Eugene; this last copy is in the Palatine Library in Parma ^[1] .

At the request of Joachim Murat , Bodoni published in 1812 the works of Fenelon , and in 1813, shortly before his death, the works of Racine .

Bodoni died on November 29, 1813 in Parma. At his death, the bell-ringer of the largest bell of the cathedral, called “Bajòn” ^[1] , was present, which was considered the privilege of the princes and the most famous people. For twenty years after his death, a private printing press, led by Giuseppe Paganino, published two hundred works, including La Fontaine and Boileau in 1814.

His widow Margherita Dall'Allo published in 1818 the latest version of Bodoni’s main work, The Typographical Manual ( Manuale tipografico ), consisting of two volumes and dedicated to the new ruler of Parma, Duchess Marie-Louise ^[1] . Before her death in 1841, Margherita unsuccessfully tried to sell a printing house. She was acquired in 1843 by Maria-Louise ^[3] .

Typographic Handbook ( Latin: Manuale Tipografico ) Bodoni contains more than 600 cuts, Latin and exotic fonts, thousands of ornaments and engravings, developed by the great typographer. But its real value lies not in the fact that it is a beautifully printed and rarest book, and not in the fact that it is the testament of the greatest typographer of its time, but in that it contains the first modern, improved, refined and strict fonts like those that were created by John Baskerville, but not as tough and formal as those that were outlined by his great French rival Firmen Dido . Another important aspect of this monumental work is the integrity of his style, which is a model of artistic integrity, relevant in our time.

In the preface to the leadership, Bodoni sets out the four principles, or qualities, that make up the beauty of the family of headsets :

• First, the homogeneity and consistency of the typeface, which consists in understanding that many of the letters of the alphabet have common elements that should be reflected in each of them.
• Secondly, elegance combined with purity due to the exact size and careful finishing of the punches, which produce the perfect matrix, giving clean and thin letters.
• The third principle is good taste: the typographer must remain true to pure simplicity and never forget about his “duty” to the best letters of the past.
• The fourth quality, according to Bodoni, is charm - a quality that is difficult to define, but is present in the letters that give the impression that they are drawn not carelessly or quickly, but very slowly, with love.

Bodoni was a great admirer of John Baskerville and studied in detail the drawings of the fonts of Pierre-Simon Fournier and Firment Didot and was guided by their works, especially Dido. But Bodoni, undoubtedly, found his personal and particular style, including because of the way of printing.

Currently in the Bodoni Museum in Parma, in the Palazzo della Pilotta, more than 22,618 original punks and 42,148 wooden matrices are stored ^[1] .

Modern interpretations of the Bodoni fonts :

• ATF Bodoni ( ; 1907-1915)
• Mergenthales Linotype Bodoni (1914-1916)
• Haas Bodoni (1924-1939)
• Bauer Bodoni (Louis Hoell; 1924)
• Berthold Bodoni (1930)

The font factory makes adaptations to the Haas Bodoni font.

• 1782 - Typographer of the Royal Council under the King of Spain Charles III with the right to retire.
• 1803 - citizen of Parma, and in his honor cast a medal.
• 1806 - gold medal of the first Paris exhibition.
• 1808 - Murat's lifetime retirement award.
• 1810 - Napoleon's pension.
• 1812 - awarded the Imperial Order of Reunification.

• Font "Bodoni"
• Schoolbook font

• Electronic facsimile "Typographic Guide" Bodoni
• Bodoni Giambattista // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.