Compo DP, one of the last specimens of Deberny et Peignot

The Compo DP publication constitutes one of the last specimens of typefaces published by the foundry. It probably dates from 1963, a year before the company passed into the hands of Higonnet and Moyroud, the two designers of the Lumitype, replacing Charles Peignot, benefiting from, according to his words, the complicity of the banker of Deberny & Peignot. In any case, the company was experiencing increasing difficulties, with metal type falling sharply against photocomposition. However this process, and in particular the Lumitype process, was far from giving complete satisfaction. To compensate for the decline, Deberny & Peignot promotes the qualities of its typesetting workshop. It has existed for many years, but now has the means of photoengraving. So that Compo DP presents itself as a true typographic studio capable of interpreting, designing and carrying out the most diverse requests and as quickly as possible. It highlights a major advantage: “the richness of [its] typographical fund”. Emphasizing that one can find there “all the series cast and sold by DP but, also, the older series whose manufacture is no longer followed and which are practically impossible to find in other typesetting workshops: this is a real typographical treasure at your disposal.” One reservation, however: “In the old series, we have the typefaces in variable quantities. It is prudent to consult us about our availability depending on the importance of the composition to be performed.” Furthermore, Univers is separated from these operations. Spearhead of Deberny & Peignot's creations at the end of the 1950s, poorly negotiated contracts led to the typeface leaving “the remarkable ‘typographic palette’ that [presents] Deberny and Peignot” at the end of its existence. The specimen also records the disappearances of Art Nouveau creations (Grasset and Auriol in particular), apart from the timeless Polyphème and Cyclopéen. On the other hand, it perpetuates and puts back on the agenda Deberny achievements: Séries 16 and 18, Elzévirs, antique, Egyptian, various didones. Most of the creations published by Deberny & Peignot from 1923 to the 1950s are available: from Astrée to Méridien, from Sphinx to Jacno, from Pharaon to Président, from Peignot to Cristal. The last part is devoted to a certain number of “series foreign to [the] House, but of very widespread use” : Vendôme, Plantin, Rockwell, Gill, and the Grotesques (series 126, 215, 216) from very diverse origins.

Document: Signes Archives, École Estienne library