Deberny & Cie’s “Série Nº18”

Série Nº18, cut at Deberny from 1901 to 1905, extends Série Nº16 published around 1887. It should be remembered that most foundries throughout the 19th century did not give unique surnames unique to their founts. We make do with numbers or designations (especially for fancy types), such as “Vieux Caractères” or “Latine” etc. Série Nº16 is intended for heavy duty work for everyday reading texts and advertisements. The design of the type is similar in its structure to a Didot, but much less contrasting , and it is moreover to this family that Deberny originally linked it. Later, the Deberny and Peignot foundry will mention the two Séries Nº16 and Nº18 , which arise from it, as falling under a Didot-Elzévir subcategory. Série Nº18, available from sizes 5 to 48, was cut by Faulque, Garnier, Séverac, Parmentier, and Durand. It is wider and more contrasting than Série Nº16. The italics, more fluid, are embellished with calligraphic “curlies” on the upper part of the capital letters, notably the B, E, F, R and T. A way of concession to Art Nouveau (then the rule), as shown in the specimen accompanied by “Caractères de fantaisie pour travaux de ville” and “bordures Méandre”, very Art Nouveau.

Deberny and Peignot relaunched it at the end of the 1920s by indicating : “There are characteristics that changes in fashion will never reach. »

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École Estienne library