Deberny et Peignot’s “Floride”

Imre Reiner (1900–1987) designed Floride, published by Deberny et Peignot, in 1938. Reiner was a versatile artist of Austro-Hungarian origin, working in Germany and Paris, before settling in the Lugano region in Switzerland. He was a painter, illustrator, calligrapher, typographer, critic and essayist at the same time. Floride is not his first typeface; he designed Corvinus Skyline around 1933, a notable titling face. A specialist in fairly baroque fantaisie types and very interested in scripts and manuaires, Floride is a rare foray on his part into the register of original titling antiques, like Acier or Film. This was apparently the last typeface cut by Deberny and Peignot before the Second World War.

The specimen dedicated to Floride provides this comment: “Our new Floride face is suitable for all your jobbing work to which it will give a modern and unexpected note. Its solid and well-spaced gray gives it access to the columns of daily newspapers.“

Document: Archives Signes