Culture
Words by Michel Wlassikoff
Eugène Grasset and Éditions Larousse
About Grasset’s intricate designs for the emblematic sower, and his Nouveau Larousse illustré dictionnary covers, which revolutionized book promotion and typographic harmonization at the turn of the century.
About Grasset’s intricate designs for the emblematic sower, and his Nouveau Larousse illustré dictionnary covers, which revolutionized book promotion and typographic harmonization at the turn of the century.
Eugène Grasset designed the first sower between 1890 and 1893. He designed others until 1905. He subsequently created the cover, the frontispiece and the initials of the Nouveau Larousse illustré published in 1897. The brand of the emblematic sower of this publishing house ,”I sow to all winds”, is closely linked to that of the letter of the title. The sower will be reused on the covers of Petit Larousse from 1906 to 1937. In 1910, he designed the initials published in the Larousse dictionary for all as header images .
As part of his business of promoting books, the sole renovation of typeforms cannot satisfy Grasset’s ambitions. He wants the whole page to come alive; he goes to great lengths to adorn every detail of a page, from the header to the bottom cap, including the drop cap. It is with this in mind that he approaches his work for Larousse.
At the same time, he designed for the Peignot foundry the alphabet which bears his name, cut in 1897. The use of the calame, inherited from his taste for medieval writing vales, gives the tracing of letters for posters or titles of books and magazines that he illustrates a clear and robust aspect from which his research for the Grasset face benefits. Which is also aimed towards the objective of typographic harmonization intended to embody the new century. Le Grasset is, according to his wishes, a ”pure printing letter”, distinguished by the ”calamic” triangular serif of the uppercase.
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