Spécimen de la nouvelle fonderie de Jules Didot l’aîné, 1842

Jules Didot the elder (1794–1871) is the son of Pierre Didot, the great publisher and printer of the Revolution and the Empire. He worked alongside his father who dedicated to him his Spécimen des nouveaux caractères de la fonderie et de l'imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné, published in 1819. Jules succeeded him in 1822, the date on which he was certified as a printer, and became a bookseller-publisher in 1824. In turn, he devoted himself to typefounding and punchcutting. After the Belgian revolution of 1830, which led to secession from the Netherlands, Jules Didot decided to set up his printing press and foundry in Brussels. The rest of his story is quite confused: some chroniclers indicate that his business is declining and that he sells his business and its equipment to the Belgian government which employs him for the organization of the Royal Printing Office of Belgium. These vicissitudes would have led him to madness, but we find the testimony of his production in the Spécimen de la nouvelle fonderie de Jules Didot l'aîné (subject of this file) published in Paris, in 1842. Unlike Firmin, his uncle, and Pierre, Jules Didot offers in this specimen works with rounded shapes, which he accompanies with a series of “caractères de fantaisie” typical of the Romantic period. André Jammes speaks of this production as being “at the heart of romanticism with sometimes flavorful excesses”. (Jammes, preface to Spécimens de caractères de Firmin et Jules Didot, Paris, Édition des Cendres, 2002). Jules Didot also paid great attention to punctuation and its possible renewal. In the 1842 specimen, a rather astonishing “Avis de Jules Didot l'aîné relatif à l'emploi de deux firminnouveaux signes de ponctuations ” (“Opinion of Jules Didot the elder relating to the use of two new punctuation marks”) was published.

Document: Estienne school library.

Digitized document: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k852262t