Theodore Low De Vinne

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Bust of Theodore Low de Vinne, made by Chester A. Beach
The De Vinne Press printer's brand , Thomas Jefferson Building , Library of Congress

Theodore Low De Vinne (born December 25, 1828 in Stamford , Connecticut , † February 16, 1914 in New York City ) was an American entrepreneur, printer , typographer and bibliophile .

Life

De Vinne was the son of a pastor and attended public schools in the various cities where his father worked. At first he was employed in a shop in Fishkill and acquired all the skills of a printer. After that he was with the Gazette in Newburgh and then moved to New York City. In 1849 he joined Francis Hart's company , became a partner in 1858 and took over this company in 1883, which he renamed Theodore L. Devinne & Co in 1886 . and rebuilt to a model operation at Lafayette Place , where the buildings still exist.

De Vinne commissioned Linn Boyd Benton to design the popular Century Roman font , which Century Magazine used in particular and which his company printed. For use in his own press, he commissioned Ottmar Mergenthaler's company , the Mergenthaler Linotype Company , to develop the De Vinne font , an updated Elzevir , named after Bonaventura Elsevier , which corresponded to the French Oldstyle . It became a huge success at the Bruce type foundry . However, his biographer Irene Tichenor notes that De Vinne's private correspondence shows that he was not closely involved in the design of "De Vinne" and that he was ultimately a little unhappy about it.

He was one of the nine men who co-founded the Grolier Club , he was a printer for the club for the first two decades of its existence. He was also one of the founders and the first President of the United Typothetae of America , a forerunner of the Printing Industries of America.

Works (english)

As a prolific writer in the magazine "Druck Fachpresse" De Vinne was also responsible for a number of books on the history and practice of printing.

  • The invention of printing ; a collection of facts and opinions descriptive of early prints and playing cards, the block books of the fifteenth century, the legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the work of John Gutenberg and his associates. Publisher: Francis Hart, New York, 1876
  • A printer's paradise, the Plantin-Moretus Museum at Antwerp . Published in: The Century. Illustrated Monthly Magazine May 1888 to October 1888.
  • Historic Printing Types (1886)
  • Plain Printing Types (1900) (The Practice of Typography, v.1)
  • Correct Composition (1901) (The Practice of Typography, v. 2)
  • A Treatise on Title-Pages (1902) (The Practice of Typography, v.3)
    • A revision of his earlier A Treatise on Title-Pages (Grolier Club, 1901)
  • Modern Methods of Book Composition (1904) (The Practice of Typography, v.4)
  • Notable Printers of Italy during the Fifteenth Century (1910)
  • De Vinne publications on the Internet Archive - online
  • The library of the late Theodore Low De Vinne. Sale No.1455. On Public Exhibition at The Anderson galleries, New York (1920)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fonts designed by Linn Boyd Benton
  2. ↑ Irene Tichenor, No Craft without Art: The Life of Theodore Low De Vinne. (Boston: David R. Godine, 2002), pp. 106-109. ISBN 1-56792-286-4
  3. ↑ Mac MacGrew, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993. ISBN 0-938768-34-4
  4. ↑ Tichenor, No Craft without Art, pp. 125-126.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME De Vinne, Theodore Low
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur, printer, typographer, and bibliophile
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Stamford , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1914
Place of death New York City