«Merge Record #»«Title» - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

of the typographic art' (Jackson Burke 527). This copy also includes the portrait of
Fournier after Bichou, which is often missing.
In his preface to volume I Fournier gives a brief overview of the earlier French
publications on the history of printing and type, and outlines the scope of his book.
He gives technical information on punch-cutting, matrix-making, and type-founding,
and includes here his innovative point system of type sizes. In a series of tables he
indicates the respective number of each character to be supplied in making up fonts
of Roman, Hebrew, Greek, music types etc. and concludes with eight engraved
plates, which show tools and equipment employed in the various processes
described in the text.
In the second volume Fournier emphasises the importance of utilising the full range
of printing types, and gives details of the principal type foundries of Europe. The
main section of the book consists of type specimens of every type and size
imaginable. They represent the types of Fournier l'ainé, the Paris founders Cappon
and Hérissant and Breitkopf (Leipzig) and are grouped under six headings: I. Types
in ordinary use, II. Ornaments, III. Types peculiar to particular countries or of special
forms, IV. Oriental types, V. Music and plain-song, VI. Types of ancient and modern
languages with explanatory notes.
The very attractive type specimen shows Roman, italic, Greek, Hebrew fonts, with
many additional exotic type faces, such as Syriac, Arabic, Coptic and Armenian. It
presents the amazing repertory of Fournier's foundry, ranging from the tiny
'Parisienne' and 'Nonpareille' sizes to the grand size of 'Grosse Nonpareille', an
unusually large face for cast type. A further highlight of this type specimen is the
extensive choice of ornaments, which were clearly designed to compose into a great
variety of combinations and patterns.
Fournier's contribution to typography cannot be over-estimated. 'His grasp of
typography was so complete and so firm that he could venture into every corner of
it, its literature, its history, its relation to greater things, writing, architecture, music.'
His first contribution had been his 'table des proportions qu'il faut observer entre les
caractères', an attempt to standardize type sizes by a point system - a standard which
is still in use today. He was a great innovator and moderniser of type faces, and his
type specimen gives ample proof of this.
Fournier had planned this work to consist of four volumes, but died before its
completion.
Audin, 55,56; Bigmore & Wyman I p. 228; Birrell & Garnett 37; Jackson Burke 527;
Printing and the Mind of Man (Exhibition Catalogue) II, 112; see Updike, Printing
Types, 1951, I, pp. 250-266 with numerous sample pages.
French Constitution
26.
[FRANCE - Constitution]. Constitution Française et Acceptation du
Roi. Dijon, P. Causse, 1791. £ 600
12mo, pp. [ii], 163; contemporary full red morocco with simple gilt rule
to sides and spine, gilt-lettering directly to spine; early owner's signature
'John Greenwell, Broomshields' to front free endpaper.