«Merge Record #»«Title» - Susanne Schulz-Falster

sides with greek rule, gilt dentelles, a.e.g.; a little rubbing to joints, front free endpaper removed; a
fine copy, with engraved book-plate to front pastedown.
First edition, a fine copy, Fournier's masterpiece, a magnificent type specimen, which is
regarded as 'the most important book on French eighteenth century typography' (Birrell
& Garnett 37) and his types dominated European printing for fifty years (PMM II, 112).
It includes 186 pages of specimens of type and 101 alphabets, ancient and modern, and
was 'intended to explain to the layman the intricacies and nuances 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.
The second volume Fournier emphasises the importance of exact of 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 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 show roman, italic, Greek, Hebrew, 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 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.
The Earliest Catalogue of 'Books in Print'
36.