Giambattista Bodoni

GIAMBATTISTA
BODONI
The king of typographers and the typographer of kings,
CONSIDER the sheer quality and quanity
one must make to change the course of
typography forever. Giambattista Bodoni
(1740-1813) did just that through his many accomplishments
made during his short life. His
influence on typography stems from a lifelong
journey working as a printer and punchcutter,
having an apprenticeship at the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith, gaining the
prestigious role of manager the Royal Press
for the Duke of Parma, producing the Manule
Tipografico, and creating the self- titled font,
Bodoni. When Giambattista Bodoni, was born
into his family of printers in 1740 and in that
moment his fate was placed before him.
EARLY LIFE
On Febuary 16, 1740 Bodoni was born in
Saluzzo, Salvoy. Bodoni followed in his family’s
footsteps by quickly learning the art of
printing and punchcutting. At the very young
age of eighteen he left home for Rome and
started an apprenticeship at the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith (Britannica
Biographies, 2012). During his apprenticeship
Bodoni impressed many of his superiors with
his meticulous work and studiousness in mastery
of the ancient languages and type.
This allowed him to complete his first book
based on a version of the Tibetian alphabet
called, Coptic Missal, in 1762 (Famous Graphic
Designers, 2015). This work was so well
done that Giambattista Bodoni was mentioned
in the colophon.
Giambattista Bodoni- allposters.com

Then in 1768 Giambattista Bodoni was invited
by Duke Ferdinando of Bourbon-Parma to organize
a printing house inParma, called la
Stamperia Reale (Zack, 2014) . Bodoni’s job
entailed him publicizing the house, and for this
purpose he created specimen books the first
being, Descrizione Delle Feste Celebrate In Parma
L’Anno MDCCLXIX, which was only one in a
long line of books he published (Famous Graphic
Designers, 2015). Soon after, the house began
printing fine editions of classical works such
as Gerusalemme Liberata of
Torquato Tasso and Homer’s literary work.
Because of these publication’s Bodoni gained
favor in the public’s eyes, which allowed him to
open his own publication house called Officina
Bodoni.
MANUALE
TIPOGRAFICO
While operating his own publishing house Bodoni
started straying from Old-Style
typefaces with very decorated details and was
won over by the typographical theories of the
French printer, Didot and the English printer,
Baskerville. By 1787 Bodoni was printing
typefaces without decoration and started creating
modern typefaces of his own design.
Bodoni Punchcuts- metaprintart.info
Manuale Tipografico- luc.devroye.org
Of the many books that he produced during this
period, the best known is his Manuale
tipografico (1788; “Inventory of Types”), a folio
collection of 291 roman and italic typefaces,
along with samples of Russian, Greek, and other
types (Britannica, 2015). He used this manual
to illustrate the four principles of type design:
regularity, clarity, good taste, and charm.
Twenty-seven years later a second edition of
Manuale tipografico was released after an
1840 ‘output inventory’ compiled by Giambattista
Bodoni’s widow that listed 25,491 punches
and more than 50,000 matrices made by the
prolific typographer, printer and punch cutter
(Creative Review, 2013).
TRANSITIONAL TO MODERN
The self-titled typeface, Bodoni that we know today was created in 1798. In
order to create this typeface Giambattista Bodoni made significant changes to
previous letterforms by increasing the stroke contrast, increasing the sharpness
of the serifs, and vertically aligning the axis. These changes were inspired by,
John Baskerville, the first person to introduce typefaces with obvious differences
between thick and thin strokes. These changes lead Giambattista Bodoni to
stray from the Transitional fonts and create a new Modern font. Bodoni accomplished
this by endlessly perfecting his type and always refining. His financial
security provided by the Duke of Parma made this relentless obsession possible
because of this he was able to labor over his letterforms and transcend them
into art (Messmer, 2009).
‘The letters don’t
get their true
delight, when
done in haste &
discomfort, nor
merely done with
diligence & pain,
but first when
they are created
with love and
passion.”
- Bodoni
azquotes.com

THE TYPEFACE
The typeface, Bodoni, separates itself from
transitional fonts because of its high and abrupt
contrasts between thick and thin strokes, its thin
and unbracketed serifs, strong vertical axis, horizontal
stress, and small aperture. These new,
distinct visual characteristics gave rise to the
new classification called Didone or Modern. To
produce these striking qualities Bodoni looked
to John Baskerville for visual qualities and to
the new letterform, Roman du Roi for inspiration.
The Roman du Roi letters were designed
based on “scientific principles”, and constructed
through the use of a grid and calculated curves
(Ellsworth). Giambattista Bodoni employed this
same technique when he went about creating
this letterform, Bodoni. These characteristics are
especially noticeable when looking at the unbracketed,
thin serifs. In addition to these characteristics
there a few characteristics that are
uniquely Bodoni, which include a square dot
over the “i”, a double story “a”, a capital “Q”
with the tail directly beneath the figure, and a
capital “J” with a slight curve to it (Zack, 2014).
“Plenty of white space and
generous line spacing, and
don’t make the type size too
miserly. Then you will be
assured of a product fit for a
king.”
-Bodoni
azquotes.com
Current use of Bodoni- visualnews.com
THE MAN, THE
FONT, THE KING
Over the years Bodoni has been used for a
wide variety of material including 18th century
Italian books to 1960s periodicals. The 20th
century and digital age brought a revival of
Bodoni, which lead to the creation of many
versions of Bodoni and is still celebrated today.
Currently you can view this work at the Bodoni
Museum along with his punchcuts and matrices.
Giambattista Bodoni truly influenced the world
of typography. He lived a very short life that
was full of accomplishments such as an internship
at the Congregation for the Propagation of
the Faith, followed by the esteemed role working
at the Royal Press for the Duke of Parma,
generating the Manule Tipografico, and producing
the self- titled font, Bodoni. Giambattista
Bodoni not only marks a transition for Old Style
to Modern type but also the first steps of using
text as an art form.