Didot is the name of a family of French printers, punch-cutters and publishers. Through its achievements and advancements in printing, publishing and typography, the family has lent its name to typographic measurements developed by François-Ambroise Didot and the Didot typeface developed by Firmin Didot. The Didot company of France was ultimately incorporated into the modern CPI printing group.

First generation

François Didot

François Didot (son of Denis Didot) was a merchant who was born in Paris in 1689 and died in 1757. In 1713 he opened a bookstore called "À la Bible d'or" (which could be translated "The Golden Bible") on the Quai des Grands-Augustins. The celebrated Abbé de Bernis served for a time there as a clerk after leaving the seminary. François Didot was a learned man, and held by his colleagues in such great esteem that he was elected to the dignity of Syndic of the Booksellers' Corporation in 1735. He received his printer's charter from the king in 1754. Among the books he published should be mentioned the ''Histoire des voyages'' ("Story of Voyages/Travels") (20 vols., quarto), the first seventeen volumes of which are attributed to the

Abbé Prévost Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles ( , , ; 1 April 169725 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist. Life and works He was born at Hesdin, Artois, and first appears with the full nam ...

. It was remarkable for its typographical perfection, and was adorned with many engravings and maps.

Second generation

François-Ambroise Didot

François-Ambroise Didot (son of François Didot) was born in 1730 and died in 1804. François-Ambroise Didot inherited the work of his father François. He was appointed printer to the clergy in 1788. Many bibliophiles value the editions known as "D'Artois" (''Collection d'ouvrages français'', 64 volumes, 1780-84) and "du Dauphin", a collection of French classics in 32 volumes, edited by order of Louis XVI. He also published a Bible. François-Ambroise Didot invented a new printing-press, improved type-founding, and was the first to print on vellum paper. About 1780 François-Ambroise Didot adapted the

point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

system for sizing typefaces by width, using units of 1/72 of the pre-

metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

French inch. His "point", later named the ''didot'' after him, became the prevailing unit of type measurement throughout continental Europe and its former colonies, including Latin America. In 1973 it was metrically standardized at 0.375 mm for the European Union. (Meanwhile, the English-speaking world adopted a "point" based on 1/72 of the smaller English inch.)

Pierre-François Didot

Pierre-François Didot (son of François Didot) was born in 1732 and died in 1795. Pierre-François Didot founded a paper factory in Essonne and made improvements in type-founding. The most important of his publications are ''L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ'' (folio), ''Télémaque'' (quarto) and ''Tableau de L'Empire Ottoman'' (folio). One of his daughters married Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.

Third generation

Pierre Didot

Pierre Didot (son of François-Ambroise Didot) was born in 1760 and died in 1853. Pierre Didot was awarded a gold medal at the exhibition of 1798, for his edition of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

. By order of the Government, his presses were established in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, where they remained during the Consulate. The celebrated Louvre editions are Virgil (1798),

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

(1799),

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

(1801–5),

La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his '' Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eu ...

(1802), and Boileau (1816). The board of examiners of the 1806 exhibition pronounced the Racine edition "the most perfect typographical production of all ages". Pierre Didot was also a poet and translated in verse the fourth book of Georgics, the first books of Horace's Odes, and wrote a number of original poems.

Firmin Didot

Firmin Didot (son of François-Ambroise Didot) was born in 1764 and died in 1836. Firmin Didot was the inventor of stereotypography which entirely changed the book trade. Firmin Didot was the first to engrave slips of so-called "English" and round hand-writing. Among the works which issued from his press were ''Les Ruines de Pompéi'', ''Le Panthéon égyptien'' of Champollion-Figeac, and ''Historial du Jongleur'', printed in Gothic type, with tail-pieces and vignettes, like the editions of the fifteenth century. In 1827, Firmin Didot gave up business to devote himself to politics and literature. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies and wrote tragedies (''La Reine de Portugal'', ''La Mort d'Annibal'') and essays on literary topics. Along with

Giambattista Bodoni Giambattista Bodoni (, ; 16 February 1740 – 30 November 1813) was an Italian typographer, type-designer, compositor, printer, and publisher in Parma. He first took the type-designs of Pierre Simon Fournier as his exemplars, but afterwards be ...

of Italy, Firmin Didot is credited with designing and establishing the use of the "Modern" classification of typefaces. The types that Didot used are characterized by extreme contrast in thick strokes and thin strokes, by the use of hairline serifs and by the vertical stress of the letters. Many fonts today are available based on Firmin Didot's typefaces. These include Linotype Dido

and HTF Dido

Henri Didot

Henri Didot (son of Pierre-François Didot) was born in 1765 and died in 1852. Henri Didot made a name for himself as an engraver, founder, and engine-maker. In 1827, he engraved the microscopic type called 'Non Plus Ultra' that was used for the editions of the "Maximes" of La Rochefoucauld and Horace's works. This type was so small that, to cast it, he had to invent a new mould which he called polyamatype (1819), because it founded one hundred letters at a time. Henri Didot engraved the assignats, the paper money used during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Saint-Léger Didot

Saint-Léger Didot (son of Pierre-François Didot) was born in 1767 and died in 1829. Saint-Léger Didot devoted his attention to papermaking in the famous factory of Essonne, where one of his workers,

Louis-Nicolas Robert Nicolas Louis Robert (2 December 1761 – 8 August 1828) was a French soldier and mechanical engineer, who is credited with a paper-making invention that became the blueprint of the Fourdrinier machine. In 1799, Robert patented the first machine ...

invented a machine to make "endless" paper, and eventually sold the patent to Didot.

Fourth generation

Jules Didot

Jules Didot (son of Pierre Didot) was born in 1794 and died in 1871. Jules Didot is famous for his invention of round-edged initials, to take the place of the sharp-edged ones. In 1825 he took his printing plant to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and founded the Royal Printing House.

Ambroise-Firmin Didot

Ambroise-Firmin Didot (son of Firmin Didot) was born 1790 and died in 1876. Ambroise-Firmin Didot first followed a diplomatic career and was for a time attache of the French Embassy at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. He took advantage of his position to visit the East and Greece, being the first to discover the location of Pergamacum. When his father retired in 1827, he, together with his brother Hyacinthe, took the management of the publishing business. They published the three book series Bibliothèque des auteurs grecs (Scriptorum graecorum bibliotheca), Collection des auteurs latins, and Bibliothèque des auteurs français, which comprised 200 volumes in all. Their greatest work was a new edition of the ''Thesaurus Graecae Linguae'', of Henry Stephens, edited by

Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (12 August 17748 September 1857) was a French classical scholar. Life He was born in Paris. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of General Dumouriez. Driven out in 1795, he was ...

, Dindorf, and

Hase The Hase is a long river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ems, but part of its flow goes to the Else, that is part of the Weser basin. Its source is in the Teutoburg Forest, south-east of Osnabrück, on the north slope ...

(9 vols., 1855–59). Ambroise-Firmin Didot was also involved with the 4th edition of ''L'Encyclopedie Moderne'', 30 vols in total, published in the years 1846–1861. A part was also published as: "Essay sur la Typographie, Extrait du Tome XXVI de l'Encyclopédie moderne, Typographie de Firmin Didot Frères, Imprimereurs de l'Institut de France, Paris, Rue Jacob 56, 1851" Ambroise firmin didot

Edouard Didot

Edouard Didot (son of Saint-Léger Didot) was born in 1797 and died in 1825. Edouard Didot made a translation of Johnson's "Lives of the Poets", which was printed by Jules Didot.

References

External links

* View digitized titles published by the Didot family in like and * {{commons category-inline, Didot family French printers French publishing families French typographers and type designers Papermakers