Giambattista Bodoni

Giabattista Bodoni – born 16. 2. 1740 in Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy, died 30. 11. 1813 in Parma, Italy – engraver, type designer, typographer, printer, publisher.

1758–66: typesetter in the Vatican’s Propaganda Fide printing works. 1766: the Duke of Parma invites Bodoni to set up an run a printing works. 1768: begins working in the Stamperia Reale. 1770: opens his own type foundry. 1771: publishes his first typographical contribution "Fregi e Majuscole". 1782: Charles III of Spain names Bodoni his court typographer. 1788: the book "Manuale Tipografico" is published, containing 100 roman, 50 italic and 28 Greek minuscule fonts. 1790: the Duke of Parma gives Bodoni permission to open his own printing works, Tipi Bodoni. The first books to be published are volumes of Greek, Roman and Italian classics. 1806: "L’Oratio Dominica in CLV linguas versa" is produced, set in 215 typefaces. 1818: Bodoni’s widow completes and publishes her late husband’s mighty "Manuale Tipografico" in two volumes, a witness to Bodoni’s entire creative working life. It contains roman, Greek, gothic, Asian and Russian fonts, and lines, borders, symbols, numbers and musical notation. 1963: the Bodoni Museum is opened in Parma.

* TYPOGRAPHY – An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott (Editor), Bernard Stein, published by Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.