Page:Historic printing types, a lecture read before the Grolier club of New York, January 25, 1885, with additions and new illustrations; by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914; Grolier Club.djvu/84

80 HISTOKIC FEINTING TYPES. Born 1765. Died 1852. Microscopic types of Didot. Born 1794. Died 1871. Types of Jules Didot. Large face of Fournier. typographic points of Fournier, and established the system of sizes which is now in use. His son, Henri Didot, was a famous punch-cutter; at the age of 66 he cut punches for the smallest microscopic types known, about twenty- five lines to the inch, on which he printed the Maxims of Rochefoucauld. Pierre Didot was equally celebrated as a skillful founder and printer. Jules, his son, was a worthy successor. The form of Roman type which was in highest favor in Paris at the beginning of this century is fairly shown in the following illustration of the types of Jules Didot. A strain- ing after originality may be detected in the forms of the letters S and ff, but, as a whole, this face is not original or characteristic. Even when the types are "set solid" or compact, they have the appearance of "leaded matter." Its readability is due largely to the broad relief of white space about every letter. Like the Bodoni letter, it is wasteful of space. The flat extended serif is in imitation of the style of Jaugeon ; the tall ascenders and descenders, the squared forms of small letters, the wide spaces between lines and in the margin are in imitation of the style of Bodoni. It was shown with best effect in large sizes. In the smaller sizes, it was not much more pleasing than the ordinary English bold-face. For plain books, in which the greatest compactness of letter was desired, another face was preferred, which Four- nier presents in many sizes, in his "Manuel Typographique,"