![]() ![]() I’m planning to write something about it. Until now, there’s no published study about this font. Enschedé Museum in Haarlem, The Netherlands. For about 100 years in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, several members of the Didot family were active in Paris as designers. I followed very closely Pierre Didot’s original types details and features: the asymmetrical serifs and the arrow-like serifs which were present in all the type sizes (see second image below). I tried to translate as close as possible its original design. All the existing digital Didot typefaces available today are revivals of Firmin’s typeface ( Jonathan Hoefler, Adrian Frutiger for Linotype).ĭidot Elder is the first revival ever made of Pierre’s historical font. Porchez’s design is based on a later (poster) version, circa 1838, from the Firmin Didot font foundry. Pierre developed his type until the release of his Specimen in 1819.įollowing Pierre, these unusual features were used by many of the Didot punchcutters all along the XIXth century. I found that the design of the ‘g’ was so corrupted that I took the risk to correct this type …”Īs you can see (image below), in typesetting the word “Egypte”, Pierre Didot compared his types (new ‘g’, new ‘y’) with the types of his brother Firmin. … I tried to go back to the original design of the lowercase, which is the design of the uppercase. Bodoni upper-case 'G' has no serif feet, while Didot has a downward spur. Bodoni upper-case 'J' is lower than the baseline, while Didot sits on the baseline. Bodoni sign has a double line crossing the 'S' while Didot has a single line. “here are the principles of my new types, … I tried to link as far as I could the design of the lowercase with the design of the uppercase. Bodoni Number 8 is symmetrical in a vertical axis while Didot is assymmetrical. In the forward of the first volume ( Petit Carême Jean-Baptiste Massillon, Paris, 1812) he exposes the design of his new typeface, specially cut for the collection: It was first used by Pierre to launch a new collection of books in 1812. The typeface was cut by the punchcutter Vibert under a ten year direction of Pierre Didot. Didot scholar Jean François Porchez, whose Ambroise shares some of Didot Elder’s characteristics (see ‘g’ and ‘y’), is impressed. No alternates to these glyphs are provided, which I think is a mistake, reducing the font’s usefulness in modern text settings. Most apparent of its idiosyncrasies are the arrow serifs on the ‘G’ ‘C’ and ‘S’. ![]() This is a strict revival, attempting to reproduce all the features of Pierre Didot’s original, modern conventions be damned. More history from designer François Rappo is below with printed samples of the original types. Didot Elder comes from the early work of Firmin’s brother Pierre. Slab serifs are the final evolution of the serif style. They have extreme contrast between strokes and no brackets on their serifs. Swiss foundry Optimo releases Didot Elder, a family of typefaces unlike any digital revival of the style, which are mostly based on Firmin Didot’s designs. These Modern serifs include font types like Didot and Bodoni. Written by Stephen Coles on March 26, 2004 ![]()
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