Text transcript:
GIAMBATISTA BODONI (1740-1813) / SON OF A PRINTER OF PIEDMONT. / AFTER GAINING EXPERIENCE AND FAME AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PRESS / OF THE PROPOGANDA IN ROME / BODONI BECAME IN 1766 THE HEAD OF THE DUCAL PRINTING HOUSE AT PARMA, / WHICH HE SOON MADE THE FOREMOST OF ITS KIND IN EUROPE. / HIS “MANUALE TIPOGRAFICO”, COMPLETED BY HIS WIDOW IN 1818, / CONTAINS 279 PAGES OF SPECIMENS OF TYPES, / INCLUDING ALPHABETS OF ABOUT THIRTY FOREIGN LANGUAGES. / HIS EDITIONS OF GREEK, LATIN, AND ITALIAN, AND FRENCH CLASSICS, / ESPECIALLY IS HOMER, / ARE CELEBRATED FOR THEIR TYPOGRAPHY. / IN TYPE-DESIGNING HE WAS AN INNOVATOR, / MAKING HIS NEW ROUNDER, WIDER, AND LIGHTER, / WITH GREATER OPENNESS AND DELICACY. / HIS TYPES WERE RATHER TOO RIGIDLY PERFECT IN DETAIL, / THE THICK LINES CONTRASTING SHARPLY WITH THE THIN, WIRY LINES. / IT WAS THIS FEATURE, DOUBTLESS, THAT CAUSED WILLIAM MORRIS’S CONDEMNATION / OF THE BODONI TYPES AS “SWELTERINGLY HIDEOUS.
GIAMBATISTA BODONI (1740-1813) / SON OF A PRINTER OF PIEDMONT. / AFTER GAINING EXPERIENCE AND FAME AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PRESS / OF THE PROPOGANDA IN ROME / BODONI BECAME IN 1766 THE HEAD OF THE DUCAL PRINTING HOUSE AT PARMA, / WHICH HE SOON MADE THE FOREMOST OF ITS KIND IN EUROPE. / HIS “MANUALE TIPOGRAFICO”, COMPLETED BY HIS WIDOW IN 1818, / CONTAINS 279 PAGES OF SPECIMENS OF TYPES, / INCLUDING ALPHABETS OF ABOUT THIRTY FOREIGN LANGUAGES. / HIS EDITIONS OF GREEK, LATIN, AND ITALIAN, AND FRENCH CLASSICS, / ESPECIALLY IS HOMER, / ARE CELEBRATED FOR THEIR TYPOGRAPHY. / IN TYPE-DESIGNING HE WAS AN INNOVATOR, / MAKING HIS NEW ROUNDER, WIDER, AND LIGHTER, / WITH GREATER OPENNESS AND DELICACY. / HIS TYPES WERE RATHER TOO RIGIDLY PERFECT IN DETAIL, / THE THICK LINES CONTRASTING SHARPLY WITH THE THIN, WIRY LINES. / IT WAS THIS FEATURE, DOUBTLESS, THAT CAUSED WILLIAM MORRIS’S CONDEMNATION / OF THE BODONI TYPES AS “SWELTERINGLY HIDEOUS.
Artwork: 2014.14.2
Untitled Mailing (Second Page)
Early works produced at Black Mountain College.
11 x 8 1/2 inches
In copyright
Gift of Brian Butler
Ray Johnson, Untitled Mailing (Second Page), 1947. Ink and pencil on paper. Collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. Gift of Brian Butler.