Theodore Low De Vinne

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Theodore Low De Vinne
typographer
EmployerDe Vinne Press
OrganizationGrolier Club
Parent(s)Daniel De Vinné[1] and Joanna Augusta Low[2]
Signature

Theodore Low De Vinne (December 25, 1828 – February 16, 1914) was an American printer and scholarly author on typography. Considered "the leading commercial printer of his day,"[3] De Vinne did much for the improvement of American printing and typography. [4]

Life and career

The De Vinne Press printers mark, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

De Vinne was born at

New York City. In 1850 he was hired as a compositor by the printing shop of Francis Hart in New York, where he rose to the position of foreman within a year, which included duties as shop manager.[5] He became a partner in Hart's business in 1858 and assumed sole proprietorship of the firm upon Hart's death in 1877, eventually renaming it to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co. in 1883.[6]

While still a partner of Hart's, De Vinne managed to steer the business from job printing to the more lucrative and prestigious book and periodical trade, mostly thanks to his excellence in printing

John Nicolay and John Hay's authoritative biography of Abraham Lincoln.[13]

In 1886, with his business greatly expanded and seeking to increase its printing capacity, he moved the company to the

Lafayette Place, a model plant designed by himself in collaboration with the architects Babb, Cook & Willard.[14][15] The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[16]

De Vinne either commissioned

Century Roman typeface for use by The Century Magazine.[17] For use at his own press, he also commissioned Linotype to produce De Vinne, an updated Elzevir (or French Oldstyle) type, and the Bruce Typefoundry to produce Renner, a Venetian face.[18] However, De Vinne's was not closely involved with the design of "De Vinne" and he ultimately was somewhat unhappy with the typeface.[19]

In 1865 De Vinne was a co-founder of the Typothetae, a trade organization of master printers, which was a predecessor of the Printing Industries of America.[20] He was also one of nine men who founded the Grolier Club in 1884,[21] and he was printer to the Club for the first two decades of its existence and designed and printed most of its publications during his lifetime.[22]

Works

De Vinne started his writing career at the age of thirty, as soon as he had become a partner in Hart's printing office.[23] A prolific author in the periodical printing trade press, he also wrote a number of books on the history and practice of printing. His books include:

  • The printers' Price List (1871),[24] an item-by-item list of pricing recommendations for job and book printing based on systematic cost accounting, designed to counteract the practice of underbidding among fellow printers.[25]
  • The Invention of Printing (1876),
    Laurens Coster to be inventor of printing with movable type, and awarding the honor to Gutenberg
  • Historic Printing Types (1886)[27]
  • Plain Printing Types (1900)[28] (The Practice of Typography, vol. 1)
  • Correct Composition (1901)[29] (The Practice of Typography, vol. 2), a leading style guide for compositors, proofreaders and authors.[30]
  • A Treatise on Title-Pages (1902)[31] (The Practice of Typography, vol. 3), a revision of his earlier Title Pages as seen by a Printer,[32] published by the Grolier Club in 1901.[33]
  • Modern Methods of Book Composition (1904)[34] (The Practice of Typography, vol. 4)
  • Notable Printers of Italy during the Fifteenth Century (1910)[35]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 5.
  2. ^ a b Tichenor 2005, p. 7.
  3. ^ Metcalf 1996, p. 24.
  4. ^ Koenig, M. “De Vinne and the De Vinne Press.” The Library Quarterly 41 (1971): 1–24.
  5. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 13–20.
  6. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 55–67.
  7. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 32.
  8. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 36–38.
  9. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 106–112.
  10. ^ John, Arthur (1981). The best years of the Century : Richard Watson Gilder, Scribner's monthly, and the Century Magazine, 1870–1909. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 130–132. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Metcalf 1996, pp. 18–27.
  12. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 90–92.
  13. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 101.
  14. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  15. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 71–81.
  16. ^ Gray, Christopher (April 13, 2003). "Streetscapes/De Vinne Press Building, Fourth and Lafayette Streets; An Understated Masterpiece That Earns Its Keep". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  17. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 106–109.
  18. ISBN 0938768344
  19. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 125–126.
  20. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 24–26.
  21. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 68–70.
  22. ^ "The De Vinne Centennial". American Printing History Association. February 16, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  23. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 23.
  24. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t0tq5sp4s
    .
  25. ^ Tichenor 2005, pp. 23–26.
  26. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1876). The Invention of Printing: A Collection of Facts and Opinions. New York: F. Hart & Co. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  27. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1886). Historic Printing Types. New York: De Vinne Press.
  28. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1900). Plain Printing Types. The Practice of Typography. New York: The Century Co.
  29. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1901). Correct Composition. The Practice of Typography. New York: The Century Co.
  30. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 138.
  31. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1902). A Treatise on Title-Pages. The Practice of Typography. New York: The Century Co.
  32. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1901). Title Pages As Seen By A Printer. New York: The Grolier Club. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  33. ^ Tichenor 2005, p. 139.
  34. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1904). Modern Methods of Book Composition. The Practice of Typography. New York: The Century Co.
  35. ^ De Vinne, Theodore Low (1910). Notable printers of Italy during the fifteenth century. New York: The Grolier Club.

Sources

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Theodore Low De Vinne
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theodore_Low_De_Vinne&oldid=1176631891"