[FR] Didot Family

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1. Overview

fl. early 18th c. - late 19th c. Paris.

First generation:

François Didot (1689-1757). Bookseller and printer. Two sons:

Second generation:

Third generation:

Fourth generation:

D. B. Updike, in Printing Types (vol. 2, p. 184) says "The Didot foundry remained in the possession of the family until sold by Ambroise [sic] Firmin Didot, when its types became part of the Fonderie Générale of Paris.

De Vinne, in The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on Title Pages (NY: The Century Company, 1902): 179, dates this sale (by "the Didot house") to 1839.

The Fonderie Digney claimed descent ("ex-prote") from " Maison Rignoux, Jules Didot et de la " Fonderie Générale." I don't yet know enough of the history of the family firm or firms to know if this means that (a) Jules Didot split off prior to the sale by Ambroise Firmin Didot (and thus that Digney acquired Jules Didot separately from the Fonderie Générale) or that (b) Jules Didot was a part of the firm acquired by the Fonderie Générale and thus passed to Digney through it.

Further, a bibliographic entry in the Bibliographie de la France (Year 87, Second Series, No. 42 (1898-10-15): 190)) for la fonderie nouvelle de Plon frères claims that they are "successeurs de Jules Didot."

2. Specimens, Catalogs, and Price Lists

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1819. Specimen des Nouveaux Caractères

Specimen des Nouveaux Caractères de la Fonderie et de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot, L'Ainé . (Paris: P. Didot, l'Ainé, et Jules Didot, fils, 1819.) This is a specimen by the third and fourth generations of Didots: Pierre Didot, l'Ainé (1761-1853, son of François-Ambrose Didot) and his son Jules Didot (1794-1871). This volume has been digitized by Google from the Bibliothèqe de Catalogne copy. The icon here links to a local version of the Google Books scan.


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