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]
De Vinne was born at Stamford, Connecticut, and educated in the common schools of the various towns where his father, an itinerant Methodist minister,[2] had pastorates. He learned the rudiments of printing while employed in a shop at Fishkill, New York. He worked at the Newburgh, New YorkGazette, then moved to 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]
De Vinne either commissioned Linn Boyd Benton, or co-designed in conjunction with Benton, the still-popular 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]
Worksedit
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),[26] an investigation of the claims of Laurens Coster to be inventor of printing with movable type, and awarding the honor to Gutenberg
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]
^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.
^Dunlap, David W. (February 19, 2014). "Celebrating a Building That Has Stood for Decades as a Symbol of the Press". The New York Times. New York. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
^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.
^De Vinne, Theodore Low (1871). The printers' Price List A manual for the Use of Clerks and Book-Keepers in Job Printing Offices. New York: Francis Hart & Co. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t0tq5sp4s.
^De Vinne, Theodore Low (1904). Modern Methods of Book Composition. The Practice of Typography. New York: The Century Co.
^De Vinne, Theodore Low (1910). Notable printers of Italy during the fifteenth century. New York: The Grolier Club.
Sourcesedit
Metcalf, Allan (1996). "Typography". Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America. 17 (1): 17–28. doi:10.1353/dic.1996.0018. ISSN 2160-5076. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
Tichenor, Irene (2005). No Art Without Craft: The Life of Theodore Low De Vinne, Printer. Boston: David R. Godine. ISBN 978-1-56792-286-8.
External linksedit
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