Theodore Low De Vinne

Theodore Low De Vinne ( born December 25, 1828 in Stamford, Connecticut, † February 16, 1914 in New York City ) was an American entrepreneur, printer, typographer and bibliophile.

Life

De Vinne was the son of a pastor and attended the public schools of the various towns where his father worked. First, he was employed in a store in Fishkill and acquired thereby all the capabilities of a printer. After that, he was with the newspaper " Gazette " in Newburgh and then moved to New York City. In 1849 he joined the firm of Francis Hart, became partner in 1858 and took over this company in 1883 which he renamed in 1886 in Theodore L. Devinne & Co. and a model plant newly built at the Lafayette Place, where the buildings still exist.

De Vinne commissioned Linn Boyd Benton and designed with this popular font Century novel which mainly used the Century Magazine and printed his company. For use on your own press, he asked the company Ottmar Mergenthaler, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, the De Vinne the font an updated Elzevir named after Bonaventura Elsevier, which corresponded to develop the French Oldstyle. It was a huge success in the Bruce Type Foundry. However, notes his biographer Irene Tichenor that the private correspondence of De Vinne shows that he was not closely involved in the design of the " De Vinne " and he was ultimately a little unhappy about it.

He was one of nine men who co-founded the Grolier Club, he was a printer for the club in the first two decades of its existence. He was also a founder and the first president of the United Typothetae of America, a forerunner of the Printing Industries of America.

Works (English)

A prolific author in the journal " printing trade press ," De Vinne was also responsible for a number of books on the history and practice of printing.

• The Invention of Printing ( 1876) An examination of the claims of Laurens Coster, the inventor of printing with movable type, and the awarding of the honor in favor of Johannes Gutenberg

• A revision of his earlier A Treatise on Title - Pages ( Grolier Club, 1901)