The next time you select a type font, which is each time you write a 
letter or an Email, (Arial, Times New Roman, etc), perhaps after reading 
the following, you will be always reminded of  Giambattista Bodoni, called 
the "father of modern type", and the "king of printers". 
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GIAMBATTISTA BODONI:  FOCUS ON DETAIL

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
By Kathryn Linderman
December 28, 2001

For Giambattista Bodoni, it was all about the details.  He carefull studied 
each letter he printed, looking for ways to improve a serif or a curve. Only 
when an image was perfect would he rest.  Called the father of modern type, 
"king of printers and printer to kings," Bodoni's attention to detail 
imprinted a mark of excellence that has yet to fade. He drastically changed 
the style of type and the standard for printing, influencing his time and 
future generations more than any other typographer. Born in Saluzzo, in 
northern Italy, Bodoni (1740-1813) had a clear idea of what he wanted to do. 
His father was a printer, and his three older brothers followed in their father's
footsteps. As the youngest, he saw his prospects for advancement at home were 
slim compared with his growing ambition. While quite young, he was already 
cutting woodblocks to make prints that he sold.  Bodoni was impatient to 
learn, so he took destiny into his own hands.  At age 18 he set out for Rome. 
His Dream was to visit the famous pnntinghouse of the Vatican, the source of 
all the church's missionary publications distributed in every language. Once 
there, the young artist lit up with such enthusiasm that he was offered a job 
as compositor.

Accepted Challenge
Soon Bodoni accepted an unusual challenge that, surprisingly, held the key to 
his future. The Propaganda Fide owned a useless cache of jumbled, rusted type 
characters in a maze o exotic languages. His daunting task was to 
painstakingly clean and arrange them m order for casting. These included 
punches, which were steel bars on which an alphabet was cut in relief, and 
matrices, which contained the same alphabet recessed into bars of copper or 
brass.  
Bodoni first had to study the Middle Eastern and Oriental languages before he 
could redistribute the typefaces.
The diligent young scholar delved into the intricacies of the strange 
characters.  Rather than become discouraged by the enormous proportions of 
the work, his fascination grew.  Out of his focus on the letters came his 
steady desire to master every detail of the art of typography and the desire 
to create his own.  
Bodoni knew the importance of making contacts.  He established an important 
friendship at the Vatican in Father Paciaudi, then librarian to Cardinal 
Spinelli, the head of the Propaganda.  Later, this friend became librarian to 
the Duke  of Parma, Don Ferdinand, who desired to establish a royal press.
Bordoni  even turned illness into opportunity.  He left Rome after Cardinal 
Spinelli's death and traveled to meet an admired colleague, type designer 
John Baskervill.  Overcome with malaria, he returned instead to his parent's 
house in Saluzzo, Italy for an extended recuperation.  So he was there when 
an invitation from the duke, at Father Paciaudi's recommendation, to be the 
new director of the ducal press.
On Feb. 24, 1768, almost on his 28ft birthday, Bodoni eagerly took up his new 
office. This was a pivotal point of his career. Initially, he consciously 
designed in the lavish, popular style of Founier. But he wasn't satisfied 
with the status quo. 
Bodoni yearned to be more than average. The art of printing was in a decline, the 
lamp of the Renaissance burning low, according to T.M. Cleland. "Interest in 
the beauty and workmanship of typography and press work for its own sake was 
very dead," he said. "It remained for the robust Italian, with his limitless energy and 
exalted ideals, to grasp anew the idea of the organic beauty of printing, and to 
infuse into it the definite style and expression of his epoch." The Baroque period 
had left-something in the state of the the purely private feeling of having eaten 
too much cake."
Bodoni recognized the beauty of simplicity. His thin strokes became  thinner, 
and thick became thicker, the better to capture the living quality" of the letters. 
His stresses were vertical. He formed sharp angles on serifs with the same weight 
as the thin strokes, important to the sharpness of the look. He used space in
wide margins to give elegance to the page. He used only the finest paper and 
darkest inks.                 ,
Bodoni was tireless. He was the most prolific of printers, designing and 
printing more than 1,500 books. He started his own press to accommodate 
orders from all over Europe. The Lord's Prayer, alone, he printed in 155 languages.

Built On Success
Bodoni built on his success. He was printer to the king of Spain and received 
a pension from him as well as from Napoleon. Afterward, he began work on 
"Manuale Tipografico," considered the greatest type specimen book ever 
printed. It contains 142 roman typefaces and a corresponding set of italics 
for each, all his exotic types, plus an extensive 'collection of ornaments. 
He completed the preface and first volume by his death at age 73 in 1813, 
leaving his widow to assemble the second  volume by l818.                        
In the preface to "Manuale Tipografico," Bodoni presented his theories, the 
four prerequisites for beautiful type: uniformity of design, smartness and 
neatness, good taste, and charm. In loving devotion to his work, Bodoni 
acknowledged a debt to future readers: "No art has greater need than 
typography of keeping future readers: "No art has greater need than typography 
of keeping future generations in mind, so that its present activities may be no less 
useful to posterity than to our contemporaries.'