Giambattista Bodoni, printer | Epithalamia exoticis linguis reddita. Parma, 1775, a typographical tour de force

Giambattista Bodoni, printer

Epithalamia exoticis linguis reddita. Parma: Ex Regio Typographeo, 1775

FIRST EDITION, state “b” with the poem by Conte Della Torre di Rezzonico, LARGE PAPER COPY, folio (337 x 457mm.), 139 elegant engravings: 86 vignettes, 28 decorative initials, and 25 tailpieces, original mottled calf boards very expertly inset within new matching calf

Arguably Bodoni’s most beautiful production, this is a typographic masterpiece that Brooks considers to be “a fundamental work”. In 26 languages including Arabic, Greek, Russian, Phoenician, Coptic, Ethiopian, Etruscan, Turkish, Samaritan, Hebrew, Persian, and Tibetan, Bodoni presents poems celebrating marriage (“Epithalamia”), specifically that of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and Marie Adelaide Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI. In addition to the exotic characters, we also get to appreciate Bodoni’s beautiful and influential roman typeface and its italic version. Printing expert Daniel Updike thought this “one of his finest volumes… really magnificent in its types, their arrangement and the superb engraved decorations”.

Printer, punch-cutter, and type designer Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) worked for more than 20 years at the Royal press in Parma before obtaining permission to set up his own private press in 1791. Brooks says that “he took his printing in all its branches very seriously, laboured incessantly to perfect his type, had a fine artistic sense... and produced books not only of a very high standard, but also showing a remarkably distinct individuality”. Bodoni used the finest quality paper available, and his clear, beautiful types have been envied and copied for many generations. “The result of his labours is a long list of books which”, in Brooks’s words, “reach a very high, many of them the highest, level of technical excellence”.

REFERENCES: Brooks 70; Brunet II, 1028