Creator
Charles Philibert, comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant
Title
Typographie économique, ou, L'art de l'imprimerie mis à la portée de tous, et applicable aux différens besoins sociaux.
Coverage
Paris
Publisher
Chez l'auteur
Date
1837
Description
This unattractive little pamphlet represents an attempt by philanthropist and printer Charles de Lasteyrie to make the printing process more accessible to the masses. The pamphlet describes a system of “economical typography” involving a special portable press capable of printing letterpress, engravings, and lithographs; and a type font of his own devising that eliminated uppercase letters as well as most punctuation and other “non-essential” characters. The pamphlet was printed lithographically on Lasteyrie’s press using his types; and although his various innovations combine to produce a text almost as ugly as it is unreadable, Typographie économique is nevertheless a fascinating component of the revolution in printing technology sweeping through Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Source
Purchased in 2004 with Grolier Club Library Harper Funds.