DIDOT FAMILY. - Famous French printers and booksellers, perhaps originally from Lorraine, but who carried on their activity in Paris from the 18th century onward.
FRANÇOIS (1689 - Nov. 2, 1757) is the founder of the house; he printed above all Greek classics and historical works, but also produced some luxury copies.
FRANÇOIS-AMBROISE (Jan. 7, 1730 - July 10, 1804), the eldest son of François, took over the direction of the printing house on July 1, 1757. He created a new type foundry and devised the "typographic point," that is, the unit of measurement in typography, as well as a new printing press; among books of the greatest elegance he produced a collection of works in verse and prose (64 vols. in 8vo), owing to the munificence of the Count of Artois. He also received the commission to publish the collection of classics "ad usum delphini."
PIERRE-FRANÇOIS (July 9, 1731 - Dec. 7, 1793) collaborated with his above-named brother, but surpassed him in fame was his son HENRI (July 15, 1765 - July 8, 1852), celebrated for his microscopic editions, with type of 2 points and 1/4, cast with a special machine of his own invention. Another son of Pierre-François, LÉGER (1767-1829), linked his name to the creation of the first continuous machines for the manufacture of paper.
PIERRE (Jan. 25, 1761 - Dec. 31, 1853), son of François-Ambroise, director of the house from 1789, was a scholar and an esteemed poet, but achieved greater glory for his folio editions, with type cast by his brother Firmin. Most celebrated of all is his Racine, which appeared in 1801. His son JULES (Aug. 5, 1794 - May 18, 1871) is known as the printer of the "Collection des classiques français" (83 vols. in 8vo), published by Lefèvre.
FIRMIN (Apr. 14, 1764 - Apr. 24, 1836), brother of Pierre, a Hellenist and a poet of taste, is among the most famous typographers of all time: he created the D. typeface, invented the process of stereotyping, and introduced the system of typographic reproduction of geographical maps. After him the family joined to its original surname also the personal name of Firmin, in a single family name.
AMBROISE (Dec. 7, 1790 - Feb. 22, 1876), son of the preceding, a Greek scholar of uncommon worth, a passionate bibliophile, promoted the new editions of the Thesaurus graecae linguae of Stephanus (Henri Estienne), the publication of the Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis of Du Cange, and of the Biographie générale, and gave life to the monumental collection of Greek authors with Latin translation.
Bibliography3 works
499; A. C. Piper, Some great printers and their work: the Didots, in Library World, London 1914. Detailed biographical notices on the members of the D. family in Nouvelle biographie générale, published by the D. themselves, XIV, coll. 112-19.
Alessandro Pratesi