Figure 162
Types used by F. A. Didot in Prospectus of Peintures Antiques, Paris
1782
In 1782, the Paris publishers Molini and Lamy issued a prospectus of an edition of a work first brought out in 1757 by the Comte de Caylus and J. B. Mariette—the Peintures Antiques de Bartoli, which reproduced frescoes discovered at Herculaneum. This new edition of one hundred copies was to be all that was most distinguished, and for it some new types of Didot l’aîné were to be used. The portion of the prospectus which is reproduced shows this beautiful transitional font, which retains the charm of old style letter, but has a touch of grace and delicacy which makes it very much of its period. It is one of a series of steps by which the Didots learnedly but foolishly descended to the types they used about 1800.