THE OFFICINA BODONI. An Account of the Work of a Hand Press 1923-1977. Edited and Translated by Hans Schmoller

Verona: Edizioni Valdonega, 1980. One of 1500. Hardcover. A fine copy in cloth with spine label in red and gold stamping with the original cardboard slipcase. 4to. Mardersteig, 1892-1977, moved to Switzerland in 1922, founded a hand press, the Officina Bodoni, and began producing books. In 1927 he moved his press to Verona, Italy, partly in order to print a state-funded edition of the complete works of Gabriele D'Annunzio, which was completed in 1936. Mardersteig quickly developed a reputation for very fine typographical work, and for his scholarly approach to book design and production. He printed with a Dingler hand press on hand or mould-made papers or vellum and often had his books bound in quarter vellum or leather with a decorated paper on the boards, in the tradition of European private presses. Mardersteig was responsible for designing several typefaces for use at the press; Dante, Griffo and Zeno among them. All based on Humanist types of the early years of European printing. The punches for all three types were cut by Charles Malin. He was also involved with other twentieth-century type revivals, and was instrumental in designing Fontana for Collins ClearType of Glasgow in the 1930s. The Officina Bodoni printed and published some 200 books and pamphlets, including reprints of a number of early treatises on the book arts, notably on letter-forms and calligraphy, as well as literary and bibliographical works of all sorts, often commissioned by other publishers and institutions. The books of the Officina Bodoni are widely collected, and generally admired by typographers and bibliophiles. There are good collections in many major European and American libraries. 286pp. Illustrated.