DISSERTATION SUR L'ORIGINE ET LES PROGRÈS D L'ART DE GRAVER EN BOIS
175876869Paris: J. Barbou 1758. unbound cord tied housed in a green half-morocco goat over cloth boards clamshell case spine tooled in gold leaf with title author and date. large 12mo. unbound cord tied housed in a green half-morocco goat over cloth boards clamshell case spine tooled in gold leaf with title author and date. 92 3 pages. Pour éclaircir quelques traits de l"histoire de l'Imprimerie & prouver que Guttemberg n'en est pas l'Inventeur. Very rare first edition Bigmore and Wyman p.227. Unbound textblock lightly soiled with minor creasing at corners. Faint moisture staining throughout with some affecting the text. In this text Fournier sets out to prove that Gutenberg was not the inventor of the printing press by examining the history of printing. He believed that the technology Gutenberg made popular existed long before the German printer's work. Fournier also followed up this text with two additional works which are not present: De l'origine et des productions de l'imprimerie primitive en taille de bois 1759 and Observations sur un ouvrage intitulé Vindiciae Typographicae 1760. These two works provided further discussion of the origins of woodcut prints including a passage refuting popular belief about the origin wood engraving and some ideas for further study. <BR> <br /> <BR> <br /> Fournier 1712--1768 was born in Paris and trained as a wood engraver and type founder being a member of the 18th century dynasty of the well-known Fournier family. He later turned to steel engraving. He published a table of the proportions of the different printing characters whose purpose was to propose for all typefaces a fixed measurement in "typographic points" and a systematic gradation. He worked closely with the collaborators of the Encyclopédie providing the printer Le Breton with all the documentation relating to the typographic foundry and plans for his own instruments as well as providing Diderot with his collection of ancient alphabets. Finally after multiple disputes with his Parisian colleagues he became infamous for the printing of his famous Manuel Typographique 1764 1766 just prior to his death. J. Barbou unknown
