De Vinne Press

active New York, 1883-1923

BiographyDe Vinne was born at Stamford, Connecticut, and educated in the common schools of the various towns where his father, an itinerant Methodist mininister,[2] had pastorates. He learned the rudiments of printing while employed in a shop at Fishkill, New York. He worked at the Newburgh, New York Gazette, then moved to New York City. In 1850 he was hired as a compositor by the printing shop of Francis Hart in New York, where he rose to the position of foreman within a year, which included duties as shop manager.[4] He became a partner in Hart's business in 1858 and assumed sole proprietorship of the firm upon Hart's death in 1877, eventually renaming it to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co. in 1883.[5]

While still a partner of Hart's, De Vinne managed to steer the business from job printing to the more lucrative and prestigious book and periodical trade, mostly thanks to his excellence in printing wood engravings.[6] De Vinne's commercial success and high repute derived in large measure from the collaboration with his main client in this market segment, The Century Company, for whom he printed the popular St. Nicholas Magazine[7] and The Century Magazine,[8] as well as many books, such as George Kennan's influential Siberia and The Exile System,[9] as well as large multi-volume works such as The Century Dictionary[10][11] and John Nicolay and John Hay's authoritative biography of Abraham Lincoln.[12]

In 1886, with his business greatly expanded and seeking to increase its printing capacity, he moved the company to the De Vinne Press Building on Lafayette Place, a model plant designed by himself in collaboration with the architects Babb, Cook & Willard.[13][14] The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[15]

De Vinne either commissioned Linn Boyd Benton, or co-designed in conjunction with Benton, the still-popular Century Roman typeface for use by The Century Magazine.[16] For use at his own press, he also commissioned Linotype to produce De Vinne, an updated Elzevir (or French Oldstyle) type, and the Bruce Typefoundry to produce Renner, a Venetian face.[17] However, De Vinne's was not closely involved with the design of "De Vinne" and he ultimately was somewhat unhappy with the typeface.[18]

In 1865 De Vinne was a co-founder of the Typothetae, a trade organization of master printers, which was a predecessor of the Printing Industries of America.[19] He was also one of nine men who founded the Grolier Club in 1884,[20] and he was printer to the Club for the first two decades of its existence and designed and printed most of its publications during his lifetime.[21] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Low_De_Vinne 12/22/2020 DJackson]

Person TypeInstitution

Last Updated8/7/24

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