Theodore Low De Vinne was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 printer and scholarly author on typography

Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...

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De Vinne was born at Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

, and educated in the common schools of the various towns where his father had pastorates. He developed the ability to be a printer while employed in a shop at Fishkill, New York

Fishkill, New York

Fishkill is an upscale village within the much larger town, Town of Fishkill, one of the fastest growing towns in the region, in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The village population was 1,735 at the 2000 census...

. He worked at the Newburgh, New York Gazette, then moved to New York City. In 1849 he entered the establishment of Francis Hart, and worked there until 1883 when the business was renamed Theodore L. Devinne & Co. In 1886 he moved to a model plant designed by him on Lafayette Place.

De Vinne either commissioned Linn Boyd Benton

Linn Boyd Benton

Linn Boyd Benton was an American typeface designer and inventor who invented the Benton Pantograph, an engraving machine which was capable not only of scaling a single font design pattern to a variety of sizes, but could also condense, extend, and slant the design...

, or co-designed in conjunction with Benton, the hugely popular Century Roman

Century Type Family

Century refers to a family of type faces derived from the original Century Roman cut by American Type Founders’ designer Linn Boyd Benton in 1894. Despite originating in the nineteenth century, use of the typeface remains strong, for periodicals, textbooks, and literature...

 typeface for use by The Century Magazine, which his firm printed. For use at his own press, he also commissioned Linotype to produce De Vinne, an updated Elzevoir (or French Oldstyle) type, and the Bruce Typefoundry to produce Renner, a Venetian face. However, his biographer Irene Tichenor notes that De Vinne's private correspondence shows he was not closely involved with the design of "De Vinne" and ultimately somewhat unhappy with the type.

De Vinne did much for the improvement of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 printing. A prolific author in the periodical printing trade press, he was also responsible for a number of books on the history and practice of printing. For years his publications ranked at the head of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 presswork. His works include:

• The Invention of Printing (1876) (An investigation of the claims of Laurens Coster to be inventor of printing with moveable type, and awarding the honor to [Gutenberg])
• Historic Printing Types (1886)
• Plain Printing Types (1900) (The Practice of Typography, v.1)
• Correct Composition (1901) (The Practice of Typography, v. 2)
• A Treatise on Title-Pages (1902) (The Practice of Typography, v.3) (A revision of his earlier *Title Pages as seen by a Printer (Grolier Club, 1901)
• Modern Methods of Book Composition (1904) (The Practice of Typography, v.4)
• Notable Printers of Italy during the Fifteenth Century (1910)

He was one of nine men who founded the Grolier Club

Grolier Club

The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous; his...

. He was also a founder and the first president of the United Typothetae of America, a predecessor organization of the Printing Industries of America

Printing Industries of America

Printing Industries of America is a nonprofit trade association which advocates for the United States printing industry.It is the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, representing more than 10,000 member companies and an industry with more than $174.4 billion in revenue and 1 million...

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