Giovanni Mardersteig (1892-1977)
Giovanni Mardersteig was born in Goethe's city of Weimar as Hans Mardersteig, and is regarded as one of the greatest scholar-printers of modern times. In 1922, with declining health due to tuberculosis, he moved to Switzerland. He obtained permission from the Italian government to resurrect the old matrices of Giambattista Bodoni - the great 18th century Italian printer. Thus Mardersteig founded the private press, the Officina Bodoni.
Most of the typefaces he produced were based on 15th century Italian types, including Dante
and Fontana - his finest types. In 1927, the Officina moved to Verona and Mardersteig italianised his name to Giovanni. Italy obviously agreed with him - he continued working until the age of 86.
[NOM]
