Italian type foundry, est. in Turin in 1878
when Giovanni Nebiolo acquired Giacomo
Narizzano’s foundry (founded
1852). In 1889 the Levi brothers joined
the company, which is renamed to Nebiolo
& Comp. Started the
construction of
printing machines in
1890.
Became a public limited company
in 1899 and acquired several
other foundries over the
years. In 1908 Nebiolo and their competitor
Urania in Milan
formed a joint venture named Società
Augusta. In 1918, Augusta
was dissolved; Nebiolo and Urania merged under the name Fonderia di
caratteri e Fabbrica di macchine Ditta Nebiolo &
Comp. Taken over by Fiat in
1976 and went bankrupt in
1978. In 1990 the type
casting business went to Fruttiger AG in Münchenstein, Switzerland,
and later to Rainer
Gerstenberg’s foundry in Darmstadt, Germany. [Klingspor-Museum,
Kupferschmid]
More…
Italian type foundry, est. in Turin in 1878 when Giovanni Nebiolo acquired Giacomo Narizzano’s foundry (founded 1852). In 1889 the Levi brothers joined the company, which is renamed to Nebiolo & Comp. Started the construction of printing machines in 1890. Became a public limited company in 1899 and acquired several other foundries over the years. In 1908 Nebiolo and their competitor Urania in Milan formed a joint venture named Società Augusta. In 1918, Augusta was dissolved; Nebiolo and Urania merged under the name Fonderia di caratteri e Fabbrica di macchine Ditta Nebiolo & Comp. Taken over by Fiat in 1976 and went bankrupt in 1978. In 1990 the type casting business went to Fruttiger AG in Münchenstein, Switzerland, and later to Rainer Gerstenberg’s foundry in Darmstadt, Germany. [Klingspor-Museum, Kupferschmid]
Aldo Novarese became art director in 1952 and Nebiolo produced many of his type designs in metal. The remnants of the company continues to produce printing presses today, but the Nebiolo type catalog didn’t make an official transition to phototype in the 1960s. Various digital foundries (e.g. Canada Type, Elsner+Flake, Linotype, Mecanorma, and URW) have revived their designs.
