Alphabet Lapidaire Monstre is a decorated set of
caps (A–Z, no W) created by lettering artist Jean Midolle and shown
in color in his Spécimen des écritures modernes comprenant
les romaines fleuronnées, gothiques nouvelles, fractures,
françaises, anglaise, italienne et allemande. Strasbourg:
Fc. Emile Simon fils, 1834–35. 40 leaves. 28×40 cm. Chromolithographers: Auguste
Ehrhardt, C. Fasoli, E. Lemaître. Printer: Frédéric Emile Simon fils,
Strasbourg. [M.
Lommen] The bottom third of each letter shows surnames of
famous writers and musicians which begin with the letter.
Included with other alphabets by Midolle in an article in
Arts et métiers graphiques (No. 44, Dec. 15, 1934)
entitled “Les
alphabets romantiques” which constituted a rediscovery of this
type of creations. Appropriated by Marcel Duchamp for the cover of
Georges Hugnet’s book La Septième face du
dé (1936), replacing the original names with those of
the surrealist pantheon: Arnim, Sade, Lautreamont, etc. [M. Wlassikoff, Signes]
Reproduced in black and white in Lettera 1 (1959)
[1954], in a redesigned version by Armin Haab. Also reproduced in
Frederick W. More…
Alphabet Lapidaire Monstre is a decorated set of caps (A–Z, no W) created by lettering artist Jean Midolle and shown in color in his Spécimen des écritures modernes comprenant les romaines fleuronnées, gothiques nouvelles, fractures, françaises, anglaise, italienne et allemande. Strasbourg: Fc. Emile Simon fils, 1834–35. 40 leaves. 28×40 cm. Chromolithographers: Auguste Ehrhardt, C. Fasoli, E. Lemaître. Printer: Frédéric Emile Simon fils, Strasbourg. [M. Lommen] The bottom third of each letter shows surnames of famous writers and musicians which begin with the letter.
Included with other alphabets by Midolle in an article in Arts et métiers graphiques (No. 44, Dec. 15, 1934) entitled “Les alphabets romantiques” which constituted a rediscovery of this type of creations. Appropriated by Marcel Duchamp for the cover of Georges Hugnet’s book La Septième face du dé (1936), replacing the original names with those of the surrealist pantheon: Arnim, Sade, Lautreamont, etc. [M. Wlassikoff, Signes]
Reproduced in black and white in Lettera 1 (1959) [1954], in a redesigned version by Armin Haab. Also reproduced in Frederick W. Lambert’s Letter forms (1964) and, in inferior quality, in Early Advertising Alphabets, Initials and Typographic Ornaments by Clarence P. Hornung (ed.), Dover Publications. [D. Tucker, D. Pape, Typophile] Photo-Lettering had it as Author Initials. A film version is shown in Berthold’s E1 (1974) with Facetype credits. Shown by Face Photosetting (1987) as Lapidaire.
In May 2013, at Haute école des arts du Rhin, Strasbourg, Nathalie Sebayashi and Anastasia Gaspard created a contemporary reinterpretation (Sebayashi, Gaspard) and published a multicolored screen printed poster (Sebayashi, Gaspard).
