Framboise Pépin et ses environs by François de Bondy
An edited version of the photo I took of the title page of Framboise Pépin et ses environs.
Here is the title page of Framboise Pépin et ses environs by François de Bondy (1875–19?), published in 1923. It’s a book on life in France at the beginning of the 20th century.
I don’t even recall where I took this photograph, but it must have been a second-hand book store in Canada. I didn’t take a photograph of the book cover, which must not have interested me very much. But that typeface on the title page—as well as that ‘GB’ monogram of the publisher, Bernard Grasset (1881–1955)—intrigued me.
A couple of things compelled me to take a photograph. First, the typeface is decidedly transitional. I couldn’t help but think of Times New Roman (1931), which is reflected in the a and t, and I thought the e as well, but after comparing the title text with TNR, I was clearly mistaken.
Secondly, I was surprised to see those s’s with ball terminals, which struck me as more reminiscent of the didone style. Thirdly, the proportions are quite curious; the m/n are unusually condensed, and that flattened bowl in P also seems to be a rarity. And lastly, I was quite fascinated with that r, which, despite having a ball terminal looks quite weak—a scrawny little arm/shoulder.
Identifying the typeface
I recently came across my picture again, and just had to know what typeface was used for the title. Something about that r put the name ‘Elzevir’ in my mind, but when I searched some Elzevir examples online, nothing looked like what I had here. So clearly I was mistaken.
I decided to ask for assistance from the type community on Twitter, and fairly quickly, the typeface was identified: Elzevir Estienne, or Beaudoire’s Elzévir as I have seen it most commonly referred to as.
Type designer Greg Shutters commented:
The caps look like French Oldstyle / Elzevir / Cadmus but the lowercase does not…it appears that this is actually the Elzevir designed by the Beaudoire foundry with an entirely different lowercase: http://luc.devroye.org/ChBeaudoire—ElzeririennesEstienne-1901b.jpg
Typographer Pauline Nuñez agreed, and commented:
I thought Beaudoire as well & def. French Oldstyle — [http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-43895.html] Every French person should know this as it has been widely used on bookcovers from that era. Charles Mazé did a lovely work around this type of shapes: https://www.abyme.net/catalogue/mercure/
And Charles Mazé himself, who designed the typeface Mercure (2010–2021) inspired by Beaudoir’s Elzévir (as well as Louis Perrin’s Augustaux), commented:
Looks like Elzevir Estienne from Fonderie Typographique (Beaudoire), used a lot by French publisher Mercure de France on book covers.
So there you have it—Elzevir Estienne by the Ch. Beaudoire & Co. foundry.
The only thing that hasn’t become entirely clear to me is when Elzevir Estienne was designed. According to Luc Devroye—though no sources are cited—the earliest cuts of Elzévir were from 1858 (Romain Elzevir). There is also an Elzevir (corps) 14 from 1863, which is a copy of Perrin’s Marquet 14 from 1854). But the specimen available from Elzevir Estienne is from 1901, so I would assume it wasn’t designed long before then.
The isolated title text with a bit of digital cleanup. I used this image in an attempt to identify the typeface with WhatTheFont and Matcherator, without success.
The author’s name, François de Bondy, set in all-caps Grasset (1898) by Eugène Grasset (1845–1917).
The publisher’s name and details are set in an unidentified Didone or Scotch roman typeface, set in all-caps and small-caps (Éditeur; Rue des Saints-Pères; MCMXXIII). I’m amused by the fact that someone added the publishing year in pencil, for those who have trouble reading Roman numerals.
2 Comments on “Framboise Pépin et ses environs by François de Bondy”
Eva, thanks so much for introducing me to Elzevir Estienne! And sincere apologies for the long wait.
French type history from before WWII is not exactly my strong suit. I hope that someone more knowledgeable will stop by and fill us in with more details. I have a feeling that there’s some confusion about “Beaudoire’s Elzevir”, which has to do with the fact that “Elzevir” is more of a genre descriptor (like oldstyle) than one specific design, and also that there is more than one Beaudoire.
The Fonderie Générale in Paris was doing business under various names over its long history, including Th. Beaudoire & Cie (1871–72, 1882–92); Th. Beaudoire, Traverse & Cie (1872–82); Th. Beaudoire & Fils (1892–94); and Ch. Beaudoire & Cie. (1894–1912). I assume that Charles Beaudoire was the son (fils) of Theophile Beaudoire (1833–1903).
Some sources including MyFonts and Luc Devroye credit Theophile Beaudoire and Gustave Schroeder with the design of Romana. This is bollocks, or at least confusingly simplified (and I’m embarrassed to say that we had reproduced this info on Fonts In Use previously). It makes more sense when reading the full description on MyFonts:
In other words, this branch of modernized oldstyle romans started in France. The general idea and style made it to other places, too, including the United States, see French Oldstyle AKA (French) Elzevir. Central’s De Vinne turned it into a bold advertising face. Its success inspired many related designs. In Europe, this included Romanisch and its follower Romana. The latter was designed at Riegerl & Weißenborn in Leipzig, and subsequently cast by various foundries. Neither Beaudoire nor Schroeder had anything to do with Romana, other than having worked on predecessors.
Thanks a lot for the information! I decided to remove the list of associated typefaces, deeming it too speculative and murky, and straying too far from the essence of this FontsInUse entry anyway.
However, I’m planning on writing an article where I hope to explore those typefaces and their relationships further, so this gives me a starting point. It’s probably near-impossible to connect many dots, but I at least want to explore the propagation of that straight-legged R that seems to show up more or less with Elzevir, and dies in popularity in the 1910s–1930s or so. Perhaps I can even map out its propagation in Europe and the US.
Did that feature first appear in Lyons Capitals, or was that one of the features being revived by the French?