Giulia Garbin, Tipi di Bologna, 2017

Tipi di Bologna is a book designed, engraved, composed, printed, creased and bound as it has been done for centuries, by hand. Through the linocut illustrations of Giulia Garbin, the linotype texts of Stefano Riba, the sweat and technical expertise of Anonima Impressori, the book, produced by Griffo, the Great Festival of Letters and supported by the Fondazione Del Monte and Fedrigoni, presents fifteen stories dedicated to fifteen characters who, from the 15th century to the present day, have animated and made famous in the world the typographic scene in Bologna. It starts with Francesco Griffo da Bologna, the engraver who in 1501 designed the first cursive font, and continues through the anatomical illustrations of Jacopo Berengario and the monsters of Ulisse Aldrovandi. The journey continues through the whiplash of the Inquisition to a reckless bookseller, the public readings of one of the first Italian periodicals, the typographer and publisher who discovered Grazie Deledda and Italo Svevo, the turner who created indestructible serraforms, up to the present day and the adventures of Anonima Impressori. Tipi di Bologna does not run on the tracks of nostalgia, but rather recovers ancient traditions and techniques (but not past) to lead to the rediscovery of the art of typography in the capital of Emilia and forms of resistance that keep it alive even in the digital age. Tipi di Bologna follows at a distance of three years from Tipi di Torino, published in 2014 by Print About Me Micro-Press and printed by Archivio Tipografico.