Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA (174o-1813)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 112 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA (174o-1813) , See also:Italian printer, was See also:born in 1740 at See also:Saluzzo in See also:Piedmont, where his See also:father. owned a See also:printing See also:establishment. While yet a boy he began to engrave on See also:wood. He at length went to See also:Rome, and there became a compositor for the See also:press of the Propaganda. He made himself acquainted with the See also:Oriental See also:languages, and thus was enabled to render essential service to the Propaganda press, by restoring and accurately distributing the types of several Oriental See also:alpha-bets which had fallen into disorder. The See also:infante See also:Don See also:Ferdinand, afterwards See also:duke of See also:Parma, having established, about 176o, a printing-See also:house on the See also:model of those in See also:Paris, See also:Madrid and See also:Turin, Bodoni was placed at the See also:head of this establishment, which he soon rendered the first of the See also:kind in See also:Europe. The beauty of his See also:typography, &c., leaves nothing further to be desired; but the See also:intrinsic value of his See also:editions is seldom equal to their outward splendour. His See also:Homer, however, is a truly magnificent See also:work; and, indeed, his See also:Greek letters are faultless imitations of the best Greek See also:manuscript. His editions of the Greek, Latin, Italian and See also:French See also:classics are all highly prized for their typographical elegance, and some of them are not less remarkable for their accuracy. Bodoni died at See also:Padua in 1813. ,In 1818 a magnificent work appeared in two volumes See also:quarto, entitled Manuale Tipografico, containing specimens of the vast collection of types which had belonged to him. See De Lama, Vita del See also:Cavaliere Giambattista Bodoni (1816). See also:BODY-SNATCHING, the See also:secret disinterring of dead bodies in churchyards in See also:order to sell them for the purpose of See also:dissection.

Those who practised body-snatching were frequently called resurrectionists or resurrection-men. Previous to the passing of the See also:

Anatomy See also:Act 1832 (see ANATOMY: See also:History), no See also:licence was required in See also:Great See also:Britain for opening an anatomical school, and there was no See also:provision for supplying subjects to students for anatomical purposes. Therefore, though body-snatching was a See also:misdemeanour at See also:common See also:law, punishable with See also:fine and imprisonment, it was a sufficiently lucrative business to run the See also:risk of detection. Body-snatching became so prevalent that it was not unusual for the relatives and See also:friends of a deceased See also:person to See also:watch the See also:grave for some See also:time after See also:burial, lest it should be violated. See also:Iron coffins, too, were frequently used for burial, or the See also:graves were protected by a framework of iron bars called mortsafes, well-preserved examples of which may still be seen in Greyfriars' See also:churchyard, See also:Edinburgh. For a detailed history of body-snatching, see The See also:Diary of a Resurrectionist, edited by J. B. See also:Bailey (See also:London, 1896), which also contains a full bibliography and the regulations in force in See also:foreign countries for the See also:supply of bodies for anatomical purposes.

End of Article: BODONI, GIAMBATTISTA (174o-1813)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BODO 		[next]
BODY

Site © 2006 - Net Industries