Pierre-Simon Fournier

Pierre-Simon Fournier (born Sept. 15, 1712, Paris—died Oct. 8, 1768, Paris) was a French engraver and typefounder particularly noted for decorative typographic ornaments reflecting the Rococo spirit of his day.

Trained as an artist, at 17 he went to work in a typefoundry, where he learned to cut punches and to engrave ornaments. He set up his own typefoundry in Paris in 1736. He designed many new characters, and the fame of his foundry spread beyond his native France. His Table des proportions qu’il faut observer entre le caractères (1737) was followed by several other technical treatises, including Modèles de caractères (1742), which presented his entire range of typefaces. His principal work is Manuel typographique (2 vol., 1764–66), the first volume of which deals with punch cutting and typefounding; the second is devoted largely to type specimens, with many pages of ornaments.