L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 26 SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY T h e S a n F r a n c i s c o B a y Area has been fortunate to host several events high- lighting the notable work of Italy's prestigious publishing h o u s e , T a l l o n e F i n e P r i n t Books. January 31 through February 11, 2017, San Francisco State University's Frank V. de Bellis Collection, in collaboration with t h e S a n F r a n c i s c o I t a l i a n C o n s u l a t e G e n e r a l a n d t h e Italian Cultural Institute, pre- sented a mini-exhibit of Tallone Fine Print Books at the J. Paul Leonard Library. On February 1, the Italian Cultural Institute hosted a spe- cial presentation and reception with Elisa and Eleonora Tallone. E l i s a a n d E l e o n o r a a r e t h e g r a n d d a u g h t e r s o f A l b e r t o Tallone, who, in the early part of the 20th century, purchased type and equipment made in the 18th century in order to create hand-set books. February 5 through February 8, Elisa and Eleonora participat- ed in the 2017 CODEX Book Fair and Symposium held at the C r a n e w a y P a v i l i o n i n R i c h m o n d , C a l i f o r n i a . T h e CODEX Foundation was con- c e i v e d i n 2 0 0 5 b y P e t e r Rutledge Koch, fine press print- er, and Susan Filter, paper con- servator. Its purpose was to cre- ate an environment for promot- ing the book as a work of art. In March 2017, the Italian A c a d e m y o f C o l u m b i a University will hold an event m a r k i n g t h e d o n a t i o n b y Alexander Goren, of an almost complete collection of books printed by the Tallones to the R a r e B o o k a n d M a n u s c r i p t Library at Columbia University. A n d r e c e n t l y , L ' I t a l o - A m e r i c a n o m e t E l i s a a n d Eleonora at San Francisco's Italian Consulate, a meeting that was hosted by Consul General L o r e n z o O r t o n a . E l e o n o r a Tallone shared the philosophy of Tallone: "Our present-day publishing house, where every- thing is preserved authentically, exactly as it was when our stu- dio was founded in France at the epoch of the French Revolution, a n d o u r d e t e r m i n a t i o n i n upholding the tradition of fine printing, go hand in hand. It was in fact in the XVI (16th) century that the Book reached its peak in terms of Beauty, Harmony and Readability. Keeping up with this deeply-rooted tradition is, therefore, pursuing Beauty." An example of this philoso- phy can be seen in Paris at the Viale dei Canti, Alley of Poetry, which takes visitors to the Hôtel de Gallifet, the venue of the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Embassy. The Viale's surrounding walls are engraved with poems in Tallone type, originally called "Palladio," a t y p e t h a t w a s d e s i g n e d b y Alberto Tallone in 1949 inspired b y t h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f V i l l a Barbaro Maser, one of Palladio's masterpieces. Alberto Tallone (1898-1968), the son of the renowned painter Cesare, head professor of paint- ing at the Brera Academy in Milan, was the apprentice at Maurice Darantiere's presti- g i o u s t y p o g r a p h i c s t u d i o i n Châtenay-Malabry (near Paris) from 1931 to 1937. In 1938, Tallone founded his own pub- lishing and printing house in Paris by taking over the studio from Darantiere, and enriching the existing collection of types (pieces of metal with a raised letter or character on its upper s u r f a c e u s e d i n p r i n t i n g ) b y a d d i n g c l a s s i c f o n t s , w h i c h i n c l u d e d t h e T a l l o n e ® f o n t designed by Alberto and punch- cut in Paris by Charles Malin in 1949. Alberto moved the studio home to Italy in 1960. His goal of combined aesthetic and edito- rial truth has been pursued since the 1970s by his son Enrico, in collaboration with his children, resulting in a diverse catalog of some 400 works, ranging from Greek pre-Socratic philosophers to contemporary poets in a mul- tiplicity of languages and book formats. The unmistakable design of Tallone books is characterized by a unique typographic archi- tecture and is renowned world- wide for the quality of the print- ing, the relevance of the works published, the elegant layouts, the slender book formats, the exclusiveness of the typefaces derived from hand-cut punches, the pure-cotton papers and the precious papers made in China a n d J a p a n , w h i c h e n d u r e through the centuries. The volumes are hand bound by stitching sections together and gluing them to a softcover which is beautifully wrapped to the book thus preserving the book's flexibility. Each is type- set by hand and letterpress print- ed in its original language, to a new typographic design, thus creating a unique "book-diversi- ty," a trademark continued today at the Tallone printing and pub- lishing house. The Tallones describe their books in this way: "The fine CATHERINE ACCARDI Tallone Fine Print Books Visits San Francisco books letterpress-printed by the T a l l o n e p u b l i s h i n g - p r i n t i n g house are entirely set by hand with original type fonts of great beauty, derived from the punch- es cut directly by artists such as N i c h o l a s K i s ( 1 6 5 0 - 1 7 0 2 ) , William Caslon (1693-1766) and, during the last century, Henri Parmentier and Charles Malin, which convey to letter- press printing a visual appeal a n d c o m m u n i c a t i v e s t r e n g t h similar to that of calligraphy, an achievement which elevates the experience of reading books." Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet a n d N o b e l P r i z e w i n n e r f o r Literature, once called Alberto Tallone a "master of clarity, pro- f e s s o r o f p u r i t y , h e r o o f t h e book. These qualities are also found in his son Enrico, who has headed the printing house since 1973. The printing house is now located in Alpignano, Torino, Italy, where Enrico is supported by his children Lorenzo, Elisa and Eleonora. Tallone Fine Print Books continues to create out- standing gems in the publishing s e c t o r , b o o k s w h i c h a r e described as "fragrant with ink and passion." You can explore Tallone Fine Print Books at their website, http://www.talloneeditore.com. A description of all the type styles that compose the collec- t i o n o f t h e T a l l o n e P r i n t i n g H o u s e i s a v a i l a b l e a t h t t p : / / www.talloneeditore.com/index.p hp?option=com_content&view= article&id=55&Itemid=2 Enrico Tallone at work Photo courtesy of Maurizio Bosio

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