Giovanni Mardersteig

Giovanni Mardersteig (born Hans Mardersteig 8 January 1892 – 27 December 1977) was a German-born printer and typographer, making much of his career in Italy. He is particularly known for founding and running Officina Bodoni, a small press producing high-quality editions, and his typeface Dante.

Early life

Mardersteig was born Hans Mardersteig on 8 January 1892 in Weimar, Germany, to August Mardersteig and Klara Blaeser. So, after his Abitur Hans studied law in the universities of Bonn, Vienna (Austria), Kiel, and Jena, where he earned his doctorate from in 1915. Although he completed his traineeship, he relocated back to Switzerland, to Montagnola, in 1922, motivated by poor health. There with the help of a friend and was known for flamboyancy, would often summon Mardersteig to his home by Lake Garda to inspect his work in person and page by page. D'Annunzio's complete works finally appeared in 1936.

Later career During World War II Mardersteig helped political dissidents, hiding them and aiding them in their escape. When northern Italy was controlled by the Nazis in 1945, Mardersteig's press printed 200 copies of sonnets against them written by the German author who was stationed with the Wehrmacht in the Veneto region. Hans Mardersteig became an Italian citizen in 1946 and officially changed his first name to Giovanni, Mardersteig was fluent in many languages, including Greek and Latin.

Mardersteig was made Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1954 and received the Italian Medal of Merit for Culture and Art in Gold in 1962. He was an Honorary Foreign Corresponding member of the Grolier Club since 1964, the inaugural recipient of the Gutenberg Prize of the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz (1968), and the Frederic W. Goudy Award (1972).