Racine, Didot & Louvre

The next Rambler book to be published in 2022 will be Jean Racine's Phaedra translated by Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński. When preparing our edition, we reached for illustrations from the famous three-volume edition of the French playwright's works, published in the early 19th century.

This is of course the famous publishing series of Pierre Didot, known as the "Louvre Edition", not without reason considered in 1806 to be "the most perfect typographically of all countries and epochs". Years have passed, and Didot's work remains unrivaled to this day.

The publishing beginnings of the series date back to 1791, when the heir of the distinguished printing family of Didot decided to produce luxurious editions of books illustrated by the best artists of the era. The significance of this edition was additionally emphasised by its huge format: folio (37×51 cm). Didot invited Jean-Jacques David, considered the most outstanding French painter of the time, to collaborate. However, the artist did not want to participate directly in this undertaking, considering graphic art to be a less noble form than oil paintings. However, he proposed works by his most outstanding students. Thus, the "Louvre edition" is a kind of monument erected to neoclassicism, in its radical, "revolutionary" edition.

Work on the series took a long time. It was not until 1798 that the first book appeared, published in Latin: Publius Virgilius Maro. Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis, illustrated with 26 graphics prepared according to the designs of Marguerite Gérard and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. A year later, Horace's works "Opera omnia" were also published in Latin, this time illustrated with graphics prepared by Charles Percier. In 1802, La Fontaine's "Fables" appeared, also with drawings by Percier.

Racine's Dramas

The greatest challenge Didot set himself was to prepare and publish the dramas of Jean Racine. The edition was planned for three volumes, and 57 graphics were prepared for it. Their authors included Pierre Paul Prud'hon, Jean Guillaume Moitte, Antoine Denis Chaudet, Jean-Baptiste-Michel Dupréel and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. The whole thing was printed on vellum paper coming from Annonay and weighed… 21 kilograms.

The first volume was published in 1801, and the set was supposed to cost 2,700 francs. For comparison, that was an officer's annual salary at the time. For comparison, earlier books by Virgil or Horace were valued at around 600 francs.

Where does the name "Louvre Edition" come from? The answer is simple. In 1797, the then French Minister of the Interior, François de Neufchâteau, proposed that Didot move his business to the former premises of l'Imprimerie Royale, founded in the Louvre by Cardinal Richelieu. Didot's firm operated there until 1805.

Our edition of " Phaedra " is illustrated with graphics by Pierre Paul Prud'hon (on the frontispiece) and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. The whole thing was set in Linotype Didot and printed on Century Laid cotton, ribbed paper. The binding was, of course, handmade.