This lecture is co-presented by the Northern California Chapter of the American Printing History Association.

In her slide presentation, Valerie Lester will set Bodoni in the context of the places and the era in which he lived, and will present some rarely-seen images of his work. She will introduce the people with whom he worked and who influenced him, paying special attention to his father in Saluzzo; to Cardinal Spinelli in Rome; to Fournier; to his employers, the duke and duchess of Parma; to Guillaume du Tillot, the prime minister of Parma; to the Amoretti family of printers; to his talented and loving wife, Margherita Dall’Aglio; to the Didots; and to his two great patrons, Nicolás de Azara and Joachim Murat (Napoleon’s brother-in-law). And of course, she will not forget to describe the food he ate and the wine he drank.