PRESENTING TALLONE: ITALY’S BEST MODERN READING EXPERIENCE

The Frank V. de Bellis Collection in collaboration the Italian General Consulate in San Francisco and the Italian Cultural Institute present a mini-exhibit of Tallone fine print books typeset by hand and letterpress-printed.

Alberto Tallone (1898-1968) first established his publishing house in Paris in 1938 taking over an extant working 18th-century original typographic studio with a vast endowment of original foundry types and amplified output by developing a distinctive Tallone type. The Bergamo-born publisher believed that the aesthetics of the book and philological accuracy should always go hand in hand. Italian literary critic Gianfranco Contini (1912-1990) observed, "The idea that beauty could merge into truth sprung naturally within Tallone.” The prolific Tallone catalog abounds with masterpieces printed in their original languages that stand as a testimony that he reached his goal. Tallone's son and grandchildren continue to produce exquisite books that continue Italian fine printing traditions from Manutius to Bodoni.