[FR] Laurent & Deberny

1. Overview

1827-1828 Jean François Laurent, Honoré de Balzac & André Barbier. 1828 Laurent & Balzac. 1828-1840 Laurent & Alexandre de Berny. Formed out of Gillé, Laurent, and Duplat. Acquired Durouchail (1836). Succeeded in 1840 by Alexander De Berny [as Deberny].

In Printing Types, vol. 2, p. 183, Updike has this to say about this firm:

"The De Berny foundry had an interesting history. With Laurent, and a printer named Barbier, the novelist Honoré de Balzac formed an historic but disasterous association in 1827, in a scheme to erect a foundry, printing-office, and publishing-house all in one. In 1828, the firm broke up, leaving Laurent in possession of the foundry, who was joined by Alexandre de Berny (placed there by his mother, whose sentimental relations with Balzac greatly influenced the novelist's career). This firm - Laurent & De Berny - existed until 1848, when the business was continued by De Berny alone."

For a more detailed history, see the " History of Deberny et Peignot [http://amgweb.rit.edu/dphist1.htm]" at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection of the Rochester Institute of Technology library's website devoted to the 20th century magazine Arts et Métiers Graphiques: http://amgweb.rit.edu/index.htm. This history includes, as Appendix A to its Section III, a family tree of the "History of the Fonderie Deberny et Peignot, 1748 - 1972": http://amgweb.rit.edu/pdf/appendixa.pdf. This is in turn based on an (anonymous?) article: "Deberny et Peignot: La Belle Époque de la Typographie." Caractère, Vol. 12 (December 19750: 33-34.