Racine, Didot & the Louvre

In 2022, Rambler will release another classic: Phèdre by Jean Racine, translated by Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński. For this edition, we’ve drawn on illustrations from the famous three-volume collection of Racine’s works published in the early 19th century.

This collection belongs to Pierre Didot’s celebrated publishing series, known as the “Louvre Edition.” In 1806, it was hailed as “the most typographically perfect publication of all countries and eras.” Decades later, Didot’s achievement remains unrivaled.

The Origins of the Louvre Edition

The series began in 1791, when an heir to the illustrious Didot printing family embarked on producing luxury book editions illustrated by the finest artists of the age. A testament to its significance was the enormous folio format (37×51 cm). Didot enlisted Jean-Jacques David, regarded as France’s preeminent painter at the time. However, David declined direct involvement, considering graphic art less noble than oil painting. Instead, he recommended his most talented pupils, making the Louvre Edition a monument to neoclassicism in its bold, revolutionary style.

Work on the series was slow. The first volume, published in 1798, was Publius Virgilius Maro: Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis, illustrated with 26 engravings based on designs by Marguerite Gérard and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. The following year, Didot released Horace’s Opera Omnia in Latin, featuring engravings by Charles Percier. In 1802, La Fontaine’s Fables appeared, also with illustrations by Percier.

Racine’s Plays

The most ambitious undertaking of the series was Racine’s dramas. Planned as a three-volume set, it featured 57 engravings by artists such as Pierre Paul Prud’hon, Jean Guillaume Moitte, Antoine Denis Chaudet, Jean-Baptiste-Michel Dupréel, and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. Printed on vellum paper from Annonay, the set weighed an impressive 21 kilograms.

The first volume appeared in 1801, with the full set priced at 2,700 francs—equivalent to a year’s salary for a French officer. By comparison, earlier volumes such as Virgil and Horace had sold for about 600 francs.

The series became known as the “Louvre Edition” for a simple reason: in 1797, François de Neufchâteau, France’s Minister of the Interior, invited Didot to relocate his operations to the former premises of l’Imprimerie Royale, established in the Louvre under Cardinal Richelieu. Didot’s workshop remained there until 1805.

For our edition of Phèdre, we’ve included illustrations by Pierre Paul Prud’hon (frontispiece) and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson. The text is set in Linotype Didot and printed on ribbed, cotton-based Century Laid paper. The binding is, of course, handmade.