DIDO, or Elisa, the reputed founder of Carthage, was the daughter of Mutgo, Belus, or Agenor, king of Tyre. She may have been an historical character, but the stories told of her by Justin and Virgil differ essentially. She was worshipped at Carthage, and as a deity may be identified with Juno Caelestis, the Roman form of the Phoenician Astarte.
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DIDOT, the name of a family of learned French printers and publishers.
François Didot (1689-1757), founder of the family, was born at Paris. He began business as a bookseller and printer in 1713, and among his undertakings was a collection of the travels of his friend the Abbé Prevost, in 20 volumes (1747). It was remarkable for its typographical perfection, and was adorned with many engravings and maps.
François Ambroise Didot (1730-1804), son of François, made important improvements in type-founding, and was the first to attempt printing on vellum paper. Among the works which ’ he published was the famous collection of French classics prepared by order of Louis XVI. for the education of the Dauphin, and the folio edition of L'Art de verifier les dates. Pierre François Didot (1732-1795), brother of the preceding, devoted much attention to the art of typefounding and to paper-making. Among the works which issued from his press was an edition in folio of the Imitatio Christi (1788).
Henri Didot (1765-1852), son of Pierre François, is celebrated for his “microscopic” editions of various standard works, for which he engraved the type when nearly seventy years of age. He was also the engraver of the assignats issued by the Constituent and Legislative assemblies and the Convention.
Didot Saint-Léger, second son of Pierre François, was the inventor of the paper-making machine known in England as the Didot machine.
Pierre Dγdot (1760-1853), eldest son of François Ambroise, is celebrated as the publisher of the beautiful “Louvre” editions of Virgil, Horace, and Racine. The Racine, in 3 volumes folio, was pronounced in 1801 to be “the most perfect typographical production of all ages.”...
Firmin Didot (1764-1836), second son of François Ambroise, sustained the reputation of the family both as printer and type-founder. He invented or revived the process of stereotyping, coined its name, and first made use of the process in his edition of Callet ’s Tables of Logarithms (1795), in which he secured an accuracy till then unattainable, He published stereotyped editions of French, English, and Italian classics at a very low price. He was the author of two tragedies— La Reine de Portugal and La Mort d'Anníbal; and he wrote metrical translations from Virgil, Tyrtaeus, and Theocritus.
Ambroise Firmin Didot (1790-1876), was the eldest son of the preceding. After receiving a classical education, he spent three years in Greece and in the East; and on the retirement of his father in 1827 he undertook, in conjunction with his brother Hyacinthe, the direction of the publishing business. Their greatest undertaking was a new edition of the Thesaurus Graecae Linguae of Henry Stephens, under the editorial care of the brothers Dindorf and Μ. Hase (9 vols. 1855-59). Among the numerous important works published by the brothers, the 200 volumes forming the Bibliothèque des auteurs grecs, Bibliothèque latine, and Bibliothèque française deserpe special mention. Ambroise Firmin Didot was the first to propose (1823) a subscription in favour of the Greeks, then in insurrection against Turkish tyranny. Besides a translation of Thucydides (1833), he wrote the articles “Estienne” in the Nouvelle Biographie Générale, and “Typographie” in the Ency. Mod., as well as Observations sur l'orthographie française (1867), &c. In 1875 he published a very learned and elaborate monograph on Aldus Manutius. His collection of MSS.,the richest* iu France, was said to be worth, at the time of his death, not less than 2,000,000 francs.
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