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A unique typographic heritage to share

The Atelier du Livre d’art & de l’Estampe of the Imprimerie Nationale (IN Groupe) mission is, among other things, to preserve one of the most important typographic heritages in the world, with 700,000 engraved pieces (punches, matrices, wood blocks, copper plates, vignettes, lettering  tools… most of which are classified as historical monuments), and 35,000 volumes from the 16th century to the present day which summarize the history of the printed book over the past five centuries.

The collection is above all universal. In fact, it preserves, in addition to the exclusive historic latin types (Garamont, Grandjean, Luce, Didot, etc.), types from all over the world : Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform ninivite, Aramaic, Chinese, Brahmi, Arabic, Hebrew,  Tifinagh,  Mandaic, Telugu and so many others, allowing typographers to compose in some 65 world scripts, each in several  styles and sizes.

This collection of books, types, materials and crafts is historically linked to the Atelier du Livre d’art & de l’Estampe, both a place of memory and creation.

We are now pleased to make accessible part of these collections of engraved pieces and historical books kept in the Cabinet des Poinçons and the library of the Imprimerie Nationale. All the collections listed on this portal are far from exhaustive and will be supplemented over the months and years by new pieces. Do not hesitate to consult our portal regularly and discuss with our specialists on the different aspects of our collections.

We wish you beautiful discoveries among our collections which, we have no doubt, will arouse great interest among you and help to enrich your knowledge of a heritage which has recently been inaccessible and still too little known.