Ghost Foundry

Quinquina Dubonnet

Artist

Jules Chéret

1836–1932. Lithographer, poster artist. Born in Paris.

Chéret was apprenticed to a lithographer at thirteen. He spent the early 1860s in London designing labels and book covers, then returned to Paris in 1866 and opened his own lithographic press.

Working directly on the stone, he drew image and lettering together in a few flat colours. His posters filled Paris walls for three decades and earned him the label “father of the modern poster”. His lettering is loose, condensed and confident, made to be read across a boulevard.

All posters by Jules Chéret

Poster by Jules Chéret. A woman in a striped dress dances with a glass and a bottle, a white cat on her shoulder, under the words Quinquina Dubonnet arched over a red disc. Apéritif and Dans tous les Cafés sit bottom right.
Quinquina Dubonnet, apéritif dans tous les cafés
Artist
Jules Chéret
Year
1895
Era
Belle Époque
Country
France
Lettering
Condensed sans, Display
Printer
Not stated on this copy
Size
56 × 40 cm, reduced print
Held by
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Record
LCCN 2004665793
Scan
Wikimedia Commons
Rights
Public domain

Fonts on this poster

Fonts

Arched Capitals

QUINQUINA DUBONNET in navy capitals, arched over a red disc

Lettering as it appears on the poster.

Letters from the poster

Hover, focus or tap a letter for a closer look.

Full typeface

The full alphabet. Letters from the poster stay as they are. The rest are drawn to match them: same shapes, same spacing, same feel.

Lettering style

Condensed sans, Display

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Type specimen

Apéritif Capitals

APÉRITIF in red capitals

Lettering as it appears on the poster.

Letters from the poster

Hover, focus or tap a letter for a closer look.

Full typeface

The full alphabet. Letters from the poster stay as they are. The rest are drawn to match them: same shapes, same spacing, same feel.

Lettering style

Condensed sans, Display

Download

Type specimen

Café Lowercase

Dans tous les Cafés in heavy red lowercase

Lettering as it appears on the poster.

Letters from the poster

Hover, focus or tap a letter for a closer look.

Full typeface

The full alphabet. Letters from the poster stay as they are. The rest are drawn to match them: same shapes, same spacing, same feel.

Capitals
Lowercase

Lettering style

Display

Download

Type specimen

History

Dubonnet is a wine aperitif flavoured with quinine, created in Paris by the wine merchant Joseph Dubonnet in 1846. The usual story is that it was meant to make quinine, taken against malaria, easier to swallow for French soldiers in North Africa. By the 1890s it was a café staple, which is all the poster needs to say: apéritif, dans tous les cafés.

Chéret drew it in 1895, at the height of his career. Everything is lettered by hand. Three different kinds of lettering share the sheet: the brand name follows the curve of the disc in navy, APÉRITIF stands straight in red, and the last line drops into a heavy, flared lowercase.

The copy scanned here is a reduced print, 56 by 40 centimetres. A line of small type along the bottom offers the full double colombier poster, 125 by 90 centimetres, sent post free for 5 francs by the weekly Le Courrier français, 19 rue des Bons-Enfants, Paris.

Source and rights

Jules Chéret died in 1932. In Switzerland and the EU his work entered the public domain on 1 January 2003. The Library of Congress publishes the scan with no known restrictions.

Scan from Wikimedia Commons, catalogue record LCCN 2004665793. Brand names on the poster belong to their owners and are never used as font names.

Same era, lettering or artist.