Ghost Foundry

Chocolat Menier

Artist

Firmin Bouisset

1859–1925. Painter, illustrator, poster artist. Born in Moissac.

Bouisset was a painter and lithographer who became one of the best known advertising illustrators of his time. His little girl writing on a wall for Chocolat Menier, first published in the early 1890s and said to be modelled on his daughter Yvonne, became the face of the brand.

He also drew the schoolboy for LU Petit Écolier biscuits. The 1925 Rialta poster is credited "after Bouisset": his girl, reused, with new lettering by the printer's studio.

All posters by Firmin Bouisset

Poster after Firmin Bouisset. On a navy ground, Chocolat Menier in wide white shadowed capitals. In a yellow disc, a girl in a red bodice and polka dot skirt chalks Pour Croquer on the wall. Below, Demandez la tablette, Rialta in a lozenge, and Pour Croquer.
Chocolat Menier. Demandez la tablette Rialta pour croquer
Artist
After Firmin Bouisset
Year
1925
Era
Art Deco
Country
France
Lettering
Wide sans, Shadow and outline, High-contrast serif, Script
Printer
Imprimerie de Vaugirard, Paris
Size
194 × 125 cm
Held by
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Record
Gallica btv1b9005851x
Scan
Wikimedia Commons
Rights
Public domain

Fonts on this poster

Fonts

Wide Shadow

CHOCOLAT MENIER in wide white capitals with a black drop shadow on navy
DEMANDEZ LA TABLETTE in wide white capitals on navy

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

Wide sans, Shadow and outline

Download

Type specimen

Lozenge Serif

RIALTA in dark navy high-contrast serif capitals in a cream lozenge with a yellow border

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

High-contrast serif

Download

Type specimen

Chalk Script

POUR CROQUER chalked in navy on a yellow disc by a girl’s raised hand

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

Script

Download

Type specimen

History

Menier was one of the largest chocolate makers in France, with a model factory at Noisiel, east of Paris. In the early 1890s Firmin Bouisset drew a little girl chalking the brand name on a wall, and Menier kept reusing her for decades.

This version from 1925 sells a new bar, Rialta, made “pour croquer”: for eating as it is, rather than for cooking. The girl is Bouisset’s. The lettering is not. It came from the printer’s studio at the Imprimerie de Vaugirard in Paris, and nobody signed it.

That makes it an unusually rich sheet. Three distinct letterforms share the sheet: a wide, shadowed sans for the brand, a high-contrast serif for the product, and a casual chalk script that the girl is writing as you look.

Source and rights

Firmin Bouisset died in 1925, and the lettering is unsigned studio work published the same year. Both routes end in the same place: the public domain since 1 January 1996.

Scan from Wikimedia Commons, catalogue record Gallica btv1b9005851x. Brand names on the poster belong to their owners and are never used as font names.

Same era, lettering or artist.