Oratio Dominica in CLV linguas versa

With the “Oratio Dominica”, Bodoni accomplished an ambitious project, as well as a book set to enter the history of typographical art: it's the Pater Noster, a universal prayer, translated into 155 languages ​​for which 215 different typefaces were used. The entire sample of Bodonian alphabets is presented in an immense polyphony of idioms and shapes, among which, extremely fascinating, those of the so-called "exotic" alphabets stand out. Studious and fond of oriental languages, Bodoni became familiar with this kind of typefaces by working at the printing workshop “Propaganda Fide” in Rome. When it came to drawing and producing his personal punches, the challenge saw him victorious: even if you were unable to translate the text in the pages presented here, the "reader" eye can only be enchanted by the beauty of the curves and the links between the letters.The “Oratio Dominica” is exhibited in the Masone Labyrinth both in the original Bodonian version of 1806 and in the 1967 reprint by Franco Maria Ricci.