Companies

Hennies Irmãos

Since: 1891
Until: 1992
Activities: Typography, Lithography, Book binding, Blank books, Paper ruling, Stationary shop, Type suppliers, Type import, Typesetting

Hennies Irmãos

Letterpress print shop founded by German emigrants Heinrich Hennies and Theodor Hennies in 1891. The company went through different corporate compositions, starting activities as “Hennies, Schulz e Cia.”, and changed its name  to “Hennies & Winiger” in 1892, due to a partnership with José Winiger, who left the company in the next year. The name of the company then changed to “Hennies & Irmãos” having Heinrich and Theodor as the only owners. Due to the admission of Heinz C. Hennies as a partner, in 1925 the company name was changed to “Hennies Irmãos & Cia.”. In 1934, after Theodor's death, his widow Maria Hennies and Lodovico Carlos Hennies (also known as “Ludwig”, Heinrich’s son) were admitted as partners, which reflected in a nomenclature change to “Hennies & Cia.”. The company became “Sociedade Limitada” (Limited Company) in 1963, when other family members were registered as partners, resulting in the nomenclature “Hennies & Cia. Ltda.”, which remained in use until the company closed in 1992.

The Hennies brothers, then about 20 years old, arrived in Argentina coming from Bremen, Germany, in 1888, and came to Brazil soon after. During over one hundred years of activity, the company has been managed by three generations: the German founders Heinrich and Theodor Hennies; the Heinrich sons —Gustavo, Lodovico and Waldemar Hennies—; and Waldemar sons —Waldemar, Ludovico and Carlos Hennies.  

During the time it remained active, the company was settled in different locations in São Paulo city. It started at Rua dos Imigrantes, 48 (current Rua José Paulino, Bom Retiro) where it stayed for almost two years, moving in 1893 to Rua da Esperança, 15 (current Praça da Sé, downtown) and shortly afterwards to Rua da Caixa D'Água, 1C (now Rua Barão de Paranapiacaba, Sé) with some variations in numbering, such as 1D, 1E and 1F. In 1906 the company was installed in a building of their own, at Rua do Riachuelo, 14 and 16 (numbers updated to 86-90 in 1934, corresponding to the current 90-78) where they remain until 1955. Reports and photos show that binding and printing machinery worked on the ground floor, typesetting on the second floor and finishing on the third floor, with materials (type, galleys, paper, printed matter) being transported by a manual elevator. A branch of the company, called “Papelaria Hennies & Cia.”, dedicated to stationery and letterpress printing supplies, opened in 1934 at Rua Riachuelo, 90 trade, called and remained active until 1995. As the city grew, in 1955 the printing shop was transferred from downtown to Brás, an industrial neighborhood, settling at Rua Maria Marcolina, 347, where it stayed until the closing of its activities.

There are more than 550 printed documents produced by this letterpress print shop in collections in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in Brazil and abroad, most of them books and periodicals that circulated in São Paulo city, including publications aimed at immigrant communities in seven languages: Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Latin, Latvian and Arabic. The company acted as importer of graphic materials, machines and foundry type, printers, producers of rulled paper and book binders, being pioneers in embossed fantasy cards manufacture in Brazil, becoming an important reference for the history of typography in São Paulo in the 20^th century. 

The Hennies had a strong connection with suppliers of type and graphic materials in Germany. They advertised themselves as importers of paper and inks, suppliers of machines and tools for letterpress and lithography and were representatives of the Berlin-based ink and varnish manufacturer Dr. Lövinsohn & Co. The type repertoire is compatible with the German foundries H. Berthold (Berlin), J. G. Schelter & Giesecke (Leipzig), D. Stempel A.G. (Frankfurt am Main), Schriftgiesserei Emil Gursch (Berlin), Schriftguß A.G. vorm. Brüder Butter (Dresden), among others identified as suppliers of the types used by Hennies in printing. In Brazil it is known that the Hennies acquired types from Funtimod after 1930.

 

[by Jade Samara Piaia]

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Typefaces

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