Konstantinos Dimidis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Δημίδης; 18th century – 1869) was a fighter of theGreek Revolution of 1821,printer and gunsmith fromGrevena.
Konstantinos Dimidis was born in the late 18th century inGrevena. At a young age, He moved toAyvali searching for employment. There he learned gunsmithing. In 1818 he moved toParis together with Konstantinos Tompras and they apprenticed typography toFirmin Didot. A year later, returning to Ayvali, together with Tompras they opened a print shop in 1819.[1][2]
At the start of theGreek Revolution, in June 1821, Ayvali was attacked by theOttomans. Persecuted, he went toPsara, where he became actively involved in the Revolution. There he founded the first improvised print shop of the revolutionaryGreeks. In 1824 Konstantinos Dimidis was printing proclamations and naval diplomas. He even aspired to publish a newspaper, and, for this reason, theBritishphilhelleneLeicester Stanhope sent to Psara alithography equipment. TheDestruction of Psara in June 1824 foiled his plans.[1][2][3]
During the period 1827 – 1828 he worked in the print shop of the Italian Giuseppe Chiappe inHydra, where the newspaperThe Friend of the Law was published.
Later, Konstantinos Dimidis went toNafplio. On his own initiative, collaborating again with Konstantinos Tompras, he founded the first private print shop there. In 1828 he printed two books with the titles "Arithmetic", byDionysios Pyrrhos, and "Summary of the Gospel", by Neofytos Nikitopoulos. He then cooperated withEmmanouil Antoniadis, with whom he printed the newspapers "Eos" (1830 – 1831) and "Athens" (1832 – 1833). With Antoniadis, Dimidis manufactured and cast type on site.[1][2][3]
After the departure of Emmanouil Antoniadis toAthens, Konstantinos Dimids decided to move toSyros. InErmoupoli, he cooperated with Georgios Melistagis and in 1833 they published a newsletter. Until 1836 they had published 10 titles.
In 1836 Konstantinos Dimidis leftSyros. In 1843 he took over the newly founded Department of Type Creation of the Royal Type Shop, where he worked until his death, in 1869.[2]
His contribution to the evolution of Greek typography and the formation of Greek types was immense, as he was the onlyGreek in the years of theRevolution, but even up to the 1850, who could produce high quality types.[2]