He first used the process in his edition of Callet’s Tables of Logarithms (1795), in which he secured an accuracy till then unattainable.

He published stereotyped editions of French, English and Italian classics at a very low price.

[1] At the 1798 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française Pierre and Firmin Didot and Louis Etienne Herhan won an honorable distinction, the highest award, for their "Superb edition of Virgil with characters and ink of their manufacture; a stereotype plate, and an in-12 edition of the works of Virgil and Lafontaine with these characters.

Essai sur la Typographie by a member of the Didot family was published at Paris in 1852.

Along with Giambattista Bodoni of Italy, Firmin Didot is credited with establishing the use of the Didone or "Modern" style of serif typefaces.