De Vinne was born at Stamford, Connecticut, and educated in the common schools of the various towns where his father, an itinerant Methodist mininister, had pastorates. He learned the rudiments of printing while employed in a shop at Fishkill, New York. He worked at the Newburgh, New York "Gazette", then moved to New York City. In 1850 he was hired as a compositor by the printing shop of Francis Hart in New York, where he rose to the position of foreman within a year, which included duties as shop manager. He became a partner in Hart's business in 1858 and assumed sole proprietorship of the firm upon Hart's death in 1877, eventually renaming it to Theodore L. De Vinne & Co. in 1883.