The true location of the Aldine Press in 1500

The Aldine Press was the

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

office started by

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

in 1494 in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics (Latin and Greek masterpieces, plus a few more modern works). The first book that was dated and printed under his name appeared in 1495. The Aldine Press is famous in the history of

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

, among other things, for the introduction of

italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed t ...

. The press was the first to issue printed books in the small

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

size, similar to that of a modern paperback, and like that intended for portability and ease of reading. According to Curt F. Bühler, the press issued 132 books during twenty years of activity under

. After Aldus’s death in 1515, the press was continued by his wife Maria and her father, Andrea Torresani (), until his son, Paulus Manutius (1512–1574) took over. His grandson

Aldus Manutius the Younger Aldus Manutius, the Younger ( it, Aldo Manuzio il Giovane) (13 February 1547 — 28 October 1597) was the grandson of Aldus Manutius and son of Paulus Manutius. He was the last member of the Manuzio family to be active in the Aldine Press that his ...

then ran the firm until his death in 1597. Today, the antique books printed by the Aldine Press in Venice are referred to as ''Aldines,'' as are the letterforms and typefaces pioneered by the Aldine Press. The press enjoyed a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

of works printed in Greek in the Republic of Venice, effectively giving it copyright protection. Protection outside the Republic was more problematic, however. The firm maintained an agency in Paris, but its commercial success was affected by many counterfeit editions, produced in Lyons and elsewhere.

Beginnings

Title page of Herodotus' history of the Greek and Persian Wars 1502

, the founder of the Aldine Press, was originally a humanist scholar and a teacher. Manutius met Andrea Torresani, who had acquired publishing equipment from the widow of

Nicholas Jenson Nicholas Jenson (c. 1420 – 1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours and is credited with being the creator of one ...

. The ownership of the press was originally split in two, with one half belonging to Pier Francesco Barbarigo, the nephew of

Agostino Barbarigo Agostino Barbarigo (3 June 1419 – 20 September 1501) was Doge of Venice from 1486 until his death in 1501. While he was Doge, the imposing Clock Tower in the Piazza San Marco with its archway through which the street known as the Merceria le ...

, who was the doge at the time, and the other half belonging to Andrea Torresani. Manutius owned one fifth of Torresani's share of the press. Manutius was mainly in charge of the scholarship and editing, leaving financial and operating concerns to Barbarigo and Torresani. In 1496, Aldus established his own location of the press in a building called the ''Thermae'' in the Sestiere di San Polo on the campo Sant'Agostin, today ''numero civico'' (house number) 2343 San Polo on the ''Calle della Chiesa'' (Alley of the Church), now the location of the restaurant ''Due Colonne''. Though there are two commemorative plaques located on the building ''numero civico'' 2311 ''Rio Terà Secondo,'' historians regard them to be erroneously placed based on contemporaneous letters addressed to Manutius. The first erroneous plaque had been placed by Abbot don Vincenzo Zenier in 1828. Manutius lived and worked in the ''Thermae'' in order to produce published books from the Aldine Press. This was also the location of the "New Academy", where a group of Manutius' friends, associates, and editors came together to translate Greek and Latin texts. In 1505, Manutius married Maria, the daughter of Andrea Torresani of Asola. Torresani and Manutius were already business partners, but the marriage combined the two partners' shares in the publishing business. After the marriage, Manutius lived at Torresani's house. Shrinking in popularity, in 1506 the Aldine Press was moved to Torresani's house in the parish of San Paternian. It was later demolished in 1873 and was covered by a bank building in the Venice square, ''Campo Manin.''

Accomplishments

The press was started by Manutius due to a combination of his love of classics and the need for preservation of Hellenic studies. During its initial era the press printed new copies of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

, and other Greek and Latin classics. The first edition of Plato's works (known as the Aldine edition) was dedicated to

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

, and included the poem of Musurus and the life of Plato by

Diogenes Laertius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...

, which were also included in the first two editions of Plato's works printed in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

. The two Basel editions were introduced by a Latin preface written by the Greek scholar

Simon Grynaeus Simon Grynaeus (born Simon Griner; 1493 – 1 August 1541) was a German scholar and theologian of the Protestant Reformation. Biography Grynaeus was the son of Jacob Gryner, a Swabian peasant, and was born at Veringendorf, in Hohenzollern-Si ...

, who dedicated the work to the humanist

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

. Manutius also printed dictionaries and grammars to help people interpret the books, used by scholars wanting to learn Greek who would employ learned Greeks in order to teach them directly. Historian

Elizabeth Eisenstein Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein (October 11, 1923 – January 31, 2016) was an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th-century France. She is well known for her work on the history of early printing, writing on the transition in ...

claims that the fall of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

in 1453 had placed under threat the importance and survival of Greek scholarship, but that publications such as those by the Aldine Press secured it once more.

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

was one of the scholars learned in Greek with whom the Aldine Press partnered in order to provide accurately translated text. The Aldine Press also expanded into modern languages, mainly Italian and French. Aldus Manutius LOC photo meetup 2012

Humanist typefaces

Aldus Manutius eventually took on a project to improve upon the Humanistic font designs of Jenson's typefaces, hiring

Francesco Griffo Francesco Griffo (1450–1518), also called Francesco da Bologna, was a fifteenth-century Italian punchcutter. He worked for Aldus Manutius, designing the printer's more important humanist typefaces, including the first italic type. He cut Roman, ...

to design and cut typefaces for his print editions of classical literature. Humanistic fonts, based on the formal hand of

Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

scribes and notaries, had been in development from the time movable print arrived in Italy, notably by

Nicolas Jenson Nicholas Jenson (c. 1420 – 1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours and is credited with being the creator of on ...

in 1470. Griffo developed his own further refinements of style, resulting in one of the earliest

roman typeface In Latin script typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 15th century, based on the pairing of inscriptional ...

s produced.

Italic typeface

Adapting this admired and influential roman-faced font, Manutius and Griffo went on to produce a cursive variant, the first of what is now known as

italic type In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed ...

. The word ''italic'' is derived from early Italian versions of italic faces, which were designed primarily in order to save on the cost of paper. The Aldine Press first used italic type in a woodcut of Saint Catherine of Siena in 1500. Their 1501 edition of Virgil's ''Opera'' was the first book to be printed in italic type. The roman typeface and italic form created and pioneered by Aldus Manutius and Francesco Griffo were highly influential in typographic development.

Portable books (or ''libelli portatiles'')

Beginning in 1505 Manutius produced plain texts in a portable form, using the term '' enchiridion'', meaning "handbook" (later misnamed "pocketbook"). The

was the first version of the editio minor. Although these new, portable books were not cheap, the books of the Aldine Press did not force upon their buyers a substantial investment comparable to that of large volumes of text and commentary during this era. These books consisted on an edited text issued without commentary, printed in a typeface mimicking chancery script (the cursive handwriting of the humanist), produced in a small book which could sit comfortably in the hand. The editio minor, in many ways, brought financial and logistical benefits to those interested in the classics. An individual no longer had to go to the book, but rather the book came along with them.

Imprint and motto

In 1501, Aldus used as his publisher's device the image of a

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the b ...

wrapped around an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek � ...

.H. George Fletcher, ''In praise of Aldus Manutius'' (New York: Morgan Library, 1995), pp. 26–27. "The dolphin and anchor device owed its origins most immediately to Pietro Bembo. Aldus told Erasmus six years later that Bembo had given him a silver coin minted under the Roman

Emperor Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

bearing an image of this device. The image of the dolphin and anchor on the coin came with the saying "Festina Lente", meaning "make haste slowly." This would later become the motto for the Aldine Press.

After 1515

died on February 6, 1515. Following his death the firm was run by Andrea Torresani and his daughter, Maria, the widow of Aldus Manutius. The name of the press was changed in 1508 to "In the House of Aldus and Andrea Torresano," and kept this name until 1529. In 1533,

Paulus Manutius Paulus Manutius ( it, Paolo Manuzio; 1512–1574) was a Venetian printer with a humanist education, the third son of the famous printer Aldus Manutius and his wife Maria Torresano. Life As a young man, Paulus Manutius moved to Venice to get an e ...

managed the firm, starting it up again and changing its name to "Heirs of Aldus and Andrea Torresano". In 1539, the imprint changed to "Sons of Aldo Manuzio". In 1567,

(grandson of Aldus Manutius) took over and maintained the business until his death.

Publications

A partial list of publications from the Aldine Press, cited from ''Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting than Bronze''. *''Musarum Panagyris,'' Aldus Manutius, sometime between March 1487 and March 1491. *''Erotemata cum interpretatione Latina,''

Constantine Lascaris Constantine Lascaris ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Λάσκαρις ''Kostantinos Láskaris''; 1434 – 15 August 1501) was a Greek scholar and grammarian, one of the promoters of the revival of Greek learning in Italy during the Renaissance, ...

, 8 March 1495. *''Opusculum de Herone et Leandro, quod et in Latinam Linguam ad verbum tralatum est,'' Musaeus, before November 1495 (Greek text) and 1497-98 (Latin text). *''Dictionarium Graecum,'' Johannes Crastonus, December 1497. *''Institutiones Graecae grammatices,'' Urban Valeriani, January 1497. *''Rudimenta grammatices latinae linguae,'' Aldus Manutius, June 1501. *''Poetae Christiani veteres'', June 1502. *''Institutionum grammaticarum libri quatuor,'' Aldus Manutius, December 1514. *''Suda'', February 1514. Works published from the Greeks. Manutius printed thirty

editiones principes In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. Fo ...

of Greek texts, allowing these texts to escape the fragility of the manuscript tradition. *''Eclogae triginta...,''

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

, February 1496. *''Theophrastus de historia plantarum...,''

, 1 June 1497. *'' De mysteriis Aegyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Assyriorum...,''

Iamblichus Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer o ...

, September 1497. *''Aristophanis Comoediae novem,''

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his ...

, 15 July 1498. *''Omnia opera Angeli Politiani...,'' Angeloa Ambrogini Poliziano, July 1498. *''Herodoti libri novem quibus musarum indita sunt nomina,''

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

, September 1502. *''Omnia Platonis opera,''

, May 1513. *''Oratores Graeci'', May 1513. *''Deipnosophistae,''

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of ...

, August 1514. Latin works *''Scriptores astronomici veteres,''

Firmicus Maternus __NOTOC__ Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Roman Latin writer and astrologer, who received a pagan classical education that made him conversant with Greek; he lived in the reign of Constantine I (306 to 337 AD) and his successors. His triple career ...

, 17 October 1499. *''Petri Bembi de Aetna ad Angelum Chabrielem liber,''

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the ...

, February 1496. *''Diaria de Bello Carolino,''

Alessandro Benedetti Alessandro Benedetti (1450?–1512) was born in Parma, traveled and worked extensively in Greece and Crete, and worked as surgeon general of the Venetian army. His “Anatomice, or The History of the Human Body” is a descriptive anatomy in the ...

, 1496 (the first published work of the Aldine Press using the humanist typeface). *''Libellus de epidemia, quam vulgo morgum Gallicum vocant,''

Niccolò Leoniceno Niccolò Leoniceno (1428–1524) was an Italian physician and humanist. Biography Leoniceno was born in Lonigo, Veneto, the son of a doctor. He studied Greek in Vicenza under Ognibene da Lonigo (in Latin: ''Omnibonus Leonicenus'') (Lonigo, 1 ...

, June 1497. *''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,'' Francesco Colonna, December 1499. *''Epistole devotissime de Sancta Catharina da Siena,'' St. Catherina of Siena, 19 September 1500. *''Opera,'' Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil), April 1501. *''Opera,''

Quintus Horatius Flaccus Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

(Horace), May 1501. *''Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium...libri,'' Marcus Tullius Cicero, (Cicero) March 1514. Libelli Portatiles *''Le cose volgari de Messer Francesco Petrarcha,''

Francesco Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

(Petrarch), July 1501. *''Opera,''

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

Tibullus Albius Tibullus ( BC19 BC) was a Latin poet and writer of elegies. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to him are of questionable origins. Little is known about the life of Tibullus. There are only a f ...

, and

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of '' Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the poets Gallu ...

, January 1502. *''Epistolae ad familiares,''

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

(Cicero), April 1502. *''Le terze rime,''

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

, August 1502. *''Pharsalia,''

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

(Lucan), April 1502. *''Tragaediae septem cum commentariis,''

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

, August 1502. *''Tragoediae septendecim,''

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars ...

, February 1503. *''Fastorum...libri, de tristibus..., de ponto,''

Publius Ovidius Naso Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

(Ovid), February 1503. *''Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros,'' Greek Anthology, November 1503. *''Opera,''

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, sometime after 31 October 1504. *''Urania sive de stellis,'' Joannes Jovianus Pontanus, May & August 1505. *''Vita, et Fabellae Aesopi...,''

Aesop Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales c ...

, October 1505. *''Epistolarum libri decem,'' Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, November 1508. *''Commentariorum de Bello Gallico libri,''

Gaius Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

, December 1513. *''Odes,''

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...

, January 1513. *''Sonetti et Canzoni. Triumphi,''

(Petrarch), August 1514.