Aldine Press

Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics of that time. The Aldine Press is famous in the history of typography, among other things, for the introduction of italics. The press was the first to issue printed books in the small octavo size, similar to that of a modern paperback, and like that intended for portability and ease of reading. The press was continued after Aldus’ death in 1515 by his wife and her father until his son Paolo (1512-1574) took over. His grandson Aldo then ran the firm until his death in 1597.

Initial Innovations

The press was started by Aldus based on his love of classics, and at first printed new copies of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek and Latin classics. He also printed dictionaries and grammars to help people interpret the books. While scholars wanting to learn Greek used to employ learned Greeks to teach them directly, the Aldine editions, edited by Greek scholars, allowed many scholars across Europe to study Greek. [Eisenstein, E. (1979). The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ] Historian Elizabeth Eisenstein claimed that the fall of Constantinople in 1453 had threatened the importance and survival of Greek scholarship, but publications such as those by the Aldine Press secured it. Erasmus was one of the scholars learned in Greek that the Aldine Press employed.

When the press expanded to current titles, they wrote some books themselves and employed other writers, including Erasmus. As this expansion into current languages (mainly Italian and French) and current topics continued, the press took on another role and made perhaps even more important contributions. Beyond the preservation of Hellenic studies, Aldus's contributions are also respected in the development of a smaller type than others in use. His contemporaries called it "Aldine Type"; today we call it "italics". Their logo of the anchor and dolphin is represented today in the symbols and names used by some modern publishers such as Doubleday.

Aldine editions

*1495-1498 Aristotle
*1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
*1501 Francesco Petrarca, "Le cose volgari"
*1502 Dante
*1502 Sophocles
*1503 "Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros"
*1504 and 1517 Homer
*1513 Plato
*1514 "Institutionum grammaticarum libri quatuor"
*1514 Virgil

References

External links

*http://www.library.ucla.edu/special/scweb/aldexhibit.htm
*http://www.nd.edu/~italnet/Dante/text/1502.venice.html