Today in Technology History
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February 6
Aldus Manutius, the great Italian publishing innovator, died on February 6, 1515.
Born in about 1450 - around the time Gutenberg's experiments with the printing press were reaching a climax - Aldus became enamored of Greek language and literature. From some wealthy friends, he received funds to undertake an ambitious project: to collect, edit and cheaply print all the significant literature surviving from ancient Greece.
Working in Venice, he founded a publishing house in 1495, the Aldine Press. He housed dozens of employees (including classical scholars), and he worked tirelessly to publish great works in Greek, Latin and Italian. His books became enormously popular because he made them practical; he developed the idea of the cheap and portable book. Instead of printing the large, awkward folios that were then common, Aldus invented the "octavo," a much smaller and handier size of book that made it feasible for even non-scholars to start collections.
Aldus pioneered in several other areas, as well. The Aldine Press produced the first books with page numbers, and the first books marked with a printer's colophon - the logo of the publishing house. Also, Aldine books were the first to use a new, compact and flowing typeface; since the first such book was dedicated to Italy, the new font was named italic.
The Aldus family kept the firm running until about 1597. In its century of operation, the Aldine Press printed an astonishing 1,000 editions, successfully popularizing and preserving a wealth of classical literature.
Related links:
Click here for the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Aldus, with pictures of the earliest italic print.
Use these links to see pictures of several other Aldine books at two college library Web sites: Brigham Young University Library, and Simon Fraser University Library.
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