Aldus Manutius
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Aldus Manutius
Manutius, Aldus
(Aldo Manuzio, Aldo Manucci). Born circa 1450 in Bassiano, near Rome; died Feb. 6, 1515, in Venice. Italian publisher and typographer. Renaissance scholar and humanist.
Aldus Manutius was the founder of the Aldine Press, which continued to operate for almost 100 years. Settling in Venice circa 1490, Manutius gathered around him Greek language experts to prepare editions of classical Greek authors. His largest edition consisted of the works of Aristotle in five volumes (1495-98), followed by the works of Aristophanes, Thucydides, Sophocles, Herodotus, Xenophon, Euripides, Demosthenes, Plutarch, and Plato, as well as editions of the letters of Greek philosophers and orators.
In 1499, Manutius published the War of Sleep and Love (Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) a work attributed to his contemporary Francesco Colonna. This edition is a masterpiece of printer’s art; the numerous woodcuts and beautiful type (antique) form a harmonious whole. From 1501, Manutius published collections of Roman classics in octavo form and for the first time printed in italics, a clear and capacious type that imitated the lettering of the documents issued by the papal office. Among the editions of Manutius were also the works of his contemporaries, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam. Manutius’ publications—the Aldines—were imitated and forged; to guard against this Manutius stamped his books with the firm’s hallmark, a dolphin entwined about an anchor.
In 1500, Manutius founded the New Academy (modeled after Plato’s Academy), whose members helped to collect and study the manuscripts of ancient authors and carefully prepared the texts of works to be printed. Manutius’ press was continued by his father-in-law, Andreas Torresanus, his son Paulus Manutius (1512-74), and his grandson Aldus Manutius, Junior (1547-97). Aldine editions are kept in the world’s largest libraries and in bibliophilic collections.
REFERENCES
Katsprzhak, E. I. htoriia knigi Moscow, 1964.Flocon, A. L’Univers des livres. Paris, 1961.
Kirchner, J. Lexikon des Buchwesens, vol. 2. Stuttgart, 1953.
Renouard, A. A. Annales de l’imprimerie des Aides, 3rd ed. Paris, 1834.
Seritti sopra Aldo Manuzio. Florence, 1955.
A. I. MARKUSHEVICH