Contributor

Printer and publisher Aldus Manutius the Elder.

Aldus Manutius the Elder

(1449 - 1515)

One of the leading printer-publishers of his time, Aldus Manutius the Elder was the founder of a veritable dynasty of great printer-publishers and organizer of the famous Aldine Press. He produced the first printed editions of authors old and new, from Plato to Desiderius Erasmus. Manutius issued in March 1495 his first date-stamped book, Erotemata by Constantine Lascaris; around the same time, in his printing of Pietro Bembo’s De Aetna, the semicolon made its typographic debut; and in 1501 his type cutter Francesco Griffo created the first italic typeface for an edition of Virgil.

All Writing

Miscellany

Including trademarks in books became crucial after the invention of the printing press; without stringent copyright laws, rival publishers could repurpose superiorly edited texts with impunity. Aldus Manutius of Venice, who employed Erasmus as a proofreader, called attention to his company’s “sign of the dolphin wound round the anchor.” Florentine printers were aping the mark, but in the frauds, “the head of the dolphin is turned to the left, whereas that of ours is well known to be turned to the right.”

Issues Contributed

Means of Communication

Explore Issue
Purchase