43 Facts About Aldus Manutius

Aldus Manutius wanted to produce Greek texts for his readers because he believed that works by Aristotle or Aristophanes in their original Greek form were pure and unadulterated by translation.

Aldus Manutius published rare manuscripts in their original Greek and Latin forms.

Aldus Manutius commissioned the creation of typefaces in Greek and Latin resembling the humanist handwriting of his time; typefaces that are the first known precursor of italic type.

Aldus Manutius was friends with Giovanni Pico and tutored Pico's nephews, the lords of Carpi, Alberto and Leonello Pio.

Aldus Manutius met Andrea Torresano in Venice and the two co-founded the Aldine Press.

Aldus Manutius was born close to Rome in Bassiano between 1449 and 1452.

Aldus Manutius grew up in a wealthy family during the Italian Renaissance and in his youth was sent to Rome to become a humanist scholar.

From 1475 to 1478, Aldus Manutius studied Greek in Ferrara with Battista Guarino as his teacher.

Pico recommended Aldus Manutius to become the tutor of his nephews, Alberto and Leonello Pio, princes of the town of Carpi.

In Carpi, Aldus Manutius shared a close bond with his student, Alberto Pio.

Giovanni Pico and Alberto Pio's families funded the starting costs of Aldus Manutius's printing press and gave him lands in Carpi.

Aldus Manutius determined that Venice was the best location for his work, settling there in 1490.

In Venice, Aldus Manutius began gathering publishing contracts, at which point he met Andrea Torresano, who was engaged in print publishing.

Aldus Manutius started the first volume of his Aristotle edition in 1495.

Aldus Manutius lived in Manutius and Torresano's home, where he shared a room with Girolamo Aleandro.

Aldus Manutius's research using Manutius's resources and Greek scholars enabled him to expand his collection of proverbs from 819 entries to 3,260 entries.

Aldus Manutius relied on Marcus Musurus, Ioannis Grigoropoulos, and other Greek collaborators to translate for the Aldine Press.

Aldus Manutius published an edition of minor Greek orators and the lesser works of Plutarch.

Aldus Manutius reappeared in 1513 with an edition of Plato that he dedicated to Pope Leo X in a preface that compares the miseries of warfare and the woes of Italy with the sublime and tranquil objects of the student's life.

Aldus Manutius strove for excellence in typography and book design while publishing lower-cost editions.

Aldus Manutius spoke Greek in his household and employed thirty Greek speakers at the Aldine Press.

Instructions for typesetters and binders were written in Greek, and the prefaces to Aldus Manutius's editions were in Greek.

Aldus Manutius printed editions of Hero and Leander by Musaeus Grammaticus, the Galeomyomachia, and the Greek Psalter.

Aldus Manutius called these "Precursors of the Greek Library" because they served as guides to the Greek language.

Aldus Manutius launched Pietro Bembo's career as a writer by publishing De Aetna in 1496, which was the Aldine Press's first Latin publication by a contemporary author.

Aldus Manutius did not hold the same power of innovation over Latin classics as with Greek classics because the publication of these works started 30 years before his time.

Aldus Manutius was on the lookout for rare manuscripts, but often found instead missing parts of previously published works.

Aldus Manutius described his new format of books as "libelli portatiles in formam enchiridii".

Enchiridion, described in A Legacy More Lasting than Bronze, refers to a handheld weapon, a hint that Aldus Manutius intended the books in his Portable Library to be the weapons of scholars.

Aldus Manutius converted to the smaller format in 1501 with the publication of Virgil.

Many scholars consider the development of the portable book as Aldus Manutius's most celebrated contribution to printing and publishing.

Aldus Manutius priced his Latin octavos at 30 soldi, which was a fourth of a ducat.

Aldus Manutius commissioned typefaces designed to look like the handwriting of humanists both in Latin and Greek in order to uphold the manuscript tradition.

Aldus Manutius commissioned the punchcutter Francesco Griffo of Bologna to create the new typeface.

Aldus Manutius used the Aldine editions to ask scholarly questions and provide information for his readers.

In 1505, Aldus Manutius married Maria, the daughter of Andrea Torresani of Asola.

Torresani and Aldus Manutius were already business partners, but the marriage combined the two partners' shares in the publishing business.

Aldus Manutius's guide ran in fear, taking with him all of Aldus Manutius's personal effects.

Aldus Manutius knew the Marquis of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga, and wrote letters to him to explain the situation, but it took six days until Aldus Manutius's imprisonment was brought to Gonzaga's attention.

Aldus Manutius was eventually released by Geoffroy Carles, president of the Milanese Senate.

Aldus Manutius dreamed of a trilingual Bible but never saw it come to fruition.

However, before his death Aldus Manutius had begun an edition of the Septuagint, known as the Greek Old Testament translated from Hebrew, the first-ever to be published; it appeared posthumously in 1518.

The quality and popularity of Aldus Manutius's work made it more expensive in the 20th century than others published around the same time.