World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice

by Martin Lowry

Hardcover, green cloth, 1st U.S. Edition, a clean bright copy in dust jacket that has minor dust soil, light wear and is now protected in a clear Brodart cover. Contents clean and unmarked, 350pp, includes bibliography, index, b/w illustrations, notes at the end of each chapter. Publisher's statements: "The relationship between Renaissance scholarship and printing is the subject of this fascinating biographical study. The book centers on the life and work of Aldus Manutius (1450-1515), printer and man of letters--his background, his business practices, and his impact on the intellectual life of the times. Martin Lowry discusses the structure of the Aldine Press, analyzes its output during the founder's lifetime, and traces changes in its policies. After examining Aldus's editorial method in the light of recently discovered press copies, he offers a radical revision of Aldus's accepted position in the development of the printed book. He maintains that Aldus, far from being the apostle of the inexpensive book for mass circulation, was responsible for giving the printed text the academic and social respectively previously enjoyed by the manuscript. Conveying the essential importance of Manutius by bringing out the conflicts between commerce and learning, this book makes a solid contribution to intellectual history, the history of printing and the book, and the social and economic history of Venice in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. "

Genres: History, Renaissance, Italy, Nonfiction

350 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1979