Aldus Pius Manutius (c. 1449/1452 – 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preservation of Greek manuscripts mark him as an innovative publisher of his age dedicated to the editions he produced. Aldus Manutius introduced the small portable book format with his enchiridia, which revolutionized personal reading and are the predecessor of the modern paperback book. He also helped to standardize use of punctuation including the comma and the semicolon.
. . .The Aldine Press produced more than 100 editions from 1495 to 1505. The majority were Greek classics, but many notable Latin and Italian works were published as well. Aldus often produced small-format editions that were cheap and sold readily. These inexpensive books—the first paperbacks—were, as ever, a boon to scholars.
Erasmus was impressed by Manutius; "in a long passage he extols the 'tireless efforts' of Manutius in restoring ancient learning, truly 'a Herculean task,' and he announces that 'Aldus is building up a library which has no other limits than the world itself'."
Video Title: Renaissance Discoveries: Aldus Manutius. Source: Ross King. Date Published: February 20, 2022. Description:
Aldus Manutius was one of the greatest printers in history—and an outstanding pioneer of information technology. Working in Venice in the 1490s and early 1500s, he oversaw the first publication of the complete works of Plato and Aristotle in Greek. His goal was to put the best wisdom of the ages in the hands of all readers, and to make the reading experience as pleasing and convenient as possible. He is the inventor of the inexpensive, small-format book, of the italic font—and even of the comma and semicolon. He was also the publisher of one of the world’s most beautiful, most valuable, and most mysterious books: the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Aldus believed that a world of readers would be a better place. In this video we learn about his life at the very heart of the Italian Renaissance—a time of curiosity and exploration, but also, in his words, a ‘tumultuous and sad time’ of war and destruction. In is against the tapestried background that we celebrate his wonderful dream of using the latest technology to save the world’s precious intellectual heritage.
