Aldus Manutius
Paper Masters can help you write an Aldus Manutius research paper for any art, literature or world history course you have. Aldus Manutius (1449-1515) was an Italian printer who founded Aldine Press, invented italic type, developed the modern usage of the comma and semicolon and first printed smaller, portable books similar to the paperback. His work was widely copied across Europe. As a humanist scholar, Manutius attempted to reprint as much classical literature as possible.
Gutenberg had invented the modern printing press in 1453. Manutius established Aldine Press and along with his grandson, Aldus Manutius the Younger, standardized modern punctuation. Manutius also introduced the final form of modern books, as well as producing smaller, pocket editions of classical Greek works and Latin works that were designed to be carried around, a forerunner to the paperback.
Aldus Manutius
Having settled in Venice in 1490, Manutius soon began printing classical Greek works, including:
- Aristotle
- Thucydides
- Sophocles
- Herodotus
- Xenophon
- Euripides
His press was shut down at various times due to warfare, but his later output included works by Plutarch and Plato.
As a way of promoting his texts, which he published in Greek, Manutius not only employed numerous Greek scholars but also founded an Academy in 1502 dedicated to study of the Greek classics. Manutius also published works in Latin, including both ancient works such as Virgil and contemporary Renaissance writers such as Erasmus, Petrarch and even Dante's Divine Comedy, published in the Italian language.