Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-01-24
A Famous Printer.


In the last published volume of his Re
ndisSdnce in Hdly,-.The Revival of Learn
ing Mr.. John Addington Symonds gives u
spirited account of the lives and labors OF
those most famous OF printers. the Adj
whose name has given new word to their
art, expressive OF all that is perfect in print
ing Teobaldo Mannucci, or Aldo Manuzio
was born in Sermonete, near Nelletri, (the
ancient Nelitre, near Rome, and the birth
place of Cesar Augustus) III li5O. He be
came q man of rare learning, and, having
been teacher, he formed the plan Of estab-
fishing Greek press. at Venice, maturing
his project in 1890. His house became Il
Greek colony, and Greek was the language
of his printing-house rs well as Of his house
hold Instructions TO tine binders were
given in Greek The type was formed upon
the model supplied by learned Cretan, and
most of the compostors were from Crete,
(Candia.) The ink used by Aldo, says
Mr.. Addington Symonds, Twas made IN his
own house, where he had, besides, subor-
dinate establishment for binding. The paper,
eIcelled by none that has been since pro-
duced, came from the mills OF Fabriano. 1t
may easily be imagined that this beehive ot
Greek industry often numbered over thirty
persons, not including the craftsmen EN-
ployed in the lesser offices by the day. The
superintendent of this large establishment,
added to the anIieties attending the produc
tion of SO many books yet not edited,
sorely taxed the health and powers OF Aldo.
For years together he seems to have had no
minute he could call his own. Continual de-
mands were made by visitors and strangers
upon his hours of leisure and IN order to
secure time for the conduct of his business,
he WAS forced to placari his door with pro-
hibitory notice. Besides the more ordinary
interruptions, to which every man of emil
nence is subjected, he had to struggle with
peculiar difficulties due TO the novelty of his
undertaking. The prefaces to many of his
publications contain illusions to strikes
among his workmen, to the piracies of rival
booksellers, to the difficulty of procuring au-
thentic MSS, and to the Interruptions caus-
ed by war. Twice WIS the work of printing
suspended, first in 1906, and then again in
1910. For two whole years at the latter
period the industries o. Venice We're paralyz-
ed by the allied forces of the League of Cam
bray. The dedication of the first edition OF
Plato, 1913, to Leo y. concludes with
prayer, splendid in the earnestness and SIM
plicity OF its eloquence, wherein Aldo COM
pares the miseries of warfare and the vars of
Italy with the sublime and peaceful objects
of the student. All tho terrible experiences
OF that wasteiul campaign, from the effects Of
which the Republic OF Venice never wholly
recovered, seem to find expression i'll the pas
sionate but reverent address of the great
printer to the scholar Pope. For two years
previously the press Of Aldo had been idle.
while the French We're deluging Brescia
with blood. and the plains OF Ravenna were
heaped with dead Italians. Spaniards, Gauls.
and Germans, met i'll passionate conflict by
the Ronce. Now, from the midst OF her
desolated palaces and silenced lagoons Ven
ice stretched forth to Europe the peace-giit
OF Plato The student who had tOiled TO
lSa If rfe pnnpaleI hetprp Isf
His vicar, from the arms that brutalize to the
arts that humanize the nations. Besides
pouring forth the literature OF Greece, i'll un-
rivalled excellence,-in volumes rs remark
able for beauty for accuracy and also tor
cheapness Aldo printed numerous works in
the Latin, and many books in the Italian
language, among the former being the .Adu-
gid OF Erasmus. His publications. were
signed AldiS Plus Mqntdils ROmdnus et Phil
helen. He did not marry till 1899, when lie
was almost fifty years old, his wife being r
daughter of another printer, Andrea Terre-
sano. of Asola. This led to union of the
two houses. and Aldus and Asolanus acted
together. Aldo died in 1915 and his young
est son, Paolo hIanuzio, WAS brought up by
his maternal grandfather, till that relatives
death. Paolo pursued his fathers course,
printing both ut Venice and at Rome, but
separating from his relatives, the Asolani, in
and last of the Adj. and he was stigmatized
by Scaliger as "a wretched and slow wit, the
mimic OF his father" but Scaligers judg-
ments are not always to be accepted. He
was printer and publisher when he was but
eleven years old and he, says Mr.. Symonds,
married Francesca Lucrezia Giunti, of the
famous house of printers, and died. without
surviving issue, at Rome, ill 1897. Thus the
industry of Aldo WAS continued through two
@lT
century. The device OF the dolphin and the
anchor. intended to symbolize quickness OF
execution combined with irmness and delib-
Grafton, and the motto EsSthd le1te, which
Sir Thomas Browne has rendered by 'Celer-
ity contempered with cunctatiOn, though
changed to suit varieties OF taste from time
to time. were never altogether abandoned by
the Aldines. As years went on, however,
their publications became Of less import
ance. and the beauty of their books degener-
ated.' 1t is given to few things to preserve
being mighty agency for the promotion of
the good OF the millions of mankind there
has been such an adyancs in printing as the
greatest of the old printers could not even
have dreamed, printing rs fine art has not
advanced one day beyond what it was at tho
time when the first Aldus first began to
think of his grand project of printing all
Greek literature, and thus giving to it that
sure tiluu pu over Time AMI decay WHICH the
press alone can confer works of even the
greatest geuius. In speaking OF the accuracy
of the Aldlnes, we do with reference to
tho state of the Greek texts four centuries
since Writing to Mr.. Treveyan in 1853,
Lord Macaulay, who was II great Grecian
said. You can not conceive how much the
facilities for reading the Greek writer's have
increased within the last two hundred years,
how much better the text is now printed and
how much light the successive labors of
learned men have thrown on obscure pms
sages l was greatly struck with this when
at Althorp. looked through Lord Speneers
magnificent collection of Aldine editions.
Numerous passages which are now perfect
ly simple were mere heaps of nonsense"
Weston. the American pedestrian, started
from the Royal Exchange, London, at mid
night Friday night, on a walking tour of
1900 miles over country roads, having un-
dertaken to walk this distance, and to de
liver fifty lectures in towns en- route, in a
thousand hours. The Judges travel in con
veyanoe, and a bicyclist is also of the party,
In addition to the proposed appointment
Of several Wears apostolic in parts of Amer
lea destitute Of Episcopal churches, the Vat
ican intends to establish several new bishop
rics in the United States and institute II new
hierarchy different from the present one.
The Pope has sent a circular to bishops out
side of Europe, with view Of extending the /
collection Of Peters pence in all countries.