VENETIAN HUMANIST ALDUS MANUTIUS
VENETIAN HUMANIST ALDUS MANUTIUS

Summary/Abstract: Printing of rare texts belonging to Greek antiquity represented the culture's way of surviving in a period when the new era was just beginning. Aldus Manutius revived the glory of the ancient texts with a virtuosity that laid the foundation for a guild's deontology that would represent for many centuries a standard. Among the means that would bring the art of printing in the modern poke were the standardization of punctuation and the use of italic writing. His visionary mission was not limited to the printing of texts but also to the creation of an entire people of culture network to provide them with the necessary material, to open the readers' souls to the text and to create an environment conducive to the spread of cultural values by creating editions that were much easier to use. The price paid by Aldus Manutius was so high financially, because many of his editions barely covering the printing price, but also emotionally because the Italian printer would not see his dream of creating an academy fulfilled. Often forcing the limits imposed by church dogma, Aldus would bring texts from the European cultural heritage closer to the general public. The Italian humanist managed to save much of the old texts that otherwise would have remained unknown or circulated in corrupt and erroneous versions. His philological work was duplicated by an integrant cultural vision in which the most important character was represented by the general public, that is the final reader.

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