[MR] BBC Travel: How a Venetian Invented Italic Type

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today the BBC is offering a piece titled "The City That Launched the
Publishing Industry". As you might correctly figure from the subject line
above, that city is Venice.

In 1469, shortly after Gutenburg invented the printing press and moveable
type, the Venetians got into the act. The Venetian Republic was an
attractive refuge from persecution and Church interference for scholars and
authors. The city soon became one of the greatest publishing centers of the
15th century, churning out thousands of titles by these intellectual
refugees.

*And then there was that italic type. Aldus Manutius thought Gutenburg's
gothic type was hard to read, and took up too much space on the page. Thus
italic type was born. The finer type made smaller, and thus cheaper, books
possible*.

Today, Paolo Olbi, one of the last traditional bookbinders in Venice, keeps
the medieval publishing traditions alive. In addition to running his own
press, he trains apprentices in the 15th form of the binding craft.

Please enjoy the story at
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190708-the-city-that-launched-the-publishing-industry
.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆