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Department of History

Term 1 Week 5: Aldus and the Republic of Letters

This week's seminar considers the career of the scholar-printer Aldus Manutius and his role in the development of the intellectual network known as the Republic of Letters. We also think about the culture of correspondence and the role this played in the communication history of the period.

Seminar Questions

  • Who was Aldus Manutius and why is he important?
  • How did print foster new forms of scholarly community?
  • What was the place of the printer in the Republic of Letters?
  • What was the "Renaissance of Letters" described by Findlen and how did it contribute to the intellectual culture of the time?

Essential Readings

  • Helena K. Szepe, “The Book as Companion, the Author as Friend: Aldine Octavos Illuminated by Benedetto Bordon”, Word and Image 11 (1995): 77-99.
  • Paula Findlen and Suzanne Sutherland (eds), The Renaissance of Letters: Knowledge and Community in Italy, 1300-1650 (Routledge, 2020). Read the Introduction by Findlen. Ebook
  • Description of Aldus Manutius’ workshop from Venice: A Documentary History (RP)
  • Erasmus of Rotterdam, "Festina lente," in Margaret Mann Phillips (ed.), Erasmus on his times: a shortened version of the 'Adages' of Erasmus (Cambridge, 1967), esp. pp. 9-15.
  • Letter of Erasmus to Aldus Manutius, 1507, from The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 142-297, trans. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson (Toronto, 2016), pp. 129-133 (RP)
  • Warning of Aldus against the Printers of Lyon (1503) (RP)
  • Letter of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) to Manutius (1497) (RP)
  • Two partners' petition to print classical Greek authors (1497) from Venice: A Documentary History (RP)

Further Reading

  • Peter Burke, “Erasmus and the republic of letters”, European Review 7 (1) (1999): 5 - 17.
  • Martin Lowry, “The Manutius Publicity Campaign” in D. S. Zeidberg (ed.), Aldus Manutius and Renaissance Culture: Essays in Memory of Franklin D. Murphy (Florence, 1994), 31-46.
  • Lisa Jardine, Erasmus, man of letters: The construction of charisma in print (Princeton, NJ, 1993).
  • P.S. Allen, "Erasmus' Relations with His Printers," Transactions of the Bibliographical Society 8 (1913-15): 297 - 321.
  • Andree Hayum, "Durer's Portrait of Erasmus and the Ars typographorum", Renaissance Quarterly 38/4 (1985): 650-87.
  • Judith Bryce, “The Oral World of the Accademia Fiorentina”, Renaissance Studies 9, no. 1 (1995): 77-103.
  • Sarah Gwyneth Ross, Everyday Renaissances. The Quest for Cultural Legitimacy in Venice (Harvard University Press, 2016), chap. 1: 'Venice's Reading Public'

  • Bronwen Wilson, "Social Networking: the album amicorum and early modern public-making" in M. Rospocher (ed.), Beyond the Public Sphere: Opinions, Spaces, Publics in Early Modern Europe (Bologna, 2014), pp. 205-25.

Web Resources

  • Aldo Manuzio: The Exhibition (Venice, Accademia Galleries, 2016)
  • Octavo edition of Virgil (Venice, 1501)

Aldus Medals