He was disgusted with the slipshod efforts of the ignorant proprietors of these numerous printing shops, who were so eager to forestall one another that they could not pay any attention to the quality of their work, even assuming they had the aptitude for doing so. He took his stand upon his accomplishments alone, apparently not doubting for an instant that conscientious work, coupled with a superior education, would in the long run repay him for the years of anxious toil which he well knew would be his lot.
The Greek types of Rome, Milan, and Florence, hitherto in use, and all cut to a single pattern, were abominable, and Aldus commenced by casting types of his own. A fount of Roman and Italian letters consisted of only 24 capital and an equal number of small letters—the J and U were the same as I and V—but a complete collection of Greek types with all the varied accents and double characters, with which the language abounds, amounted to no less than 600. Many of these he was compelled at the outstart to forego, and he set to work upon his first book, the Grammatica Græca of Lascaris, with barely a tithe of that number. It was well that Aldus should commence with this work, for it was the first which had been printed in Greek, some eighteen years previously by Paravisinus, of Milan, whose small and crabbed type presents a remarkable contrast to that of Manutius. Closely following upon this venture comes the Editio Princeps of Aristotle, which, in its 5 vols. folio, is unquestionably the most splendid and lasting monument of the Aldine press. It was issued, one volume at a time, between the years 1495-8, and was sold by the editor and publisher for a sum equivalent to about £5 of our money. Next comes the Editio Princeps of Aristophanes, also in folio, and dated 1498, which, like all the other productions of this press at that early date, was printed from large open types with broad margins. The expense of production and consequent cost of these sumptuous volumes were great, too great in fact to command a speedy sale, and Aldus at last began to realise that it was infinitely preferable to print and sell a large number of works at a cheap price than a smaller number at a high one. Accordingly he had a more minute fount of type cast, and in April, 1501, published his famous Virgil, a small book of 228 unpaged leaves, measuring not quite 8 inches by 4. The text, so it is said, was modelled after the neat handwriting of Petrarch, and became known throughout Italy as the Aldino type, though in France it was called Italic, the name it goes by to this day throughout Europe. This book was sold for about 2s. of our money, and was the first serious attempt ever made to produce cheap printed classics.
No sooner was the success of this venture assured than an unknown printer of Lyons took advantage of the opportunity to issue a wretched reprint, alike in every detail except the quality of the workmanship. Aldus' painstaking textual corrections were slavishly copied: even his title-page was stolen, and the whole immoral production foisted on the public as a genuine example from Venice, and at a little more than half the cost. Horace and Juvenal, Martial and Ovid, shared the same fate as fast as they issued from the legitimate press; the Lyonnese printer was as persevering as he had proved himself unscrupulous, and kept good time with the movements of Aldus. But the fame of the latter was proof against servile imitations, his types alone being so extravagantly praised by his admirers that there were some who seriously contended that their beauty was owing to the silver of which they were made. There is, indeed, no mistaking them, and the collector has only to place an original side by side with one of the reprints from Lyons, to fix the superiority distinctly and irrevocably in his mind. Aldus during his life printed altogether 126 editions known to bibliographers, 78 of which are in quarto or folio, and many in two or more volumes. Some of these consist of choice copies printed on white linen paper, notably the Opera of Ovid and Plutarch, and many more passed through several editions during his lifetime and after his death, which, to the great loss of the world of letters, took place on the 6th February, 1515, when he was 65 years of age.
The distinguishing mark of the Aldine press is the well-known dolphin and anchor which first makes its appearance on the edition of the Terze Rime of Dante of 1502, and with few exceptions on all the books afterwards issued from the press. The story is that Aldus was engaged in printing Columna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which appeared in 1499 (a good copy sold in February last for £80), and which contained numerous illustrations, most probably by Andrea Mantegna. One of these represents a dolphin twining about an anchor, a mark so pleasing to Aldus that he subsequently adopted it, using it over his office door as well as on the title-pages of all his books.
The first Aldine Anchor, 1502-1515.
Mark of A. Torresano, and that of his Sons.
At the death of Aldus Manutius his son Paolo, or Paulus, being only three years of age, went to reside with his maternal uncle Andrea Torresano, himself a famous printer of Asola, who subsequently, with his sons, carried on the Aldine press at Venice for the benefit of the parties interested. From that date until 1524 most, if not all, of the books printed at the press bear the imprint: "In ædibus Aldi et Andreæ Asulani soceri," and though, as usual, bearing the anchor, a fresh block had been cut which slightly alters its appearance.