Laudem.
“Qui graiis dedit Aldus, en latinis
Dat nunc grammata scalpta dædaleis
Francisci manibus Bononiensis,”
(Translation). In praise of the type-engraver. Aldus now gives to the Latins, as he gave to the Greeks, letters graven by the dædal hands of Francesco da Bologna.
Besides cutting types, Francesco used them too, for he set up a press at his native town, Bologna, in 1516, and printed several works, now rare, as, for instance, “Il Canzoniere” of Petrarch, “L’Arcadia di Sannazaro” and “Gli Asolani” of Bembo, “Il Corbaccio” and the “Epistolæ ad Familiares” of Cicero.
[N]. The date as in the document in question is 1517. The old custom of beginning the ecclesiastical and legal year on the 20th of March was never established at Bologna.
About 1503, Francesco quarrelled with Aldus, and we find, in a letter prefixed to the edition of Petrarch, that he bitterly complains of deriving no honour or profits from the types he had himself cut. It is notorious that Aldus freely gave out that he was not only the inventor, but also the cutter; and, therefore, the work by Panizzi, to say nothing of its beauty, is of great importance, for it does justice to the real inventor, and this discovery is due to the author of the pamphlet, who, besides, enlightens us, in clear language, respecting the distinguished Bolognese:—