Our Renaissance man was Aldus Manutius, who is arguably the most influential Italian designer of his time. He founded the Aldine Press in Venice when he was forty-five because it was his dream to publish the great Greek and Roman works. He recruited his staff, which was comprised of important scholars and skilled technical workers who helped him print a five-volume edition of Aristotle .
Manutius's publications were famous for their beautiful combinations of typography and illustrations. In 1501 he decided that he wanted to publish a smaller, pocket sized book. The prototype for this was Vergil's Opera. He and his partner, Griffo, developed the first italic style typeface for this book. Around 1502, Manutius and Griffo went their separate ways. Griffo became unsuccessful without his partner, unable to sell is original designs to other printers. Manutius, however, continued to thrive and print many classical editions in his pocket book size with italic typefaces and was successful until the day he died in 1515. Design innovation ended in Venice with the departure of Manutius and Griffo.
MOST INTERESTING
The most interesting thing I found in the reading is how unsuccessful Griffo was after he left Manutius. Griffo supposedly designed the popular italic typeface design, and his designs made Manutius's company famous.
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