Italy

Main (Thompson) Library location: Class of '51 Reading Room. Aldus Manutius (c.1449 – 1515) was born in Bassiano, Italy around 1449 and studied the classics in Rome and Ferrara. He took a special interest in the ancient Greek scholarship of Guarino da Verona. In 1482, through his relationship with

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Third window. Antonio Blado (1490 – 1567) was born in Asola, Italy in 1490 established his printing press in Rome and soon after began to publish a series of excerpts from a 12th century collection of narratives entitled Mirabilia Urbis Romae. Blado

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- End window. The earliest available records concerning Caligula de Bazaleriis (c.14-- – c. 15--) locate him in Bologna in 1490. There he may have begun to work with printer and relative, Bazalerius de Bazaleriis, who published books dated as early as

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Fifth window. Ercole Nani (c.14-- – c. 15--) was a printer and typesetter in Bologna, where his documented practice began in 1483 with the collaborative publication of Robertus Valturius' Opera dell'arte militare. By 1492, Nani established himself

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Sixth window. The name and mark of Gian Giacomo de Legnano (c.14-- – c. 15--) first appear in Milan circa 1480. De Legnano shared a printing press with his brothers at the Sign of the Angel and printed books regularly in both Milan and Pavia until 1533

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- End window. Johann Besicken (c.14-- – c.1509) was born in Besingheim, Germany and, by 1483, he matriculated at the University of Basel. A decade later, he established a printing press in Rome with Sigismundus Mayr; the two printed together, especially

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Fifth window. Lucantonio Giunta (c.14 - c.1538) originated in Florence, but by 1480 he moved to Venice, where he became one of the first printers in the city. Together with his brother Filippo, Giunta prospered and quickly established a network of

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Fifth window. Ottaviano Scotto (c. 1444 - c. 1499) was born to a noble family in Monza, a city in northern Italy. In 1479, he moved to Venice and printed his first book, an edition of the Diurnale Romanum. Scotto primarily worked on breviaries and

Main (Thompson) Library location: South wing -- Fifth window. Sixtus Riessinger (c.14-- – c.1505) matriculated at the University of Freiburg in 1462, and became a priest in Strasbourg shortly thereafter. As was customary for priests, he learned the trade of printing during his ministry from Henry