The scholar Leonard R. N. Ashley has described Aldus Manutius thusly: “Tutor to princes (to whom he communicated his humanistic principles), boon to scholars (for whom he printed valuable texts in careful editions which they could afford to buy), himself a student and an associate of great humanists such as Linacre and Erasmus, Aldus Manutius (1450-1515) was one of the great men of his time, inheritor (as a classical scholar in his own right) and transmitter (as the founder of the Aldine Press carried on by his son and grandson) of the riches which made the Renaissance splendid.”

February 2015 will mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the death of this Ventian pioneer of printing. Aldus, arguably the greatest printer of his age, certainly remains the one whose name is best known.This symposium aims to bring the fruits of recent research in the history of printing to a broad public.

Download a printable PDF poster.

Schedule

8:30 am: Coffee and continental breakfast

9 – 10:30 am: Welcome and Session 1

Welcome: Paul F. Gehl, George Amos Poole III Curator of Rare Books, and Custodian, John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, The Newberry Library

Chair: Greg Prickman, Head, Special Collections, University of Iowa

“The Discovery of the New World in Venetian Print Culture”

Elizabeth Horodowich, Professor of History, New Mexico State University

“Did you read about the Gentleman in Padua who killed his Servant and poisoned his Wife …? Newssheets in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Kevin Stevens, Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Reno

Respondent: Elissa B. Weaver, Professor Emerita of Italian Literature, University of Chicago

10:30 – 11 am: Break

11 am – 12:30 pm: Keynote address and discussion

Introduction: Paul F. Gehl

“The Scholar-Printer in Context: The Development and Impact of Aldus Manutius’s Career in Venice”

Brian Richardson, Emeritus Professor of Italian Language, University of Leeds

12:30 – 2 pm: Lunch break

2 – 3:30 pm: Session 2

Chair: Jill Gage, Special Collections Reference Librarian, The Newberry Library

“Reading Devices”

Adam Hooks, Assistant Professor of English, University of Iowa

“Reading Bridget’s Visions in the Vernacular during the Sixteenth Century”

Mark Peterson, Rare Books and Research Services Librarian, James Madison University

Respondent: Lee Palmer Wandel, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Faculty and graduate students of Center for Renaissance Studies consortium institutions may be eligible to apply for travel funds to attend CRS programs or to do research at the Newberry. Each member university sets its own policies and deadlines; contact your Representative Council member in advance for details.