Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book

Alessandro Marzo Magno

oct 2013 · Europa Editions

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This early history of printed literature “delves into the delectable intrigues of Renaissance Venice with a degree of detail that will mesmerize readers” (La Repubblica).

This accessible yet erudite history traces the incredible rise of publishing in the Republic of Venice, the Renaissance’s era of global capital of culture and trade. While a number of Venetian innovators drove this new enterprise, one in particular, Aldus Manutius, stands head and shoulders above the rest. Manutius tirelessly promoted the concept of reading for pleasure, and his Aldine Press commissioned the first modern typeface.

Beginning in Venice and subsequently across much of the civilized world, bound printed editions of the Talmud, the Koran, the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam, and classics of Greek and Latin poetry and theater began to circulate for the first time, leading to an unprecedented diffusion of human knowledge, and bringing about the birth of the modern world.

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Alessandro Marzo Magno was born in Venice, Italy in 1962. He worked as a journalist for various newspapers and was chief editor of the foreign affairs desk at Diario for ten years. He has since published ten books. He lives in Milan with his wife and two children.Gregory Conti's translation for Europa Editions inclue Alessandro Barbero's The Eyes of Venice and Alberto Angela's A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, which was voted a Best Book of the Year by the Kansas City Star and became an Indie Bound best seller.