#italic
blado’s aldine italic
a.f. johnson tells us of antonio blado’s aldine italic¹: «He printed some admirable volumes in an Aldine italic, in particular the first editions of various works of Macchiavelli [sic], 1531 and 1532. … No printer produced a better book in this style of type.» [Periods of Typography | The Italian Sixteenth Century, ernest benn, london, 1926, p11]. unfortunately, johnson did not provide a facsimile of this notable typeface; nor indicate who cut blado’s aldino² [✓]. casting around, i was delighted to discover copies of Il principe[The Prince]³ & Historie⁴, both 1532, held in the morgan library, nyc; & formed a plan to examine these at first opportunity.
with thanks to the morgan library for permitting my examination of these lovely & important books. unfortunately, departing the morgan’s reading room, my request to illustrate this post with my photos was declined by reading room staff: alas, illustration deferred until next visit to a more «humanistic», european library [✓].
¹ italic after the style of the first italic cut for aldus manutius in 1501 by francesco griffo.
² «The Italians called the character Aldino.» [d.b. updike, Printing Types, vol.1, oup, 1937, p129].
³PML 52863.
⁴PML 62958.
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