The Man Who Made Books Portable

The Grolier Club on East 60th Street is the country's oldest "bibliophile society," home to more than 100,000 volumes on the art and history of publishing. Currently on display in the main gallery is an exhibit of the work of Aldus Manutius, a 16th century Venetian printer.

“Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting Than Bronze” features more than 130 books published by the Aldine Press, mostly from private collections and not previously exhibited.

Before Manutius, classic literature only existed in large, expensive tomes. But Manutius was interested in making the classics more accessible. He began printing thin, clean volumes he called "libelli portatiles," or portable little books.

Dante's Divine Comedy was printed as early as 1472, but this edition is marks its first appearance in the smaller format pioneered by Aldus Manutius.

(Robert Lorenzson (collection of T. Kimball Brooker))

"He was the first person to print, say, an edition of Aristotle that you could curl up with," said Robin Sloan, author of a best-selling novel about Manutius called "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore." "To me that’s just magical. What could be more fundamental than curling up with a good book? And yet here’s this person in this time and place and it was invention." 

Manutius also made new kinds of ink mixtures, developed new typefaces, and introduced readers to the semicolon and italics.

These innovations have led some to compare him to today's Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. "We have some confidence that books printed today, if they are taken care of, can last 50 years or 100 years or longer. There's no evidence yet that phones or tablets or any of the content produced for these apps can last that long," said Sloan.

It may take another five-hundred years to find out.