Aldine Press Pockets the Classics

1500

In Venice, Aldus Manutius printed octavo editions of Virgil and Horace small enough to slip into a saddlebag. His elegant italic type, cut by Francesco Griffo, turned Latin literature into a portable luxury. The book, once chained to monastery lecterns, had learned to travel. The pocket octavo format transformed book ownership from an aristocratic privilege into a portable pleasure for any educated traveler.