Aldus Manutius

Aldus Manutius (c. 1449–1515) was an Italian humanist and printer, born near Rome. After studying in Rome and Ferrara, he settled in Venice in 1490 and founded the Aldine Press, devoting it to editions of Greek and Latin classics.

Greek texts had rarely been printed, but his editions appeared in the original language. He commissioned the first italic typeface, helped standardize the comma and semicolon, and issued cheap pocket-sized octavos under his dolphin-and-anchor mark, pioneering the portable book.