Venice — Not long after the Gutenberg press was up and running, a publisher in Venice announced his life’s ambition: to make sure that people devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and truth could get their hands on affordable books. “Until this supply is secured,” he declared, “I shall not rest.”
Aldo Manuzio, who opened his print shop in 1494, kept true to his word. His publishing house, the Aldine Press, became so successful that he sparked a publishing revolution. By the 1500s, Venice was producing and selling more books than any other city in Europe. As a result, the Venetians helped to introduce into the West the concepts of free speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of conscience: the foundational rights of a healthy democratic society.
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