Aldus Manutius the Younger

As early as 1557, when he was barely eleven, he published Eleganze della lingua Latina e toscana, a rhetoric textbook reprinted several times and translated into French (1557) and English (1573).

In 1561, at the age of fourteen, he published a work upon Latin spelling, Orthographiae Ratio, whose second edition (1566) contains the earliest copy of an ancient Roman calendar written on marble and discovered in 1547 by his father Paolo in the Palace of Cardinal Bernardino Maffei, known as the Fasti Maffeiani.

When his father was called by Pope Pius IV to direct the Tipografia del Popolo Romano in Rome, Aldus was appointed to manage the Venice press.

In this period he published his Epitome orthographiae (1575) and his commentary on Horace’s Ars poetica (1576) and was appointed professor of literature at the chancery in Venice.

[9] His typographical activity, even if far from the standard of refined elegance of that of his grandfather, enjoyed in those days a very good reputation, to the extent that his editions were highly appreciated and very much sought-after.

[1] He was working on several projects at the time of his death, including a historical and geographical description of all the Italian states and a collection of ancient inscriptions, later incorporated into the Inscriptiones antiquae of Giovanni Battista Doni published in 1731.