Editing Aldus Manutius (section)

===Typefaces===
Everyday handwriting in Venice was in [[cursive]], but at the time, published works contained only block lettering. Manutius commissioned typefaces designed to look like the handwriting of humanists both in Latin and Greek in order to uphold the manuscript tradition. In the ''New Aldine Studies,'' Harry George Fletcher III, [[Pierpont Morgan Library]]'s curator for printed books and bindings, writes that Manutius intended "to make available in type a face comfortable for its readers" with the cursive typeface.

Manutius commissioned the [[punchcutter]] [[Francesco Griffo]] of [[Bologna, Italy|Bologna]] to create the new typeface. The handwriting reproduced for the many Aldine Press typefaces is a topic of conflicting opinions by scholars; the ''1911 Encyclopædia Britannica'' suggests Petrarch's handwriting, while the ''New Aldine Studies'' presumes the handwriting of scribes Pomponio Leto and Bartolomeo Sanvito was the inspiration for the typeface. Other scholars believe the first Greek typeface was derived from the handwriting of Immanuel Rhusotas, another scribe during the time of Manutius. The Aldine Press commissioned the first Greek script designed "with accents and letters cast separately and combined by the compositor." The typeface was first used in publishing ''Erotemata'' by Constantine Lascaris in 1495. The Roman typeface was finished later the same year and Pietro Bembo's ''De Aetna'' was the first book published in the new Roman script.

Manutius and Griffo's original typeface is the first known model of [[italic type]] and was used by Manutius until 1501. Five italic words were printed in ''St. Catherine of Siena'' in 1500 and in 1501 an ''Opera'' by Virgil was the first completed book in italic type. A falling out between Manutius and Griffo brought Griffo to leave and supply other publishers with the italic type originally commissioned by the Aldine Press. Griffo only made one set of punches for the Aldine Press, which were used until 1559. Griffo's original italic type did not include capital letters, so many of the Aldine Press publications forewent capital letters.

The 1502 publication of the ''Metamorphoses'' included Manutius's privilege from the Doge of Venice indicating that any use or imitation of Manutius's Greek and Italic typefaces was forbidden. Despite trying to have the typeface protected legally, Manutius could not stop printers outside of Venice from using his work, which led to the typeface's popularity outside of Italy.