Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Venetian Printing Press: An Historical Study Based Upon Documents for the Most Part Hitherto Unpublished
His book consists of two parts. First, an historical study of the Venetian Printing Press from its origin down to the fall of the Republic, based, in a large degree, upon the documents which form the second part of the book.
In this study I trace the history of the Venetian press from its introduction, through the sixteenth century - noting especially how press legislation grew up, preceded by custom and practice, and then formulated in law; how the government dealt with such questions as copyright, protection, and censorship; how the Guild of Printers and Booksellers was founded and governed; how the book trade came under the in?uence of the Index and the Inquisitorial censorship, and how the Republic endeavoured to protect the trade, thereby involving itself in a long struggle with the Church of Rome - till we reach the slow decline of the Venetian press through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in spite of the legis lation which was designed to preserve it.
I have called the work a study, rather than a history of the Venetian press, because I feel that a true history of that press would require far more bibliographical knowledge than I possess. This book will have fulfilled its purpose if it serves as a pioneer along a line of research which has never been adequately explored, except at its beginning, and then almost entirely from a bibliographical, not from an historical or legal point of View.
The second part of the book contains the documents which served as a basis for the study. By far the larger part are published now for the first time. In some cases I have reprinted documents which have already seen the light, because 1 know that they are difficult of access to English students. These documents fall into several groups.
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