3 ms·
Depends on the country I guess, the Venetian Republic seems to had more than 150 presses by 1500, the most famous of publishers Aldus Manutius printing 30 thous
by ivanhoe 5y ago
Depends on the country I guess, the Venetian Republic seems to had more than 150 presses by 1500, the most famous of publishers Aldus Manutius printing 30 thousands of inexpensive “pocket editions” books in just 5 years ("six titles a year for the next five years", at 1000 copies per edition) according to Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-medieval-book https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-medieval-boo...
- southerntofu 5y agoInteresting! Thanks for sharing. I still would not say 30K books is "available to common people" (most of whom could not read), but i was definitely not aware Venice had such a policy so early in history.