The Venetian Printing Press

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Excerpt from The Venetian Printing Press: An Historical Study Based Upon Documents for the Most Part Hitherto Unpublished His book consists of two parts.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. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.