Aldus Manutius the Younger

Aldus Manutius the Younger (born Feb. 13, 1547, Venice [Italy]—died Oct. 28, 1597, Rome) was the last member of the Italian family of Manuzio to be active in the famous Aldine Press established by his grandfather Aldus Manutius the Elder.

When only 14 years old, Aldus the Younger wrote a work on Latin spelling, “Orthographiae ratio.” While in Venice superintending the Aldine Press after his father, Paulus Manutius, had moved to Rome, he published his Epitome orthographiae (1575) and his commentary on Horace’s Ars poetica (1576). About the same time he was appointed professor of literature at the chancery in Venice. In 1585 Manutius moved to Bologna, where the next year he published his life of Cosimo de’ Medici; in 1587 he went to Pisa, and in 1588 Pope Sixtus V called him to Rome to work in the Typographica Apostolica Vaticana, the printing press Sixtus V had founded in 1587. Manutius married a daughter of the publisher Bernardo Giunta. Although he had children, none carried on the Aldine Press.