European Printed Book Culture

Timeline

1. 1501–1505Venice · ItalyAldus Manutius issued portable octavo editions of classical works and Greek texts in Venice; the spread of italic type and the nascent notion of copyright made Venice the printing and trading center of European humanist books.
2. 1506–1510Western Europe · Western EuropePrinting shops multiplied in Paris, Lyon, Antwerp, Basel, and elsewhere; books circulated transnationally through bookseller networks, and vernacular literature and religious pamphlets began to challenge Latin's monopoly, laying the material groundwork for the Reformation's information mobilization.