Figure 101
Italic in Dante’s Commedia: Marcolini, Venice
From a copy in Harvard College Library (facsimile), Library of Congress (scan)
1544
Alessandro Vellutello’s edition of Dante’s Commedia, printed by F. Marcolini at Venice in 1544, shows the Aldine manner sill surviving. The book, it is true, is printed in two sizes of italic, the larger for the verse, the smaller for the notes; still these notes surround the text in very fifteenth century style. Spaces are, in a few instances, left for painted initials. The first page bears a title in large spaced capitals, but otherwise it remains pretty faithful to an earlier typographic model. The illustrations from wood-blocks are vivid and effective—and famous.