Figure 72
Aldine Italic as used in Juvenal and Persius: Aldus, Venice
From a copy in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence (facsimile), Ivvenalis. Persivs. (scan)
1501
The punches for [the Aldine italic] were cut by Francesco da Bologna (whose name was Griffi, and is not to be confused with Il Francia), who had already designed roman types for Aldus. Tradition says that he intended to imitate the handwriting of Petrarch—too picturesque a fib to give up, though comparison with specimens of Petrarch have dazzled us into forgetting that the production of these little books printed in italic was a simple business affair. The first books printed in the new font were the Virgil and Juvenal of 1501.