The century of ColumbusWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
The century of Columbus
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Renaissance
In spite of all that he did for his generation, he met with little of
gratitude and almost less of personal appreciation. There were many
distinguished scholars who were dear personal friends, there were many
high ecclesiastics who admired and helped him, there were many noble
patrons and clients of his house who must have brought him much
consolation. But he had his critics as well: Erasmus could not refrain
from some biting witticisms with regard to the frugality of his table,
being himself somewhat of a glutton. Scaliger indeed said of him that
he drank like three, but did only half the work of one man, while
Aldus was very abstemious. Besides, Aldus complained that his books
were fraudulently reprinted, that his workmen were tempted away from
him after he had trained them, and that he even had to defend himself
against the treachery of his own employees at times. Already at that
time they were beginning to complain of the injustice done the author
by lack of copyright. Erasmus complained: "Our lawmakers do not
concern themselves about the matter. He who sells English cloth for
Venetian cloth is punished, but he who sells corrupt texts in place of
good ones goes free. Innumerable are the books that are corrupted,
especially in Germany. There are restraints on bad bakers, but none on
bad printers, and there is no corner of the earth where bad books do
not go."
A writer in the old _Scribner's Magazine_ for October, 1881, summed up
what Aldus had accomplished for his profession {156} in a paragraph
that evidently comes from a man who knows his subject well and
probably in the modern time has faced some of the problems that Aldus
had to meet, though with the advantage of the experience of over four
centuries since to help him in solving them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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