The culture of books and printing Venice

Organised by the Giorgio Cini Foundation and the Marciana National Library in conjunction with the interfaith conference ‘Which God for Which Humanity? Religions question themselves,’ this exhibition traces the interdominational role of early Venetian printing, exemplifying the reasons Venice has been chosen to host this event.
The cosmopolitan calling of the city of Venice is well-expressed in the field of printing. In 1469 the city reinforced its centuries-long status as Mediterranean world emporium and crossroads of races, cultures and faiths, opening its doors to the invention of the press. From that moment on through the mid-16th century, Venice remained a world leader in book production. A continuous flux of capital, business, and technical and commercial skill flowed into the city from all over Europe, and the convergence of writers, translators, philologists, miniaturists, engravers and the various other people who worked on texts, images, techniques and characters made the city a veritable publishing capital. The lenience of the patrician government favoured the development of a printing industry that, except for a brief lapse between the late 16th and late 17th century, maintained a consistently high profile until the fall of the Republic (May 1797).
Venetian printers were particularly renowned for religious books, published in various languages and for various forms of worship. The exhibition displays books printed in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Armenian, Czech, Croatian, Serbian, Turkish and Arabic. There are texts for Muslims, Jews of various communities, and Christians of all nationalities and denominations, printed in every sort of character (Roman, Gothic, Greek, Armenian, Glagolithic, Cyrillic, Arabic).
The majority of the books on view belong to the collections of the Giorgio Cini Foundation and the Marciana National Library. A few other extremely valuable works are on loan from the Venetian convents of S. Michele in Isola and S. Francesco della Vigna, the Mechitarist monastary of S. Lazzaro degli Armeni, the Estense Library in Modena and two private collections. Many of these volumes are extremely rare, and in some cases the copies on exhibit are the only ones known.

Venice, Libreria Sansoviniana
27 May –  29 July 2000

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