Sanudo Diaries: Oct 17, 1502 (4:369)

nedits: Sanudo had some fans including Aldo the Roman:

Editor's note: "... Aldo Manuzio, the famous printer who took up residence in Venice about 1490 and from whose press came a series of carefully edited Latin, Greek, and Tuscan classics was to issue forth. ... esteem for Sanudo is already evident in the dedication to Sanudo of Aldo's editions of the works of Poliziano in 1498, where he praises Sanudo for his "sharp intelligence and singular learning" and speaks of having visited Sanudo's library "crammed with every sort of book". Of Sanudo's character and work, Aldo said: "Deeply modest and devoted to public affairs, he never stops writing and compiling whatever is worthy to be read." " pp 431-2

Editor's footnote: ""... Aldo indicates that Sanudo's humanism included both erudition [paideia] and love of mankind [philanthropia], considered the two critical aspects of Renaissance humanism in this period. However, Aldo's multiple dedications to and praise for Sanudo must be considered in the light of this printer's active self-promotion through flattery." p 432.

Editor's note: "Sanudo ... was instrumental in securing for Aldo his patent for italic type, devised as a means of converting cursive into print, a way of making Aldine books fully competitive with the most beautiful Greek and Latin manuscripts.... by 1500 there were 200 competing printing presses in Venice. Shortly after returning from Verona, Sanudo mentioned his role in sponsoring Aldo's exclusive license for his innovations and indicated how supportive the government was of Aldo's contribution to Venice primacy in this new industry." p 432

Sanudo Diaries: "October 17, 1502; (4:369); "At my instigation the council proposed a bill to grant the request of m[agistr]o Aldo the Roman, who prints books, works, and new letters and things that no one else may print for the next ten years, etc. The vote for it was unanimous." "p 432-3

Editor's note: "... the general Venetian attitude toward patricians who opted for a career outside the political and diplomatic framework of the Venetian government or the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Venetian church.... Sanudo was more truly representative of the Venetian attitude toward humanitas than either Pietro Bembo or his earlier compatriot Ermolao Barbaro, a great scholar who also lived outside the Venetian political system and earned Sanudo's respect but not his praise." p 431

Editor's footnote: "Sanudo copied into one of his notebooks in 1492 Ermolao Barbaro's verses on Ludovico Sforza .... On why both Ermolao Barbaro and Pietro Bembo had to live outside the Venetian system, Gilbert remarks: "The vita contemplativa,' an existence devoted to scholarship and literature, remained Ermolao's ideal.... It was no accident that he had to live in exile from Venice the last years of his life. Pietro Bembo's genius also led beyond the political and intellectual limits of Venice into a world which had rules and values quite outside the control of a particular social body." (1979, 23)" quote  from Humanism and Venice. In Florence and Venice: comparisons and relations, ed. Sergio Bertelli, Nicolai Rubinstein, and Craig Hugh Smythe, I:13-26. Florence: La Nuova Italia; Footnote from p. 431.

All quotes from  Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll,  editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008