Ornamento4

The Typography of the Seminary

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Founded in 1684 by Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, the Seminary’s Typography became one of the most important publishing houses in the Republic of Venice during the 18th century. This initiative stemmed from the need to produce texts for the study of Semitic languages, including Arabic and Hebrew.

Cardinal Barbarigo’s decision was a direct consequence of the reform of studies implemented within the Seminary starting in 1678, aimed at preparing future priests of the Padua diocese in Semitic languages—particularly Arabic and Hebrew—alongside Greek, so they could also be ready as missionaries to be sent to the Near East and the Balkan region of Europe. However, there were no suitable texts for the study of these languages on the Venetian book market, and thus by 1681, the cardinal felt compelled to have an elementary grammar of the Hebrew language printed in Venice. Unsatisfied with the result, Barbarigo decided to establish his own printing press and, thanks to the donation of matrices and type punches in Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other Semitic languages from Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany, Duke Borromeo, president of the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, and Cardinal Girolamo Casanate of the Typographic Press of the Propaganda Fide in Rome, he was able to commence operations in a short time.

During the period when Barbarigo effectively held the direction of the printing press himself, until his death in 1697, production was primarily based on texts for the internal school of the Seminary, works for third parties, and starting in 1690, the so-called “reds and blacks,” that is, liturgical books, which were printed using ink of two colors and whose sales proved to be very profitable.

From the year 1700, the new bishop, Giorgio Corner, entered into a contract with a young Venetian bookseller, Giovanni Manfrè, who became the sole agent of the Padua printing house operating in the lagoon area. Thanks to Manfrè’s skill and the productive capacity of the press, within a few years, the business became one of the most important in the entire Italian peninsula, spreading its prints as far as the Iberian Peninsula. In 1743, Giovanni Manfrè was succeeded by his son Marcantonio, who continued his father’s successful policies without significant changes, but in 1785, the commercial relations between the two parties came to an end. The Seminary of Padua then formed a 50% partnership with the Venetian company founded by Giulio Foresti and Nicolò Bettinelli, which was dissolved in 1809. During this period—specifically between 1783 and 1817—the most important and ambitious edition in the entire history of the Seminary’s Typographic Press emerged: the Encyclopédie méthodique, which, together with Forcellini’s Lexicon, which was reprinted and updated several times, brought great fame to the Padua presses. After Giuseppe Furlanetto’s attempt to publish a series called “Collection of Latin Classics,” which, however, only saw the release of 17 volumes between 1813 and 1819, the activity of the Seminary’s Typographic Press no longer extended beyond the diocesan territory, as commercial contacts with large distribution publishers were interrupted. Despite these limitations, the presses continued their work uninterrupted until 1938.

(Marco Callegari – January 2016)

Bibliografia:

  • M. CALLEGARI, «Strategie di produzione libraria a Padova nel Settecento», in «Navigare nei mari dell’umano sapere». Biblioteche e circolazione libraria nel Trentino e nell’Italia del XVIII secolo. Atti del convegno di studio (Rovereto, 25-27 ottobre 2007). Edited by G. PERELLA, Autonomous Province of Trento – Superintendency for Library and Archival Heritage, Trento 2008, pp. 33-43 (particularly: pp. 38-43).

  • P. GNAN (a cura di), “Un affare di dinaro, di diligenza, di scienza”. L’edizione padovana dell’Encyclopédie méthodique (1784-1817). Introductory essays by U. Baldini, E. Franzin, P. Preto, University Library, Padua 2005, 76 p., ill.

  • M. CALLEGARI., Dal torchio del tipografo al banco del libraio. Stampatori, editori e librai a Padova dal XV al XVIII secolo (“Quaderni dell’artigianato padovano”, n. 4), Padova, Il Prato 2002, p. 73-95.

  • ID., «La tipografia del Seminario tra Illuminismo e Restaurazione», in L. SITRAN REA (a cura di), Cultural institutions, sciences, and teaching in Veneto from the age of reforms to restoration, Lint, Trieste 2000, pp. 253-264.

  • ID., «La tipografia del seminario di Padova fondata dal Barbarigo», in L. BILLANOVICH – P. GIOS (a cura di), Gregorio Barbarigo, Venetian Patrician, Bishop and Cardinal in the Late Counter-Reformation (1625-1697). Proceedings of the Conference, Padua, November 7-10, 1996, Institute for Ecclesiastical History of Padua, Padua 1999, vol. I, pp. 231-251.

  •  A. PULZE, Giovanni Coi, Gaetano Cognolato, Girolamo Tiraboschi e l’impresa della Encyclopedie Méthodique a Padova alla fine del XVIII secolo. An epistolary debate (master’s thesis), University of Padua, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, A.Y. 1998-99.
  • P. DEL NEGRO, «Due progetti enciclopedici nel Veneto del tardo Settecento: dal patrizio Matteo Dandolo all’abate Giovanni Coi», in Studi settecenteschi 16 (1996) p. 289-321.
  • I. DANIELE, «Mons. Giuseppe Bellini (1888-1957). In memoriam», », in Libri e stampatori in Padova. Miscellany of Historical Studies in Honor of Mons. G. Bellini, Printer, Publisher, Bookseller, Antonian Press, Padua 1959, pp. VII-XXXI.
  • A. GARBELOTTO, «Anche di musica pubblicò la Tipografia del Seminario di Padova», in Libri e stampatori in Padova. Miscellany of Historical Studies in Honor of Mons. G. Bellini, Printer, Publisher, Bookseller, Antonian Press, Padua 1959, pp. 95-106.
  • G. BELLINI, Storia della Tipografia del Seminario di Padova (1684-1938), Gregoriana, Padova 1938.
  • TIPOGRAFIA DEL SEMINARIO, Saggio dei caratteri, fregi e vignette della Tipografia del Seminario di Padova, Padova 1876.