Spreading the knowledge of classical authors and their texts among both Italian and European humanists and scholars was Aldus Manutius’s ambition since the very outset of his career. It was not by chance, therefore, that he chose to establish his publishing activity in Venice, the centre of an extensive and well-established European book trade and home to a rich and sophisticated intellectual élite.

The provenance history of many surviving Aldine books proves him right. Ownership inscriptions and contemporary bindings show that members of the aristocracy, rich individuals and eminent European scholars from Venice, Italy, England and Flanders are among the owners of copies of Aldine editions in the University Library collections.