My Ph.D "Venise et le monde du livre, 1469-1530" was defended le 2nd of December 2017 at Paris-Sorbonne University, in front of jury composed of Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Patrick Boucheron, Pierre Monnet, François Menant, Anna Bellavitis and Ezio Ornato. You can read the table of contents and the summary. The complete dissertation can be consulted here
A new version has been publish at Champ Vallon : La Venise des livres, 1469-1530. The table of contents can be read here
The first book to be printed in Venice was published in 1469. Between this date and the 1530s, the printing industry expanded and Venice became the first production hub in Europe for incunabula. On the one hand, printing was a new trade, which was established in Venice outside of the guild system. Printers and booksellers managed to build their commercial network gradually, by either building upon the pre-existing manuscript network, or by creating their own commercial system. Since that activity was entirely new, there were many uncertainties and inequalities as far as the status of the printers was concerned, all the more so since they had to adapt to the local social context. On the other hand, most Venice-based printers were in fact foreigners. During the first years, they were mainly of German origin, although other minorities or communities also contributed to the development of the industry. Theirs was a very precarious and unstable activity. Hence the need to understand how these craftsmen and merchants organized themselves, which also raises the related question of whether and how they integrated into Venice’s urban geography and sociability. Finally, this thesis aims at questioning the existence of a Venetian printing world between 1469 and 1530, and at examining the construction of a professional milieu based on printing and the selling of printed books. I wish to understand how this new industry, shaped by foreigners, managed to take root and grow in the city; how the actors interacted with the institutions and the legislation; and how they integrated into Venice’s social fabric.