Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/146

 134 MANUSCRIPT sentences, and without punctuation. This style was in use until about the 6th century, when it was superseded by uncial writing, which had coexisted with it from the 3d cen- tury. A kind of capitals called rustics, having the letters slightly inclined, were used how- ever until a much later time. Uncials differ from pure capitals in having some of the let- ters, particularly A, D, E, and M, curved. The most of the extant Greek and Latin manu- scripts written between the 4th and 6th cen- turies are in uncial characters ; but from the 6th to the close of the 8th century semi-un- cial writing, a mixture of small and capital letters, came gradually into use, and led even- tually to the small cursive or minuscule wri- ting of the 10th century. These remarks ap- ply more particularly to book manuscripts, for Greek cursives were used in letters and docu- ments before the Christian era. Latin cursives were introduced into book manuscripts as ear- ly as the 4th century. In the oldest manu- scripts the characters are written separately each from another, and there are no divisions into words or sentences, nor distinction of ini- tial letters. Abbreviations early came into use. At first they were limited to principal words, such as names of the Deity ; but in time, par- ticularly in the 12th and 13th centuries, they became so common as to render many manu- scripts almost unintelligible. Many of these abbreviations are arbitrary signs derived from the so-called Notes Tironiance, or Roman sys- tem of shorthand, ascribed by some to the in- vention of Tiro, the freedman of Cicero. A line is generally drawn above each abbreviated word to denote contraction. When the period or dot came into use, it was placed generally above, not in the line ; the comma was intro- duced about the close of the 10th century, and marks of interrogation and exclamation and pa- rentheses about the 15th century. The repeti- tion at the foot of each page of the first word of the following page belongs to the 12th and subsequent centuries. The Arabic numerals first appear in writing near the beginning of the 12th century. The most important works on manuscripts and palaeography are: Mabil- lon, De He Diplomatica (Paris, 1681); Mont- faucon, PalcBographia Graca (Paris, 1708), and Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manwcriptorum Nova (2 vols., 1739); Maffei, htoria diplo- matic^ &c. (Mantua, 1727); Baring, Clavis Diplomatica (Hanover, 1737-'54); Toussaint and Tassin, Nouveau traite de diplomatique, par deux reliaieux benedictins, &c. (6 vols. 4to, Pari^ 1750-W); Vaines, Dictwnnaire rai- wnne de diplomatique (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1773- '4) ; Astle, " Origin and Progress of Writing " (London, 1784) ; Kopp, PalcsograpJiica Criti- ca (4 vols., Mannheim, 1817-'29) ; Ebert, Zur Il'inds'-hrifenkunde (2 vols., Leipsic, 1825-'7) ; Wailly, Elements de paUographie (2 vols. 4to, Paris, 183H); Silvestre, PaUographie unitf.r- telle, facsimiles, with descriptions by Cham- pollion-Figeac and Aim6 Champollion (4 vols. MANUTIUS fol., Paris, 1839-'45 ) ; Marini, Diplomatica pontificia (Rome, 1841); Westwood, Palceo- graphia Sacra Pictoria (London, 1845) ; Chas- sant, Dictwnnaire des abreviations latines et francaises usitees dans les manuscritu. . . du moyen age (Evreux, 1844 ; 3d ed., Paris, 1866) ; and Wattenbach, Anleitung zur griechischen Palaographie (Leipsic, 1867). MANUTICS (MANUZIO). I. Aldus, called the Elder, the first of a well known family of Ital- ian printers, born at Bassiano about 1449, died in Venice, Feb. 3, 1515. He was deeply versed in classical literature, and about 1490 established a printing press in Venice, which soon became celebrated for the variety and excellence of the works issuing from it. In 1494 appeared his edition in Latin and Greek of the " Hero and Leander " of Musseus, followed within a few years by editions of Plato, Aristotle, Herodo- tus, Pindar, the Greek dramatists, &c., many of which were printed from original manuscripts procured from distant countries at considera- ble expense. His Latin editions, published subsequent to 1500, and commencing with Vir- gil, are printed in a character cast, it is said, in imitation of the handwriting of Petrarch, and now called Italic; and the editorial la- bors of the publisher were shared by a society of learned men who met at his house and formed what was called the Aldine academy. These impressions are said to be more correctly printed than the Greek. He suffered by the wars in which Venice was engaged in the be- ginning of the 16th century, but subsequently pursued his avocation with industry and suc- cess until his death. Besides the numerous prefaces and dissertations in Greek and Latin embodied in his publications, he produced grammars of the Greek and .Latin languages, a Greek-Latin dictionary, translations, &c. The title pages of his books have a device repre- senting a dolphin coiled about the shank of an anchor, on the sides of which are the syllables Al and Dvs. II. Panlns, youngest son of the preceding, born in Venice, in 1511 or 1512, died in Rome, April 6, 1574. He was a man of equal learning and critical ability with his father, and was distinguished by the correct- ness of his editions of the Latin classics, par- ticularly of his Cicero, with prefaces, notes, and an index. Failing to receive adequate patronage in Venice, he repaired about 1562 to Rome, and was for some time employed in edit- ing and printing the manuscripts of the church fathers deposited in the capitol. He, returned to Venice in 1570, but again went to Rome, and died in poverty. He published a Latin translation of the Philippics of Demosthenes, and a number of original works in Latin and Italian, which entitle him to rank among the most polished writers of the 16th century. III. Aldns, called the Younger, son of the pre- ceding, born in Venice, Feb. 13, 1547, died in Rome, Oct. 28, 1597. He published at the age of 11 a collection of choice specimens from Latin and Italian authors, and three years late*