658 mario infelise
antwerp, who continued to enjoy the protection of royal privileges under
Philip ii.20
from the mid-16th century on, Venice was thus on its way to losing
its place as “an entire world” that it had enjoyed in manuzio’s day. other
european metropolises were growing, especially as the capitals of great
territorial states and empires that extended far beyond the confines of
europe and the mediterranean. however, the decline of Venice was slow
and not always perceived as such by those who experienced it. Between
highs and lows, Venice remained one of the richest, most cosmopolitan,
and most culturally vibrant cities on the continent until the fall of the
republic at the end of the 18th century, a must-see destination on every
“grand tour,” and with an overall publishing output that lived up to its
reputation. as the most important center in italy and among the top in
europe, Venice remained a focal point for the book market.
taking a closer look, the 17th century was the period of truly epochal
transformations. until 1620, Venetian production remained high and con-
tinued to surpass english publishers for number of titles produced. in the
period 1620–50, however, the situation changed decisively as a grave cri-
sis hit the sector. in this period, the number of active presses in Venice,
which at the height of 16th-century production had risen to 125, fell to
15–20, and the quantity of titles produced annually went from an average
of 350 to just a few dozen. this resulted both from an increasingly fierce
international competition and from the constant political instability of
the time. in 1622, Venetian printers complained of the spanish king’s deci-
sion to prohibit his subjects having their works published abroad. the
situation was further worsened by the thirty Years’ War, which gravely
impeded long-distance continental commerce, and the terrible plague of
1630 and its economic and demographic repercussions. these decades of
depression witnessed the ultimate decline of the great renaissance pub-
lishing houses such as the giunti and the giolito, both of whom defini-
tively closed shop.21
20 on the general trends in italian and Venetian publishing in the 17th and 18th
centuries in the european context, see mario infelise, “la librairie italienne (XViie et XViiie
siècles),” in f. Barbier, s. Juratic, and d. Varry, eds., L’Europe et le livre. Réseaux et pratiques
du négoce de librairie XVIe–XIXe siècles (langres, 1996), pp. 81–97; and henri Jean martin,
Livre, pouvoirs et société à Paris au XVIIe siècle (1598–1701) (geneva, 1969), pp. 5–31, 296–330.
more in detail on Venice: mario infelise, L’editoria veneziana nel ’700 (milan, 1989), also
recommended for a more detailed bibliography.
21 mario infelise, “la crise de la librairie vénitienne, 1620–1650,” in frédéric Barbier
et al., eds., Le livre et l’historien: études offertes en l’honneur du professeur Henri-Jean Martin
(geneva, 1997), pp. 343–52.