Aldus Manutius, or Aldo Manuzio, an Italian printer, born at Bassano, established a printing-office in Venice in 1488, issued the celebrated Aldine Editions of the classics, and invented the italic type, for the exclusive use of which for many years he obtained a patent, though the honour of the invention is more probably due to his typefounder, Franciso de Bologna, than to him (1447‒1515).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Aldrovan`di, Ulysses * Alec`to