Aldus Manutius

Dolphin and Anchor device, a woodcut from Amorum libri II, published in Venitiis by the Aldine Press in 1518.

The dolphin and anchor device of Aldus Manutius refers to the adage Festina lente, or ‘Make Haste Slowly.’ It was through this balance of speed and accuracy that the Aldine Press became one of the most highly regarded printing houses of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Aldus was the first printer to use italic type, the first to print in Greek, and the first to print ‘portable little books.’ At a time when other printers would print runs of one- or two hundred copies, he was printing a thousand. The cachet of his press resulted in many other printers basing their own devices on his, right up to the present day.