Venice, 1501. Aldus Manutius prints Virgil in a letter nobody had seen in type before — a narrow chancery italic cut by Francesco Griffo, lowercase only, set against upright roman capitals.

The motive was economy, not beauty. A close-fitting letter fit a classical text into a pocket octavo, and the book left the lectern for a coat pocket. Plain laid rag paper, no illustration, no decorated initials, modest margins. The whole design argument is that a good text needs nothing added to it.