Paganino Paganini (;

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Paganinus de Paganinis''; –1538), was an Italian printer and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

from the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

during the Renaissance. He was the original publisher of

Luca Pacioli Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli, O.F.M. (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as account ...

's mathematical works, ''

Summa de arithmetica Summa and its diminutive summula (plural ''summae'' and ''summulae'', respectively) was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they migh ...

'' and ''

De divina proportione ''Divina proportione'' (15th century Italian for ''Divine proportion''), later also called ''De divina proportione'' (converting the Italian title into a Latin one) is a book on mathematics written by Luca Pacioli and illustrated by Leonardo da V ...

'', and of what is thought to be the first printed version of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Life

Born in

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in the mid-fifteenth century, Paganini moved to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

at a young age. In Venice he entered the field of publishing in 1483, working with publishers Bernardino Benali and Giorgio Arrivabene. In 1487 he printed and published his first independent work, a copy of the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...

(published for the first time in 1474). In the following years he devoted himself to the printing of various works on theology and jurisprudence, including an exceptional Bible with accompanying illustrations and commentary by Nicholas of Lyra. His publications also included significant works on mathematics and politics. In 1517 he returned with his son Alessandro and his wife to Brescia, where he founded his own print shop in the monastery on Isola del Garda; he later settled in the town of Toscolano, which today is part of the municipality of

Toscolano-Maderno Toscolano Maderno ( Gardesano: ) is a town and ''comune'' on the West coast of Lake Garda, in the province of Brescia, in the region of Lombardy, northern Italy. It is located about from Brescia. Located on the Brescian shore of Lake Garda, it ...

. Here he continued his collaboration with his son, also a printer and publisher, printing numerous Latin and Italian classics in small format. In his later years he moved to the town of Cecina, also currently part of Toscolano-Maderno, where he died in 1538.

Notable works

Among Paganini's most notable publications were three mathematical writings of

: Pacioli's ''

'' (1494), ''

'' (1509), and his Italian translation of Euclid's ''Elements'' (1509). He also published Vergerio's ''De Republica Veneta liber primus'' in 1526, contributing to the work's influence on Venetian politics in the early sixteenth century.

First printed Arabic Quran

Between 1537 and 1538 Paganini and his son published what was probably the first printed edition of the

. This work was likely intended for export to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, with which Venice had extensive trade ties. Sometimes known as the Paganini Quran, the Venice Quran, or the Venice Manuscript, it is believed to be the first complete copy of the Quran printed on a

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...

printer. In the end, the venture was unsuccessful; the entire print run is reported by various contemporaries to have been lost, though the explanations for the disappearance vary widely. However, one copy of this printed Quran was found in 1987 in a monastery in Isola di San Michele (Venice).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paganini, Paganino Republic of Venice printers Businesspeople from Brescia 1450s births 1538 deaths