The Wosk–McDonald Aldine Collection

Gutenberg may have developed mass-production movable type for the Western printing press, but Aldus developed the movable book.

yosef wosk

Publishing @ SFU and Simon Fraser University Library are delighted to present the online appearance of the Wosk–McDonald Aldine Collection. The collection came to SFU in 1995 from the collector Hugh McDonald and his wife Jerry with support from Morris and Dr. Yosef Wosk. In all, it comprises 106 volumes published by the Venetian press of Aldus Manutius between 1501 and 1580.

In 2015, thanks to the encouragement of Dr. John Willinsky, and in honour of both the fiftieth anniversary of SFU and the five-hundredth anniversary of Aldus's death, we have undertaken to produce digitized versions of twenty-one volumes from the collection, published between 1501 and 1515. These volumes showcase Aldus's many world-changing contributions to publishing, scholarship, and the art of the book.

We welcome historians, literary scholars, digital humanists, students of publishing, and all kinds of bibliophiles to enjoy these treasures of the Venetian Renaissance, which are the very foundation stones of modern literate culture. We hope this online collection can become the core of a much larger online discourse about the humanities and the history of the book.

Below is a full list of SFU’s digital Aldines, arranged by language and date of publication:

Greek Editions

1501 Philostratus (folio)


1502 Pollux (folio)


1502 Stephanus Byzantinus (folio)


1502 Sophocles (8vo)


1503 Greek Anthology (8vo)


1503 Lucian (folio)


1504 Demosthenes (folio)


1505 Aesop (folio)

1505 Quintus (8vo)

Latin Editions

1501 Juvenal & Persius (folio)

1501 Martial (8vo)


1502 Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius (8vo)


1503 Origen (folio)


1505 Pontano (8vo)


1505 Augurellus (8vo)


1513 Perottus (folio)


1513 Strozzius (8vo)


1514 Cicero (8vo)


1514 Scriptores rei rusticae (4to)


1515 Lucretius (8vo)

Italian Editions

1514 Sannazaro (8vo)