LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

Abstract

Abstract Popular books are generally defined as printed cheaply, in haste, and with poor-quality materials. Yet their material aspects remain largely obscure due to their rarity as well the lack of an established methodology of analysis and meaningful data. This chapter tackles the paper quality and printing defects in a relevant corpus of sixteenth-century Italian popular books, relying on the data collected in the PATRIMONiT database. Analysing these shortcomings reveals that, rather than mistakes, these material flaws were intrinsic features of these products, providing insights into the strategies early modern printers employed to cope with the incessant demand for popular books.