Written in Italian, and dedicated to H.R.H. the Duke d’Aumale, only 250 copies were printed, under the title of _Chi era Francesco da Bologna?_—proving, so far as the question could be then proved, that the said Francesco da Bologna was no other than the celebrated painter. Francesco Raibolini, born about 1450, and commonly called _il Francia_. The name of _Francia_ he derived from his master, a goldsmith, die, and niello engraver. According to Vasari and a document discovered by Calvi, his death took place on the 6th of January, 1517.[N] Francesco Raibolini was at once, in common with many of his compeers, goldsmith and type-cutter, as well as a painter, and to his skilful hands, Aldus, whose name they bear, was indebted for his characters. From Panizzi, we learn that, “at the end of the short Preface prefixed by Aldus to his first edition of Virgil (1501), printed in the cursive or secretarial characters _manum mentientes_, afterwards generally known by the name of Aldine, are the following three verses:—
“Qui graiis dedit Aldus, en latinis Dat nunc grammata scalpta dædaleis Francisci manibus Bononiensis,”
(Translation). In praise of the type-engraver. Aldus now gives to the Latins, as he gave to the Greeks, letters graven by the _dædal_ hands of Francesco da Bologna.
Besides cutting types, Francesco used them too, for he set up a press at his native town, Bologna, in 1516, and printed several works, now rare, as, for instance, “Il Canzoniere” of Petrarch, “L’Arcadia di Sannazaro” and “Gli Asolani” of Bembo, “Il Corbaccio” and the “Epistolæ ad Familiares” of Cicero.
The date as in the document in question is 1517. The old custom of beginning the ecclesiastical and legal year on the 20th of March was never established at Bologna.
About 1503, Francesco quarrelled with Aldus, and we find, in a letter prefixed to the edition of Petrarch, that he bitterly complains of deriving no honour or profits from the types he had himself cut. It is notorious that Aldus freely gave out that he was not only the inventor, but also the cutter; and, therefore, the work by Panizzi, to say nothing of its beauty, is of great importance, for it does justice to the real inventor, and this discovery is due to the author of the pamphlet, who, besides, enlightens us, in clear language, respecting the distinguished Bolognese:—