1502, [Lyons]: BALTHAZAR DE GABIANO AND BARTHELEMY TROTH
The appearance of Aldus' octavo editions beginning in 1501 led to a flood
of imitations which was impossible to stem since Aldus' copyrights were
practically unenforceable. The Lyons printers Barthèlemy Troth and
his associate, an Italian immigrant named Balthazar de Gabiano, were the
greatest offenders. They reproduced complete Aldine texts in a coarse imitation
of their italic type, on a poor grade of paper, and with numerous errors
due to hurried work. It has been estimated that some 64 counterfeit editions
of Aldine texts were published in Lyons between 1501-1527, the majority
of these done by Troth and Gabiano. The poor paper quality and inferior
italic are evident in this copy. The lack of Aldus' line of colophon and
admonition against unauthorized reproduction at the end of the Paradiso
is otherwise the only substantial textual difference between the two editions.
