"From Objects to Things" in the World of Aldus Manutius (1494-1515): Renaissance Publishing, and Institutional Dynamics in Markets

Abstract

The case study, between historical institutionalism and sociology of translation, faces evolution of press and emergence of publishing in Venice between 1490 and 1515: (i) around appearance of modern book as a cultural artefact (as unit of analysis); (ii) considering entrepreneurial experience of Aldus Manutius (as empirical context); (iii) observing and analysing interweaving of different institutional logics (the cultural dynamics of Italian Humanism), emergence of new institutional boundaries (around revolution of movable type and figure of merchant-entrepreneur in Venice), supported by forms of institutional work (the modern book by Aldus as an agent of market change). Adopting a market system dynamics perspective (a market may be defined as an organizational field), and introducing the role of material objects in motivating and shaping institutional change, framework proposes a nonhuman-centric approach to examine roles objects play in market change processes.