Printing Press. Italian humanists were slow to take their understanding of the liberal arts beyond the Alps. An occasional northerner could be found in Italy studying humanism in the early fifteenth century, and an occasional Italian steeped in humanism traveled northward. Only after 1450 were enough of both groups present in the rest of Europe to speak about the Northern Renaissance. After 1450 there were several developments that helped form Northern humanism. One was the printing press, traditionally attributed to Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz and invented around 1450, although several printers helped perfect movable type. By 1470 printing had reached Italy. When Aldus Manutius founded his press in 1490, Venice became an important center of printing. Manutius developed the style of typeface that became known as italics and specialized in printing humanist and classical literature. His humanist books were compact and cheap but well made. The printing press...