AZZOGUIDI, BALDASSARRE. - A noble citizen of Bologna, born in the decade between 1430 and 1440. He was the first to introduce the art of printing in Bologna, associating with him the humanist Francesco Dal Pozzo and Annibale Malpighi; the former was tasked with selecting the works to be printed and correcting the proofs, while the latter was responsible for the physical labor. The first work to come from his press, a text by Ovid, bears the date 1471, with the following subscription: «Balthasar Azoguidus Civis Bononiensis honestissimo loco natus primus in sua civitate artis impressoriae inventor... ad utilitatem humani generis impressit; MICCCCLXXI». He continued his work until 1480, when adverse circumstances forced him to abandon the enterprise. Among his editions, numbering about thirty, printed in Roman type, the following are particularly valuable for their rarity: the Vita di Guerino cognominato Meschino (1475), the Statua Civilia Communis Bononiae (1476), and the Decamerone of Boccaccio (1476).
20. - ENCYCLOPEDIA CATHOLICA. - II.
The list of editions is found in D. Reichling, Appendices ad Hainii Copingeri Repertorium bibliographicum, Munich 1911, pp. 135-36.