BLADO, ANTONIO. — Celebrated printer of the 16th century, born in Lombardy (Asolo or Piadena?) in 1490, died in Rome between 17 and 27 March 1567. He practiced his craft in Rome, beginning around 1515; the first work known to have come from his press is an edition of the *Mirabilia Urbis Romae*, dated 21 November 1516. On the commission of Paul III, he founded a Greek printing house, whose activity extended until about 1550. In 1549 he was appointed *stampatore camerale*, offering the first example of a printing privilege for the official acts of an institution. In this capacity, in 1557, by mandate of the Holy Office, he published the first official Index of Prohibited Books, which was suppressed before publication; even rarer is the second, from the following year. Even rarer (only one known copy exists, in the Vatican Library) is an Index of Books Censored by the Faculty of Theology of Paris, which Blado had printed as early as 1549. Another unique item preserved in the Vatican Archives is a precious Instruction of the Inquisition regarding the Index of Paul IV (1559).
His fame is chiefly due to the publication of illustrated books, among which the *Trattato di sentita d'arme* by C. Agrippa (folio, 1553), with copperplate engravings of uncertain attribution (Stradano? School of Marcantonio Raimondi? School of Leonardo?), holds particular esteem. Also very rare is the *editio princeps* of Machiavelli’s *The Prince*, issued in 1532.
Outside Rome he printed the *Statuta sive constitutiones civitatis Reatae* (Rieti 1549) and the *Theologicarum institutionum compendium* by Cardinal Dolera (Foligno 1562). He favored italic typefaces and adopted as his device a crowned eagle facing left, holding a pike in its talons, with the initials A. B. beneath its outstretched wings. Annibal Caro alluded to him in the character of “Barbagrigia the printer,” publisher of Molza’s *Ficheide*, in the comedy *Gli Straccioni*. His business was continued by his sons Bartolomeo, Stefano, Orazio, and Paolo, until the latter retired in 1593, retaining ownership of the *stamperia camerale* until 1609.