MARCOLINI, FRANCESCO. - Bookseller, publisher, and printer, born at Forlì in the early years of the 16th century and died in Venezia after 1559. Having settled in that city, between 1535 and 1559 (except for intervals in the years 1541 and 1546–49), he practised the printing trade there, publishing numerous editions of Italian works and some musical books.
Among the many authors selected were P. Aretino, L. Ariosto, P. Bembo, D. Cavalca, F. Petrarca, and especially A. F. Doni, one of the founders of the Accademia Pellegrina, of which M. was secretary and printer. Some 150 editions are attributed to M., almost all printed in italic type of various sizes; they are of considerable importance for the accuracy of their texts, the abundance of their illustrations, and the rarity of surviving copies. Particularly worthy of mention is Le ingeniote sorti (1540 and 1550), one of the finest illustrated books of the sixteenth century.