Giovanni Battista Pasquali was a leading printer

Printer (publisher)

In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...

 in 18th-century Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, supported by the British consul Joseph Smith (1682–1770)

Joseph Smith (1682–1770)

Joseph Smith , the British consul at Venice, 1744–1760, was a patron of artists, most notably Canaletto, and a collector and connoisseur, banker to the British community at Venice and a major draw on the British Grand Tour...

, a patron and collector. Pasquali was a scholar himself, who published his own essays as well as finely printed, unpretentious editions for a scholarly readership. He signed the Latin preface to his printed catalogue of Smith's distinguished library, Bibliotheca Smithiana, seu Catalogus librorum d. Josephi Smithii (Venice:Pasquali, 1755). Pasquali's peers in the revival of fine printing among the presses

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

 of Venice were the editor and connoisseur Giovanni Battista Albrizzi and the political writer and publisher Antonio Zatta.