We saw in chapter i that, if printers were to specialize in Latin texts of the sort which demanded scholarly expertise, they needed to be able to draw support from men of letters in their community. The output of printers in Venice shows that they were, from the start, notably successful in using such resources. Scholderer's estimates for the period from 1469 to 1480 give a total of 596 Venetian editions, of which 206 (35 per cent) can be categorized as classical literature, 121 (20 per cent) as theology, 100 (17 per cent) as law, and 71 (12 per cent) as science.

One of the groups whose collaboration ensured the academic strength of Venetian publishing was that of humanists working in Venice and the Veneto. Benedetto Brugnoli, Giorgio Merula and Marcantonio Sabellico, for instance, all of whom edited classical texts, were teachers in the Scuola di San Marco, a position which was especially welcome from the printers' point of view since the pupils of the school included patrician men of letters whose favour would have been a valuable asset. Other notable figures involved in editing were Ognibene da Lonigo, Giovanni Calfurnio (who, like Brugnoli, was a pupil of Ognibene), the neo-Latin poet Raffaele Zovenzoni, and Lodovico Carbone, a humanist of the Ferrarese court.

Another major source of editorial assistance was the neighbouring university of Padua, some of whose teachers and students were quick to see the financial and academic advantages of cooperation with Venetian printers.