Antonio Damirón (1794–1875) was a French-Venezuelan printer. Damirón was born in
Mâcon,
France and established a printing business in
Venezuela, where he lived the rest of his life.
He is considered to be one of the leading printers in Venezuela in the 19th century, and is attributed with creating the first color prints in Venezuela.
Career
Damirón moved with his family from
Saint Thomas to
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
in 1827, where he quickly received a letter of security to reside in Venezuela.
In 1830, he acquired from Colonel Francisco Avendaño a
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
workshop located in the port of
La Guaira where he began printing colored decks or cards on wooden planks.
These were considered as the first colored prints made in Venezuela.
By 1831 he acted as representative in charge of the G.F. Devisme printing press, which was selected to print the ''Gaceta de Venezuela''. In 1832 he moved his lithograph printshop to Caracas where he continued to print colored cards which were sold domestically as merchandise imported from Spain.
He also published the newspaper ''El Nacional'' (1833–1841),
and other Venezuelan newspapers, including ''El Censor'', (1836-?)
Worldcat
/ref> ''Un Militar Retirado'' (1833), and ''El Republicano'' (1834–1835).
Retirement
In 1843 he sold his business to the German publisher Muller and Stapler, and retired to his estates in Miranda.
References
1794 births
1875 deaths
French publishers (people)
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