Giovanni Paoli, better known as Juan Pablos (1500?–1560 or 1561), a native of Lombardy, was the first documented printer in the Americas when he started printing in Mexico in 1539.

Biography

Giovanni Paoli was born in the region of

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

around 1500. He may have been trained in the same school as Aldus Manutius, but apart from that, nothing is known about his early years. In 1536,

Juan Cromberger ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

wanted to establish a printing house in Mexico and sent Juan Pablos to Mexico City. Pablos departed from

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

on 12 June 1539 and arrived in October 1539, when he set up the company in the " casa de Juan Cromberger". Cromberger's name also appeared on all early publications in Mexico until 1545 even though he never visited Mexico and died in 1540. The first known book to be published in the Americas was the 1539 edition of the ''Breve y mas compendiosa doctrina Christiana en lengua Mexicana y Castellana'' by Juan de Zumárraga. Juan Pablos obtained the necessary patents and permissions to continue Cromberger's workshop as his own after the death of Cromberger in 1540, until his own death in 1560 or 1561, when he had printed at least 37 books. Pablos trained and employed the next generation of Mexican printers, including Pedro Ocharte, who was also his son-in-law, and Antonio de Espinosa, who started working with Pablos in 1554. Espinosa became the second printer in Mexico, in 1559. Juan Pablos was married to Geronima Gutierrez, who received the viceroyal printing privilege after his death. Their daughter Maria de Figueroa married Pedro Ocharte in 1561 or 1562, and they took over the company from Gutierrez in 1563.

Works published

*1539: ''Breve y mas compendiosa doctrina Christiana en lengua Mexicana y Castellana'' by Juan de Zumárraga, a text in Spanish and Nahuatl (multiple editions) *1540: ''Manual de Adultos'' *1541: ''Relacion del espantable terremoto'', a report on the 10 September 1541 earthquake that destroyed

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, ne ...

*1543: ''Doctrina breve muy provechosa'' by Juan de Zumárraga, intended for children *1544: ''Tripartito del Christianissimo y consolatorio doctor Juan Gerson'', first Mexican book with woodcut illustrations *1544: ''Compedio breve'' (2 editions) *1544: ''Doctrina christiana'' (multiple editions) *1546: ''Cancienore Spiritual'', the first book to carry the name of Juan Pablos instead of Juan Cromberger *1547: ''Regle Christiana breve'' *1547: ''Nuevo Vergel'' by Diego Bernal *1548: ''Ordenaças y copilacion de leyes'' *1548: ''Doctrina Christiana en lengua Huasteca'' by Diego de Guevara *1548: ''Nueva Espana. Legislacion'' by

Antonio de Mendoza Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco (, ; 1495 – 21 July 1552) was a Spanish colonial administrator who was the first Viceroy of New Spain, serving from 14 November 1535 to 25 November 1550, and the third Viceroy of Peru, from 23 September 1551 ...

*1549: ''Copilacion breve de un tratado que se llama Mistica theologia'' by Saint Bonaventura *1550: ''Doctrina Christiana en lengua Mixteca'' by Benito Fernandez (reprinted three times) *1554: ''Recognitio. Summularum reverendi patri Ildephonsi'' by

Alonso Gutiérrez Alonso Gutiérrez, also known as Alonso de la Vera Cruz (c.1507–1584) was a Spanish philosopher and Augustinian, who took the religious name ''da Vera Cruz''. He became a major intellectual figure in New Spain, where he worked from 1535 to ...

*1554: ''Dialectica Resolutio cum textu Aristotelis'' *1554: ''Dialogi de Academia Mexicana'' by

Francisco Cervantes de Salazar Francisco Cervantes de Salazar (1514? – 1575) was a Spanish man of letters and rector of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, founded in 1551. He was born and raised in Toledo, Spain. He first attended Alejo Venegas’s Grammar S ...

*1554: ''Vives'' by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar *1555: '' Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana'' by

Alonso de Molina Alonso de Molina (1513. or 1514.. – 1579 or 1585) was a Franciscan priest and grammarian, who wrote a well-known dictionary of the Nahuatl language published in 1571 and still used by scholars working on Nahuatl texts in the tradition of th ...

*1556: '' Sumario Compendioso'' by Juan Diez, the first non-religious scientific book to be published outside Europe *1556: ''Costituciones del arzobiscopado y provincia de la muy insigne y muy leal ciudad de Tenuxtitlan Mexico de la Nueva Espana'' *1556: ''Costituciones Fratruum Heremitarum sancti patris nostri Augustini Hiponensis episcopi et doctoris ecclesiae'' together with the ''Ordinarium sacri ordinis heremitaru'' by Diego de Vertauillo and the ''Regula'': the Ordinarium (80 pages) was the first book of music printed in the Americas *1556: ''Speculum Conjugiorum'' by Alonso Gutiérrez *1556: ''Catecismo y doctrina Christiana en idioma Utlateco'' by

Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín (1499 – April 18, 1563) was the first bishop of Guatemala, ''(in Latin)'' translator of Central American languages and provisional Governor of Guatemala. Biography Marroquín was born near Santander, Spain. He studied phil ...

*1557: '' Physica speculatio'' by

*1559: ''Dialogo de doctrina cristiana'', ''Vocabulario'' and ''Thesoro spiritual'', all three by Maturino Gilberti in ''lengua de Mechuacan'' *1560: ''Manuale Sacramentorum'', the last work published by Pablos, 354 pages.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pablos, Juan Year of birth unknown 1560 deaths Businesspeople from Turin People from Mexico City Italian emigrants to Mexico Italian printers Year of birth uncertain 16th-century printers 16th-century Italian businesspeople 16th-century Spanish businesspeople