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=Eastern Lombard, 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 ...
around 1500.
He may have been trained in the same school as
Aldus Manutius
Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...
, but apart from that, nothing is known about his early years. In 1536,
Juan Cromberger wanted to establish a printing house in Mexico and sent Juan Pablos to Mexico City. Pablos departed from
Seville 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 de Zumárraga, OFM (1468 – June 3, 1548) was a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate and the first Bishop of Mexico. He was also the region's first inquisitor. He wrote ''Doctrina breve'', the first book published in the Western Hemispher ...
. 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
Juan de Zumárraga, OFM (1468 – June 3, 1548) was a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate and the first Bishop of Mexico. He was also the region's first inquisitor. He wrote ''Doctrina breve'', the first book published in the Western Hemispher ...
, 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, nes ...
*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
Don Diego de Guevara ( 1450–1520) was a Spanish courtier and ambassador who served four, possibly five, successive Dukes of Burgundy, spanning the Valois and Habsburg dynasties, mostly in the Low Countries. He was also a significant art ...
*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
*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 the ...
*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 Alonso Gutiérrez
*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