The introduction of the printing press in New Spain occurred early, with the arrival of the printer Juan Pablos (1539); however, even before his arrival, printed books from Europe were already in circulation. Given the constant demand for books, several New Spanish cities had printing presses: the first was Mexico City, where important printers established themselves. It was followed by Puebla de los Ángeles in the 1640s, which by the eighteenth century already had important typographic workshops.
These workshops met the demand for books required for evangelization and teaching. Grammars, vocabularies and primers contributed both to religious conversion and to literacy. In this period, the book was a cultural vector in which different agents took part: authors, editors, censors, printers, booksellers, engravers and readers. The participation of each of these agents makes it possible to study the creative processes — both textual and material — and the distribution of books. Circulation occurred both in productive centers and in other regions of the viceroyalty, revealing the various distribution networks and, with them, the formation of collections.
The printing press and all the processes implicit in getting a book to a reader and to a library are part of the history of the formation of Mexico’s bibliographic heritage. These viceregal libraries are the origin of the national collections, since most of them were dispersed in the nineteenth century, after the political reforms of Benito Juárez, who decreed the disentailment of ecclesiastical property. Thousands of books were temporarily deposited in religious buildings so that from there they could be distributed to the various libraries that were founded. During these years, various inventories of institutional libraries were also drawn up, allowing us a glimpse of the richness of these collections, which could include both religious and scientific titles, regardless of whether they were private, institutional, or belonging to religious congregations. It is worth noting that booksellers also drew up lists of everything sold in their shops and submitted them to the Inquisition, since it was the authority that regulated what was printed within the Catholic world.
The tools for studying print culture are varied; in recent years, one recurring tool has been provenance evidence. These identifying features have fostered a methodology for reconstructing certain libraries, and for delving deeper into the circulation and trade of books. In specific cases, it has been possible to investigate reading and writing systems, and for this reason they are included as part of research on viceregal books and libraries.
This symposium aims to stimulate debate on the book in New Spain, from various perspectives:
1. The printing press, printers and typographic workshops
2. The agents of books
3. The networks of book circulation within New Spain and across the various territories of the monarchy.
4. Imagery in books printed in New Spain.
5. Private and institutional libraries
6. Catalogs, inventories and records of books.
7. Women and the book.
8. The formation of Mexico’s national bibliographic heritage.
