Giovanni Paoli, better known as Juan Pablos (1500?–1560 or 1561), a native of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, was the first documented printer in the Americas when he started printing in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in 1539.

Biography

Giovanni Paoli was born in the region of

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

around 1500. He may have been trained in the same school as

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; ; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and Renaissance humanism, humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

, 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 Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

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 Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

(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 (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

*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 *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 *1554: ''Vives'' by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar *1555: '' Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana'' by Alonso de Molina *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 *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 Immigrants to New Spain Italian printers Year of birth uncertain 16th-century printers 16th-century Italian businesspeople 16th-century Spanish businesspeople