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.
Giovanni Paoli was born in the region of Brescia around 1500.[1] 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 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".[2] Cromberger's name also appeared on all early publications in Mexico until 1545 even though he never visited Mexico and died in 1540.[3]
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 CastellanabyJuan 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,[2] and Antonio de Espinosa, who started working with Pablos in 1554. Espinosa became the second printer in Mexico, in 1559.[1]
Juan Pablos was married to Geronima Gutierrez, who received the viceroyal printing privilege after his death.[4] Their daughter Maria de Figueroa married Pedro Ocharte in 1561 or 1562, and they took over the company from Gutierrez in 1563.[5]