The collection's signature piece

The Juan Pablos Press

The Juan Pablos press is a wooden screw press, painted green, with a Latin inscription carved on the front of one of its drawers. It is the signature piece of the National Museum of the Graphic Arts.

It works like the first European presses: the central screw lowers the platen, which presses the paper against the inked type. Each sheet was printed by hand, one at a time.

Juan Pablos, a typesetter born in Brescia, Italy, reached Mexico City in 1539, sent by the Seville printer Juan Cromberger. His workshop, in the Casa de las Campanas, was the first in the Americas and produced the continent's first printed books.

Below you can see the press and other print-shop pieces from the collection.