Knots, Paint, Paper, and Ink: Books and Print in Early Spanish America

A broad overview of typography and the book, both Western and native American, in pre-contact and early Spanish America. We will consider American forms of writing, recording, and “books” developed before the arrival of Europeans in 1492, as well as the functions and uses of the printing press in Mexico beginning in the 1530s and in subsequent centuries during the colonial period in other parts of the vast Spanish New World empire. We will also examine the role of the printing press during the decades leading up to and including the wars for independence (c.1820s).

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