Juan Pablos Issues the First Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere

In 1539, in exchange for a monopoly on printing and the book trade in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Seville Printer Juan Cromberger founded the first printing press in America. To undertake this project Giovanni Paoli, a native of Lombardy, and better-known as Juan Pablos, a printer from the "casa de Juan Cromberger," set up in Mexico City the first documented printing press in the Western Hemisphere. The first book Juan Pablos published was Breve y más compendiosa doctrina Christiana en lengua Mexicana y Castellana, by Juan de Zumárraga, printing of which was completed on June 12, 1539.

Contemporary authorities refer to a book possibly published in Mexico entitled Escala Espiritual par Illegar al cielo, which conceivably could have been printed in 1537, but no copy survived.