Pedro Joseph de Alonso i Padilla
Alonso y Padilla, Pedro Joseph de. ?, or. ts xvii – Madrid, 1771. Publisher, bookseller, bookbinder and printer.
Alonso y Padilla developed his work in Madrid; in 1716 he was already listed as a publisher of some work and in 1720 he already had his own establishment, printing press and bookstore, in “Calle de Santo Tomás, next to Contraste”.
There are not many testimonies about this character from the Spanish book world of the 18th century, but as a publisher-bookseller he was famous and his ability helped him earn the title of bookseller of His Majesty's Chamber, a title he held from 1732 until his death. .
He directed his activity as a bookseller to bibliophiles and good book lovers, being the first in Spain to carry out serious and effective propaganda for Castilian writers.
He also knew how to advertise his merchandise.
He edited and printed, under the title of Librería castellana, a catalog where the books that could be found in his establishment were collected and he also took advantage of it to praise himself.
As a bookseller he was an innovator; He was the first to include a pamphlet in the books he sold, usually with a couple of pages but which occasionally reached ten o'clock, announcing the assortment of works, from all kinds of disciplines, that were in his house. .
These pamphlets kept a certain order and classification, which indicates that Alonso y Padilla knew the merit and content of what they announced. It was not limited only to announcing what it had, but also projects of works that it planned to carry out as a Spanish Library, a kind of bookseller's manual that Palau came to consider as similar to his own, but from the time, Art to know how to bind with curiosity, this being the only indication of his work as a bookbinder, since no work could be attributed to him nor have accounts been found to testify to his work, and an Art to know how to appraise bookstores.
None of them has reached our days; He did not carry them out or they were handwritten and have been lost.
Pedro Joseph Alonso y Padilla expressed a great fondness for the Spanish literature of the Golden Age and this guided his publishing and printing activity. As a printer-publisher, his work was more successful than correct, technically speaking. He illustrated what he could, but his impressions are far from among the best of his time. He reprinted Cervantes — Persiles and Segismunda (1728) and up to three editions of Don Quixote (1750, 1751, 1764)—, Vélez de Guevara — El diablo cojuelo (1733)—, Quevedo — Politics of God and the government of Christ (1729 )-, etc. But not only he dedicated himself to reprints, he also paid for and printed novelties such as New style and form for writing missive letters (1733),Kitchen art (1760), Ordinances of Madrid (1760), and many others of a markedly popular nature. Most of his editions were in octavo, the runs were short, and the quality left much to be desired. In this regard, he himself points out that he makes his print runs from very expensive first editions that he owns and reprints them for 15 reales. In almost all of his works one of his three bookseller-printer marks appears, which are, with slight variations between them, basically the old coat of arms of the House of Padilla.
Pedro Joseph Alonso y Padilla died in Madrid in 1771, single and without heirs, which is why his assortment, valued at 125,727 reales, went to the Company of Printers and Booksellers of the Kingdom.
From https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/49385/pedro-joseph-de-alonso-y-padilla; accessed 5/25/23 and translated into English with Google Translate NW
