Santo Domingo Print Shops

The building at the corner of Moneda and Licenciado Verdad streets features a plaque marking the site of the first printing press in the Americas. Juan Pablos arrived here from Seville in fifteen thirty-nine to operate the press for the…

Librería Porrúa Casa Matriz sits behind a distinctive, ornate eighteenth century facade, its colonial stone contrasting with the modern bookstore operating inside. The Porrúa family opened this shop in nineteen hundred, starting with a…

The former convent building at the Secretariat of Public Education features a central courtyard wrapped in over one thousand square meters of fresco paintings. Diego Rivera spent five years here during the nineteen twenties, covering the…

The Antiguo Palacio de la Santa Inquisición features a facade of tezontle, the porous red volcanic stone that defines the oldest buildings in Mexico City. Built in the seventeen thirties, this was the final headquarters for the Holy Office…

The Plaza de Santo Domingo features a row of arched stone portals known as the Portales de Santo Domingo, where professional letter writers and public typists once held court. Long ago, they drafted legal documents, love letters, and…

The Portal de los Evangelistas features a long row of stone arches lining the western side of the Plaza de Santo Domingo. Writers and public scribes once occupied the shaded corridor, using portable desks and typewriters to draft letters…

The weathered wood sign above the door of Impresos Tlacuilo bears a hand-painted emblem of a rabbit holding a quill. This shop operates as a traditional letterpress studio in the heart of Mexico City. While nearby streets prioritize…

El Tomo Suelto is a bookshop tucked into a doorway on Doctor Mora Street, distinguished by the thousands of loose, uncatalogued pages that spill across its tables. Unlike conventional bookstores organized by genre, the shop operates by…