Joaquín Ibarra

Marca de impresor de Joaquín Ibarra de 1781

Joaquín Ibarra y Marín also known as Joaquín Ibarra(Zaragoza, July 20, 1725 - Madrid, November 13, 1785) was a Spanish printer who was known for several important technical developments on the work of the press, books and typography.^[1] His work was extremely anticipated.

One of his most important works that came out was Conhuración de Catilina y la guerra de Yugurta^[2] printed in 1772 and an edition of Don Quijote de la Mancha, as well as Real Academia Española done in 1780. Ibarra was influenced by Baskerville, Didot and Bodoni.

Early Life & Career

Joaquin Ibarra was his brother Manuel apprentice. He served as the first officer of the Priniting Pontifical and Royal University. In 1754 Ibarra moves to Madrid and that is where he sets up his own print shop. Ibarra studied at Cervera, in the province of Lleida, as an apprentice to his brother Manuel, who was serving as first officer of Printing Pontifical and Royal University.^[3] He also studied academic, learning Latin and classical culture bases.^[4] As teacher, he moved to Madrid in 1754, installing a print shop. Joaquín Ibarra had 16 presses.^[5] Working alongside the best painters and engravers of his time^[6] Ibarra was a well recognized printer.^[7] Ibarra was an innovator and ahead of his time. The ink used was far from exceptional, using quality and brilliance using a secret formula invented by him. Endowed with great ingenuity, Ibarra implemented several innovations in terms of printing the work itself and the process of composition. He experimented with the satin of the paper to remove marks from the printing plate; established a standardized format for developing measures of graphic types, based on the surface of a capital, similar in principle to the rules to be developed by Fournier independently; typographical conventions and remove some mismatched use of the time, such as the V used to represent the U ^[8] or using the same block for the long s and f. One of his disciples, the later ruler of the Company of Printers and Booksellers in the United Jose Siguenza, systematically collected observations as a collection publishing them in 1811 with the title of Mechanism of the Printing Art. Between 1754 and 1836 Ibarra continued to serve his workshop, which occurred some 2,500 different editions. Notable are the aforementioned de Cervantes and Sallust,^[9] the latter was printed, an edition of 120 copies^[2] for exceptional use of the royal family and foreign dignitaries present.^[10] Other issues highlighted were the Spanish Paleography ( 1758 ) Plant History ( 1762 ); Breviarium regulam Gothicum Beatissimi Secundum Isidori ( 1775 ), the second edition of the Tour of Spain, by Antonio Ponz, the General History of Spain, from John Mariana ( 1780 ), and the Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus et Nova ( 1783 - 1788 ), in four volumes.^[11] Collaborated with the publisher Antonio Sancha before it established its own printing press, printing among other works the first volumes of the Spanish Parnassus.

Contributions

Ibarra made many contributions some of them in the art of printing and conducting experiments with paper. He began to experiment with paper in order to reduce plate mark impressions.^[12] Ibarra also developed a standardized measure for the production of type, he created a formula for printing ink. These contributions are seen in most of his best-known works. Considered one of Spain’s finest printers, Joaquin Ibarra was printer to the Court of Spain. The Spanish version of Sallust is widely considered to be one of the finest books ever produced. It was greatly admired by Benjamin Franklin.

Type

Ibarra did not design, engraved or cast types, contrary to what is often assumed, he used others design and cast types. The error is probably from the documents in his edition of Don Quixote of the Royal Academy, for which they made a new cast (but not a new design) recorded letter to the Royal Library in Madrid . Ibarra's printing used various foundries of his time, highlighting games Gerónimo Gil, the Smelter Rangel (used by the Gazette, and they really are a game of Garamond), types of Lleida Eudald Pradell with casting Madrid, a game of Garamond, and the celebrated and reviled italic cast which composed the Sallust, abierta open by the academic and writer Murcia Espinosa de los Monteros, who owned a foundry in Madrid. In the early twentieth century Madrid smelter Gans held a revival that called Ibarra from several of these castings, and is the starting point for other recent redesigns.

According to expert Mariano Villegas Garcia ^[13] there were many outstanding typographer and printers during the Golden Age of Spanish. Among them the one that exceptionally recognized was Don Juaquin Ibbara Marin, followed by Don Antionio Sancha, the two publishers, printers and books, the second also bookbinder. Ibarra was also known for creating his own paper.

Creating different mottled paper grades depended on the way in which colors were deposited and manipulated. His technique consisted him preparing paper in a rubber bath which served as background. It was necessary to prepare this in one or two liters of cold water with about 50 grams of “Alquitira” rubber ( Tragacanto ),^[13] and stirred at intervals by adding the water required to prepare the bath (up to six liters) as the rubber is undoing the process ( usually takes up to three days), then passing it through a filter, strainer or cheesecloth. Once you have a proper background and prepare the colors, which are pigments found in vegetables, they are poured into the bathroom which rushed to the bottom instead of floating as needed. The colors were mixed on a smooth surface with a creamy mass binding.^[13] Then he would stir it with a spatula. The densities of the mixture of colors allowed him to control the colors being added (drops of ox gall was used if you prefer a smoother finish), and if the color if the pigment was too creamy contrast would be added . Once prepared the colors spread then manipulated then with sticks, needles, combs, etc. ., in order to form the drawings you want on the paper.^[13]

Printed Work

Two major books he printed was La conjuración de Catilina y La guerra de Iugurta (1772) and El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de La Mancha(1780).^[14] La conjuración de Catilina y La guerra de Iugurta was considered a masterpiece due to several pages filled with illustrations which was created by Mariano Maella. It was customary for Ibarra projects to contain a perfect flow of homonious tyoe, inks, illustration, margins and textures. Only 120 volumes were printed and were distributed to the royal family, institutions and major personalities in Spain. El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de La Mancha was a deluxe edition of Don Quixote, four different volumes were created, made on paper called "ex profeso" and also melted types of "ex novo" on to pages. The text in this edition was a rendition of the second edition of 1605 Cuesta. This contemporary pieces which was known for being the artistic piece was entrusted to the Academy of San Fernando. Alongside these best printed works can a ray of books produced at Ibarra's workshop. There's about 2500 titles/ works that were recognized to have come out of Ibarra's workshop^[11] over a course of eight decades.^[12] Juicio imparcial sobre las letras, en forma de breve, que ha publicado la Curia Romana, en que se intentan derogar ciertos Edictos del... Duque de Parma. Madrid: en la oficina de D. Joachin de Ibarra, 1769,^[15] QUEVEDO, Francisco de, Politica de Dios y gobierno de Christo : sacada de la Sagrada Escritura para acierto de rey, y reyno en sus acciones. Madrid: por D. Joachin Ibarra, 1772,^[16] PONZ, Antonio, Viage de España o Cartas en que se da noticia de las cosas mas apreciables y dignas de saberse que hay en ella. Madrid: por D. Joachin Ibarra, 1772,^[17] BECCARIA, Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di, Tratado de los delitos y de las penas. Traducido del italiano por D. Juan Antonio de las Casas. Madrid: por D. Joachin Ibarra, 1774^[18] are just some of the few books printed. When Ibarra passed away in 1785 his wife and children ran and managed the workshop until 1836.^[19]

^[20]

See also

• Ibarra (tipografía)
• Ibarra Real (tipografía)
• Tipografía española

References

Bibliography

• Acín Fanlo, José Luis; Murillo López, Pablo; Serón Arbeloa, Francisco José; Pulido, I.; Baldassarri, Sandra S. (1993). Joaquín Ibarra y Marín, impresor, 1725–1785. Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja (Ibercaja, Obra Social y Cultural). ISBN 978-84-87007-92-7. 

•Joaquin Ibarra, el grabado y las artes impresorias en el Madrid del siglo XVIII. Memoria para Optar al Grado de Doctor Presenrada por Mariano Villegas Garcia, 2001

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Joaquín Ibarra, Impresor de Cámara

• "Joaquín Ibarra y Marín and The Private Library". The Private Library. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2012. 
• Edición del Quijote de 1780. Ficha y digitalización en la BNE. Lectura interactiva en openlibrary.org
• Joaquín Ibarra y Marín impresor de su majestad. Exposición virtual. Universidad de Navarra, mayo de 2008.