Estampers and popular printing (Impremta Guasp)

What it is and technique

Popular printing with woodcuts (wood engravings) and movable types: religious prints, goigs (songs to saints), auques (hallelujahs in vignettes), calendars, playing cards, books. In Mallorca the great example is the Impremta Guasp, active in Palma from 1576 to 1958, whose base of wooden blocks and press are preserved.

Process step by step

1. Draw the inverted image on a wooden block.

2. Record by emptying what should remain white.

3. I will compose the text with types.

4. Ink cue and type.

5. Stamp on the wooden press.

6. Reuse the blocks for centuries for new runs.

Forms and objects

• See woodcuts from the Impremta Guasp .
• Goigs: sheets of song to a saint with border and image; see goigs .
• Auques: sheets of vignettes with couplets.
• Books for the viceroy and the Inquisition; works by Jovellanos and Cardinal Despuig.

Vocabulary

• estamper: stamp printer.
• xilografia: wood engraving.
• taco / matriu: engraved wooden block.
• goigs: poetic composition in honor of the Virgin or a saint, printed on a sheet.
• auca: sheet of vignettes with verses.
• premsa: printing press.

Geography

• Palma: Carrer de la Cadena (between Cort and Santa Eulàlia), Sant Nicolau area, site of the current headquarters of the Consell, and Carrer Morey (1930s).
• Valldemossa: collection exhibited in the Cartoixa (cell 7) since 1960.

Short story

• 1576: the bookseller Gabriel Guasp founded the printing press.
• 1622: date of the preserved press.
• Mid s. XVII: three presses and about 600 dies.
• 1713: Melchior Guasp dies; His widow, Joana Nadal, ran the business until 1750.
• 1958: closure; part of the funds are sold.
• 1960: the collection is installed in the Cartoixa of Valldemossa.
• 2019: the Consell de Mallorca recognizes it as a museum collection.
• Today: collection of about 1,590 woodcuts; thesis and book by Miquela Forteza, La imprenta Guasp (1576-1958) (2007).

State

Conserved heritage; living craft in artistic engraving. Registry of artisans (consultation 10/13/2026): engravers and engravers-stampadors in graphic arts; 1 printer registration.

Why is it design

• 382 years of activity (1576-1958): continuous graphic archive of the same house (if it is the oldest in Europe, please verify).
• Reusable image bank: blocks are a modular illustration system.
• Popular communication: goigs and auques as editorial design for everyone.

For the project

• Typography or set of icons from Guasp woodcuts (with permission from the collection).
• Contemporary edition of goigs of Mallorcan trades.

Sources

• mallorcamagazin.com/nachrichten/kultur/2017/02/10/52222/die-gro-dynastie-der-dru
• boe.gob.es/boe/dias/2006/10/16/pdfs/A35821-35822.pdf
• intranet.caib.es/eboibfront/pdf/ca/2019/101/1039230
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goigs
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auca
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xilografia
• caib.es/siciefront/artesania/index.jsp?idioma=ct

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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