Printing Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Latin America and the Caribbean.

This article examines the development of commercial networks and practical strategies Latin American and Caribbean printers employed in the nineteenth century to acquire printing equipment and supplies following the collapse of Spanish imperial rule. It highlights how these printers forged transnational connections with manufacturers in key North Atlantic cities such as New York and Philadelphia, creating a form of "printing capitalism" that linked diverse practitioners across the Americas. The study challenges Benedict Anderson’s concept of print capitalism by focusing on the material and social infrastructures of print production rather than shared reading practices, emphasizing the role of social relationships, translation, and local adaptation in shaping these networks. It also traces the rise of U.S. manufacturers’ active marketing efforts, culminating in the early twentieth-century expansion of the National Paper and Type Company, which combined commercial ambitions with Pan-Americanist rhetoric, while noting that Latin American print workers developed alternative, often critical, professional imaginaries alongside these imperial and business-driven narratives.