Since the invention of the printing press, and even prior to it, an importance event has not existed without manuscripts. As long ago as in the XIX century with the boomof the exhibitions, in particular in international scope, the books won a double role. It was created an registry of such event and the books became the protagonist of the exhibition, and that was the most important thing whether for the organized events expressly to showed the value of published book and manuscripts (like New York Printing Exposition in 1900) or by the introduction of the Liberals Arts as space specially designed to evaluate the artistic or cognoscenti quality of works.

The opening of the first Great International Exhibition also known as The Crystal Palace Exhibition held in London, established the precedent for this kind of exhibition of bibliographical samples. In this exposition participated also the Cubans who had a relative experience in the organization of these events. Some expositions but with national character had been celebrated in the 40s in the cities of Port Prince and of Havana.

Although these early Cuban experiences, the first Cuban book exhibition with international character date from 1876, when the commission in charge that represented the interests of Cuba in the Universal Expo of Philadelphia put on display seven scientific and literary works, of those four were awarded with prizes: Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de la Isla de Cuba; Memorias del Real Observatorio de Belén, con observaciones magnéticas y meteorológicas; Vida de Lord Byron, and in special the Works of the Cuban wise person Jose A. Saco that was sent by the secretary of the Cuban Commission.

Five years later, the recognized “Ateneo” undertook the organization of the most important exhibition celebrated in Cuba: the International Exhibition in 1881 that had the attendance of representative samples of France, United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, as well as of 15 provinces of Spain and even of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

In this case the exhibition had influence on the elaboration of different memories, published before, during and after the event, among them: el Catálogo y la Guía Oficial de la Exposición de Matanzas, this last thanks to Domingo Figarola Caneda, a distinguished bibliographer and intellectual.

Later on, in the Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition, the first of its category hold in Amsterdam (1883) was displayed at the request of the Creoles, the manuscript Cuban Ichthyology by Felipe Poey, the most significant volume in the natural sciences of the island throughoutthe XIX century. He received the Order Leon de Oro granted by Guillermo III.

This victory was received with pleasure on the part of the metropolitan authorities who bought the text to keep it. As far as he concerned, the books published in the greater Antillean Island continued displaying in the pavilions of the different expositors, such as Memorias del Centro Asturiano and the book Cláusulas para evitar choques en alta mar by Pedro Guarrao that was exposed in the Columbian Exposition of Chicago in 1893.

The most important Cuban attendance in the exhibitions throughout the XIX century happened in the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1900, in which the Cuban exhibitors were gathered inside to display the biggest quantity of Cuban examples. Among those are not only work like Cinco discursos sobre la educación de la mujer cubana by Maria Luisa Dolz, Memorias del hospital de San Lázaro by Manuel Alfonso, La sensibilidad en la poesía castellana by Nicolás Heredia or the famous historical work Desde Yara hasta el Zanjón by Luis Estévez Romero, but also the collections of the Newspaper Patria (Published by José Martí) or El Fígaro and the pedagogic magazines as La escuela moderna y La Higiene.

Serve these notes as antecedent of the international expositions of the Cuban Books attended in more than twenty professional events a year, as well as in fairs, congresses and other editorial encounters.

Written by Ricardo Quiza Moreno, * investigator of the Institute of History of Cuba.
Source: Cubaliteraria

Visit our Cuban Books Shop, which si featuring a wide and assorted offer of Cuban Books and Magazines