EL MOSAICO MEXICANO
El mosaico mexicano, o, Colección de amenidades curiosas e instructivas
("The Mexican Mosaic, or, Collection of Curious and Instructive Amusements")
México: printed by Ignacio Cumplido, calle de… Rebeldes, casa N° 2., Siglo XIX
Photographed onsite between 2019 and 2024 by Dianna Frid.
The book is in the collection of the Burgoa Library and was photographed with permission.
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El mosaico mexicano sits at the intersection of publishing, nation-building, literature, science, and visual culture in the first decades after Mexican independence.
Its full title was El Mosaico Mexicano, o colección de amenidades curiosas e instructivas (“The Mexican Mosaic, or Collection of Curious and Instructive Diversions”). It began publication in 1836 and ran until 1842. In 1837 the printer-publisher Ignacio Cumplido took over its production and transformed it into one of the most ambitious illustrated periodicals of nineteenth-century Mexico.
One of the most interesting aspects of El mosaico mexicano is that it participated in the invention of “Mexico” as a modern nation. It is neither purely literary nor purely scientific. It is an attempt to assemble an entire country—its landscapes, histories, peoples, curiosities, and aspirations—into a printed form. The publications were among the most sophisticated printed objects produced in Mexico at the time. The images and printing qualities helped establish a distinctly Mexican visual culture in print.
For more on the “El mosaico…” see here.