MADRID, Spain.- The first printed in Cuba and the oldest publication preserved in the country is the “General price list for medicine”.
The document, which is already 300 years old, was published in 1723 by the Belgian typographer Carlos Habré, who produced it on January 13, 1722 in his workshop house on San Agustín street, currently Amargura street, in Havana. And it appeared published the following month, on February 11.
Carlos Habré, who emigrated to Havana in the 20s of the 18th century, is responsible for the introduction of the printing press on the Island, since when he settled in Cuba he brought with him a rudimentary typographical workshop.
The only copy of the “General Price List for Medicines”, made up of thirty unpaginated single pages, was found in 1910 by the Cuban scholar Manuel Pérez Beato.
It currently belongs to the collection of Rare and Valuable Funds of the José Martí National Library of Cuba. It is preserved as a brochure in a 14 x 20 centimeter format and consists of 29 pages.
On the cover, above the title, there is a royal coat of arms of Spain and it reads “In HAVANA, with a License from the Superiors, in La Imprenta de Carlos Habré, 1723”.
According to the portal Cubartein an official act in 2016, for the 115th Anniversary of the founding of the National Library of Cuba, its director, Eduardo Torres Cuevas He pointed out that the document “is of singular importance for historians and specialists from different branches of knowledge, since it constitutes an example of the development of science in Cuba in the 18th century; and it coincides with the founding process of the University of Havana (1721 to 1728)”.
In addition, “it reveals the scope of pharmacological science, both for the knowledge of pharmacists, capable of manufacturing the medicine, and for the variety of products that are displayed in alphabetical order”; and “seen through typographic art and editorial work, it reveals the development of printing in the country.”
