THE PRINTER CLAUDIO PAGE IN XÀTIVA AND ALACANT DURING THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION

Abstract

Claudio Page ran a printing workshop at the time of the War of the Spanish Succession. He arrived in Xàtiva in 1702, and printed a document that year and five more in 1704; he then disappeared without trace. He re-emerged in Alacant in 1713, where in the next two years he printed five documents. The activity of this printer reflects the interests of the local authorities, both ecclesiastical and civil, which managed to set up a printing-press (along with a bookshop) to serve the large geographical area under the control of the municipality. Very little is known of Claudio Page and his production. This study reconstructs his career as far as possible, and analyses the documents printed; Page used the same typographical equipment in Xàtiva and Alacant. The documents are closely related to the interests of the local communities: on the one hand, they contain announcements of the Crown’s activities and the administrative business of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and on the other they were used by the upper echelons of society and by private individuals as a vehicle for pursuing their law suits.