Antonio Sanz and the Distribution of the Festivals and Vigils Calendar

Abstract

During the Early Modern Period, calendars were extremely popular products. In Castile by mid-seventeenth century, the printing privilege of calendars were assigned to members of the Council of Castile. The holders made extraordinary profits transferring the privilege to a printer. For a long time, the exclusivity for printing calendars fell on different workshops, until 1734 when Antonio Sanz, one of the wealthiest typographers of the Court, managed to obtain it and keep it until 1779. This chapter attempts to describe the strategies followed by Antonio Sanz to monopolise the market for nearly half a century. He controlled the market by selling the right to print and distribute calendars to local printers. In some areas, Sanz’s agents even made second transfers to other individuals.