From September 30 to December 15, 2021

Saturnino Calleja was born in Burgos in 1853, at the age of 15 he moved to Madrid with his family and continued his studies until, in 1876, he bought a bookstore with a small printing press from his own father. Just two years later, he embarked on a small publishing business that would end up being the largest in the Spanish-speaking world.

Adopting the motto 'Everything for illustration', he dedicated himself, from the beginning, to publishing publications related to children's education and entertainment. Here it found a field barely explored by other companies in the sector, which made it grow disproportionately and very quickly, until publishing more than three million copies a year.

His great commercial vision led him to publish eye-catching and low-priced publications. He gave great importance to the covers of the books, as much as to their content, because by making them attractive on the outside he managed to reach a wider audience.

In the exhibition we find three showcases, which correspond to the three main lines that the publisher maintained.

The first is that of children's stories and reading, which is perhaps the best known aspect and for which it is still remembered, especially in the popular expression 'Have more stories than alley'. These tales became tremendously popular both for their stories and for the illustrations that accompanied them, and were the first children's readings for many generations between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

The following showcase is dedicated to what is perhaps the most important line of this publishing house, that of school books. Saturnino Calleja was convinced of the importance of education and support for teaching. In his time this was not so common, and the determination with which he undertook the modernization of this sector placed him in the vortex of regenerationism that was the reign of Alfonso XII. The first edition of Don Quixote stands out here as a school reading, summarized and simplified to bring it closer to a child audience.

Finally, we find a sample of the editions aimed at an adult audience, since Calleja was also interested in promoting training at this stage, thus we find publications that focus on learning trades or on subjects such as law. Also editions of classics of literature and own novels. Special mention should be made of the religious works, of which some five hundred different references were published.

After the death of the founder, in 1915, his children continued with the business, which was maintained until its definitive closure in 1958.