The first book published in the island was titled Tarifa general de precios de medicinas (General Tariff for Medicine Prices). It came out on January 11, 1723 and consisted in a 28-page pamphlet printed by Carlos Habré, a Cuban born in the Belgian city of Gante, who owned an old French press with which he established his print shop, located near the Espíritu Santo Church in Old Havana.

The machine was really small and it had a short supply of characters. This is why the General Tariff... had a 23x14 centimeter format and it was printed in single sheets and not in folds of two or four pages at once, as was the custom at that time.

In addition, Habré had to replace the Spanish “ñ” with French letters such as the “û”, “ü” and even put accents on words that usually did not use them: lá, Islá, Arancél, Etcétera.

The first page of the text explained that the list of medicines corresponded to the interest of the city of Havana Prothomedical Examiner to set the prices for these products.

The Prothomedicato was an old court of physician examiners before whom the people hoping to practice as physicians and pharmacists had to prove their skills.

This was also the case with barbers, given that in addition to giving haircuts and trimming beards they used to pull out teeth and carry out bleedings. The Spanish shield appeared on the cover, on top of the title. It was a wooden engraving regarded as the first printed in Cuba on books and pamphlets.

At present, two works from Habré’s press still exist: Meritos que ha justificado y probado el Lcdo. Antonio de Sossa (Merits Justified and Proven by Licentiate Antonio de Sossa; 1724) and Rubricas general del Breviario Romano (General Signatures of the Roman Breviary; 1727). (February/2004)

(Taken from: Cubasí)