Abstract
The second half of the 18th Century was not only the Golden Age of printing in Spain but it was also an unprecedented period for the creation of autochthonous typographical material, because of the lack of precursors and the quality of the designs produced by Spanish punch-cutters. However, the lack of continuity of this brilliant generation of punch-cutters meant that at the end of that century, when it was needed to create new characters in the modern fashion, it was impossible to find qualified punch-cutters able to reproduce the typesmade popular by the famous Giambattista Bodoni. The friendship between the diplomat José Nicolás de Azara and the Italian typographer almost made possible to the Spanish government to bring the materials of his magnificent type foundry to Madrid, and allowed for the acquisition of several sets of Bodoni’s matrices to complete the typographic collectionof the Imprenta Real (Royal Press).