In 1741 Alejandro Coronado, a resident of Quito, petitioned the Council of the Indies for permission to establish a printing press in that city, where previously no facilities for printing had existed. This petition was granted, and by a subsequent act of the Council this privilege was extended to his heirs, in case of Coronado’s death before the projected press had been set up. Coronado’s plan was not carried out, and nearly twenty years later the Jesuits, who had a press in Ambato, removed it to Quito at the beginning of 1760. The first printing in Quito was done on that press in the early part of that year.[3] The beginning of printing in Bogotá is assigned to various dates. According to Vergara, the press was established there in 1740, but other statements maintain that there was no printing in Bogotá until 1789.[4] [Sidenote: The law and books] The development of literature in the Spanish dependencies of South America was hindered, not only by the very imperfect facilities for printing, but also by the extremely rigid restrictions on the publication and importation of books. These restrictions were, however, an after-thought of Spanish legislation. A law of 1480, relating to the introduction of books into Spain, provided that “no duties whatsoever shall be paid for the importation of foreign books into these kingdoms; considering how profitable and honourable it is that books from other countries should be brought to these kingdoms, in order that by them men may become learned”.[5] [Illustration: Blanco Núñez de Vela, 1st Viceroy of Peru] [Sidenote: The Censorship]