Calle de Saturnino Calleja

Behind this name stands a publisher who slipped storybooks into the pockets of several generations of children. Saturnino Calleja bought his father’s bookshop and bindery in Madrid, on Calle de la Paz, and turned it into Editorial Calleja, the most widely read house of its day across Spain, Spanish America and the Philippines. His idea was to print a great deal, earn little, and cut the price until any working family could buy an illustrated tale. The most famous were tiny, pocket-sized, made to be collected. Illustrators such as Rafael de Penagos and Salvador Bartolozzi passed through his pages. The surname ended up as a saying. When someone exaggerates or spins unbelievable tales, in Spanish they are still told they “have more cuento than Calleja.”