Juan Pascoe, handpress printer, was born in Chicago in 1946. His father was a Mexican diplomat with the United Nations, and his mother an American. He received most of his education in the United States. After studying English at Whitman College (BA 1969), Pascoe spent a year as a printing apprentice to Harry Duncan at the Cummington Press in West Branch Iowa (1971-1972). He moved to Mexico in 1973 and first began printing under Imprenta Rasucache, or "Shabby Press," (1973-1975), before founding the Taller Martín Pescador (Kingfisher Workshop) in 1975.

In 1987, he produced the first book reflecting his historical interest in Mexican book arts (no. 112 on checklist). Pascoe has since become known for major studies of 16th and 17th century Mexican printers. He is located in Tacámbaro, near Mexico City.

The bulk of this collection is printing production materials of the handpress printer, Juan Pascoe. It includes his first efforts at West Branch, Iowa, 1971-1972; his initial press, Imprenta Rascuache, in Mexico, 1973-1975; and his Taller Martín Pescador in Mexico, 1975- . Materials range from calling cards and invitations to exhibition posters; from chapbooks of avant-garde poetry to folio-sized historical studies and bibliographies of Mexican printers of the 16th-18th centuries. Writers and illustrators whose work first became known through publication at the Taller Martín Pescador have since become established as major figures.