Manuel Manilla
(1830 - 1895)

Manuel Alfonso Manilla was born in Mexico City in 1830. In 1882 he started working at the printshop of Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, where he produced around 500 illustrations for broadsides, childrens books and other publications. He created many "calaveras" and became a major influence to Jose Guadalupe Posada, who became head engraver of the printshop after Manilla retired in 1892. Manilla and his son set up their own shop in Mexico City after that and he continued to make illustrations until his death of typhus in 1895.