Objective:

This article analyses the formation and development ofthe commercial agreements that the Argentine Branch of the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) made during its first ten years of operation (1945-1956), and how this affected the circulation of different editorial productions. This is analyzed within the framework of the collapse of the Spanish publishing industry and the emergence of new editorial production centers in Latin America during the 1930s and 1940s, which served as the stage for the internationalization of different publishers in the region, highlighting the case of the Mexican publishing house Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Methodology:

Returning to the importance of historical contingency as a framework for historical change, the study focuses its attention on the changes of the initial commercial strategies adopted by the editorial directors in light of various economic and political problems faced during the years of the first Peronism.

Originality:

The study of the international expansion strategies used by various Latin American publishers during the mid-20th century has been a pending aspect within the historiography on the subject due to the difficulty of obtaining documentary sources that allow us to know in-depth the evolution of these kinds of tactics. That is why this work is useful to delve into the commercial and editorial adaptations that defined the dynamics of the Latin American publishing world at the time.

Conclusions:

This work allows us to understand how the Argentine branch of the FCE served as a communication node between the industries and the publishing markets of Mexico and Argentina. At the same time, it is possible to understand the editorial transformations that the FCE went through in light of global economic changes and the measures adopted by the government headed by Juan Domingo Perón.