Diego de Astor facts for kids

Letter "A" from the sign language book by Juan Pablo Bonet, 1620.

Diego de Astor was a Spanish engraver who lived a long time ago, in the 1600s. He was from a city called Toledo. He learned his skills from a very famous artist named El Greco.

What Did Diego de Astor Do?

Diego de Astor was a talented artist who made pictures by engraving them onto metal plates. One of his first known works was helping El Greco engrave a picture of 'St. Francis'.

Working for the King

Diego de Astor had important jobs. He worked at the Royal Mint in Segovia, which is where coins and money were made. He was also in charge of making special stamps called royal seals for the king. These seals were used to make official documents valid.

A Special Alphabet

Diego de Astor also created the title page for a book about Segovia. But one of his most important contributions was making the pictures for a very special book by Juan Pablo Bonet. This book was called Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos, which means "Summary of the letters and the art of teaching speech to the mute."

In this book, Diego de Astor engraved the first known manual alphabet. This was a huge step forward because it helped teach deaf people how to communicate and learn to speak. His detailed engravings made it possible for people to understand and use this new way of signing letters.