Constancio C. Vigil

Constancio Cecilio Vigil Olid (September 4, 1876 – September 24, 1954) was a Uruguayan-Argentine writer and prominent publisher.

Biography Constancio Vigil was born in Rocha, Uruguay, in 1876. His father, a local politician, was forced to relocate to the nation's capital, Montevideo, following a political dispute. The young man graduated from the Universidad de la República, started as a poetry contributor to writer José Enrique Rodó, and became a journalist for El Nacional and, in 1901, founded his first periodical, Alborada ("Dawn"). He was named Editor-in-chief of La Prensa, a newspaper aligned with the Partido Blanco ("White Party"). Political intrigue once again intruded in the young man's life, however, when the newspaper was forcibly shuttered in 1903, leading Vigil to relocate to neighboring Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The ambitious journalist created three magazines between 1904 and 1911: the children's weekly Pulgarcito (akin to "Tom Thumb"), Germinal, and his most successful early periodical, the general interest weekly, Mundo Argentino ("Argentine World"). Much as Pulgarcito had been before competition led to its 1907 closure, Mundo Argentino was a heavily illustrated magazine packed with advertisements and coupons and centered on a particular genre without being limited to it. The magazine, by 1912, boasted a weekly circulation of over 36,000, though the versatile businessman sold it at its peak to Editorial Haynes in 1917; by then, Mundo Argentino sold 118,000 copies a week (in a country with fewer than 5 million adults).

The noted publisher published a series of best-selling children's books through Atlántida, as well. He authored a total of 134 books from 1915, including 50 children's titles such as El Erial ("The Wild Field"), El Mono Relojero ("The Monkey Repairs Watches"), ¡Upa!, and Hormiguita Viajera ("Traveling Ant").

Among the books he authored other than children's titles, some of the best-known were:

Miseria artificial ("Artificial Misery," 1915) El Clero Católico y la Educación ("Catholic Clergy and Education," 1926) Las verdades ocultas ("Hidden Truths," 1927) Cartas a gente menuda ("Letters to Young People," 1927) Marta y Jorge (1927) Los que pasan ("People Come and Go," 1927) Compañero ("Comrade," 1928) Amar es vivir ("To Love is to Live," 1941) Vidas que pasan ("Lives That Come and Go," 1941) La educación del hijo ("Rearing Your Child," 1941) El hombre y los animales ("Man and the Animals," 1943)

A supporter of labor and social reform (as well as children's rights) early on, Vigil became increasingly conservative after the 1918 establishment of Atlántida publishers. A 1924 editorial in Billiken explained that:

Would it be that all flowers and all children could enjoy caressing sunlight and a thoughtful gardener's gentle touch! But this is not possible, and thus there are weatherbeaten flowers and poor children. Poverty and wealth respond to a natural order, and this makes any change impossible. There will always be poor children.