Bagay, Nicolás de la Cruz (1701 - c. 1771)

Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay (1701 - c. 1771) was a Philippine Tagalog engraver and printer active in Manila during the first half of the 18th century. He was born in Tambobong, now Malabon in southern Luzon, the Philippines. Bagay was the official printer of the Jesuit Press. He engraved the two most important maps of the Philippines, the 1734 Carta Hydrographica y Corographica de las Islas Filipinas, and its reduction, the 1744 Mapa de la Yslas Philipinas. He also printed numerous other works for the Jesuit order, ranging from commemorative pieces, to catechisms, to portraits, religious texts, and histories. It is not clear when he died, but he disappears form the public record around 1771.