Precioso was son to a well-off bourgeouisie family; his father owned some land property and minor metalworking establishments in the Albacete province.

The couple had 3 children, first 2 daughters and then a boy (Artemio Precioso Ugarte, later a communist militant, emigree in the USSR and eventually a respected economist and ecologist).

In 1920 Precioso and his children moved to Madrid, where he set up his own law firm; in the early 1920s he also launched a literary review, La novela de hoy.

A satirical story by Ramon Valle-Inclan displeased the dictator: Precioso's publishing business collapsed, and in 1927 he left Spain for France.

In February 1934 Barrio, at the time the Minister of Interior in the Alejandro Lerroux government, nominated Precioso the civil governor of Toledo province,[7] but his term was rather brief.

[8] During the 1936 elections he joined the Portelistas; he co-engineered electoral fraud in Lugo, intended to ensure victory of Party of the Democratic Centre.

[15] Following the Nationalist triumph Precioso was trialed by a military tribunal; he was accused of rebellion, the customary charge applied to individuals considered Republican supporters.

He remained behind bars for 3 years, mostly in prisons in Cadiz and Madrid; incarceration in poor conditions contributed to rapid deterioration of his health.