
SOUTH
AMERICA
A-B
C
D-F
G-J
K-M
N-Q R-S
T-Z
First Quechua Dictionary Printed in
the New World
One of the First Books from
the Press of Antonio Ricardo
(A
South American FIRST for Sure). [Barcena,
Alfonso?; Domingo de Santo Tomás?]. Arte, y vocabulario en la
lengua general del Peru, el mas copioso y elegante que hasta agora se ha impresso.
Los Reyes [i.e., Lima]: Por Antonio Ricardo, 1586. Small 8vo. [153 of 184], [24
of] 40 ff. (4 leaves of a later [1614] edition supplied in the dictionary).
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
The first Quechua grammar and dictionary printed in the New World, this is also one of the first five known works of any sort printed in Peru, and an example of the most valued variety of text issued from the press of Peru's first printer, Antonio Ricardo. Of all his productions, those that have always attracted the greatest interest are the texts in Quechua or Aymara, whether dictionaries, grammars, or doctrinal works — this little volume offering two of the three.
The very rare early Peruvian indigenous-language dictionary and brief grammar in hand is variously attributed to Alfonso Barcena, Ludovico Bertonio, Domingo de Santo Tomás, Diego González Holguin, Antonio Ricardo (the printer), and Diego de Torres Rubio. We can rule out all but Domingo de Santo Tomás and Alfonso Barcena for reasons having to do with the lengths of time the various suggested “possible” authors had been in Peru before 1586. Except for the two just named, none could have mastered the language in the two or four years between their arriving and publication of this work. Additionally, Ricardo was a printer, not a linguist; he merely signed the preface.
Searches of WorldCat locate no U.S. libraries reporting ownership of a copy. NUC Pre-1956 has a record for this work under the author entry of “Ricardo, Antonio” but with no library code; in fact the record is for a copy at the Library of Congress. In Europe the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Español locates only the copy in the Spanish National Library; we trace another copy to the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut in Berlin, but the catalogue record does not give any collation or pagination so we don't know if it is complete; and we know that there is an incomplete copy at the National Library of France. No copies were found via COPAC, KVK, or the OPAC of the National Library of Peru.
Medina, Lima, 4; Medina, Lenguas quechua y aymará, 6; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 5; Viñaza 82; Leclerc 2993; Sabin 67160. Later limp vellum with remnants of button and loop ties; text block partially loose in binding. Lacking title-page and preliminaries ([paragraph sign]1–8); leaves A1–3, B2, B7, and G3–6 in the Quechua to Spanish vocabulary; leaves H3–6 & H8 in the Spanish to Quechua vocabulary; and Cc8, Dd1, and Dd3–Ee8 of the grammar. (H3–6 text supplied by inserting T2–5 from the 1614 edition.) Some tears, some leaves mounted or tipped in, some repairs; captions often shaved but not taken. Stains. Withal, a very substantial surviving portion of an important work and rare book; a significant discovery. (28628)

On Private Worship: An Oratory in One's Home
Baquero, Francisco de Paula. Disertacion apologetica a favor del privilegio, que por costumbre introducida por la Bula de la santa cruzada goza la Nacion Española en el uso de los oratorios domesticos, leida, en la Real Academia de buenas letras de Sevilla en 25. de octubre de 1771. En Sevilla: Por D. Josef Padrino, [colophon, 1777]. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). [1] f., 104 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Our author was the “cura mas antiguo del Sagrario de [Sevilla],
examinador Synodal de su arzobispado, comisario y revisor de libros del Santo
Oficio, academico numerario,” and the “censor de dicha Real Academia.”
His work was first read before the Real Academia on 25 October 1771 but because
of delays in obtaining the necessary licenses to print it, publication was delayed
until 1777.
In this work of canon law and Catholic Church customs and practices, Baquero
studies the privilege that the Bull of the Holy Crusade granted the Spanish
nation regarding oratories in private residences; it applied not only to Spain
but to colonies as well.
The first of three, this edition was published by “un amigo del author.”
The other editions appeared in 1781 AND
1861.
Only one U.S. library reports ownership of either the 1777 or 1781 edition.
It should be noted that there is NO 1771 edition, despite Palau and online
cataloguing; cataloguers have simply failed to look at the last page of the
supposed 1771 edition to see that the colophon is dated 1777.
This offers one very pretty large initial and some modestly nice work with
type ornaments.
Palau 23499 (giving wrong date of publication). Contemporary
limp vellum, a bit missing from back cover; evidence of ties, and binding
with light dust-soiling. Lacking rear free endpaper. A clean, nice copy. (29596)
Bello,
Andrés. Broadside, begins: “Cancion
Patriotica de Caracas.” [Caracas: Gallagher y Lamb, 1810]. Folio (31 cm;
12.25"). 1 p.
$27,500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
In the days immediately following the coup that deposed the viceroy
and began the long process of independence, Andrés Bello, Venezuela’s
first great poet, collaborated with Cayetano Carreño, “Maestro
de Capilla” of the main church of Caracas cathedral, in the composing
of several “patriotic songs.” One of those early efforts became
the national anthem of Venezuela, and
the
premiere of this one, as unknown as that one is famous, is stirring to visualize.
Beginning, “Caraqueños, otra época empieza: / De la gloria la senda se
abrio,” it was sung for the first time by Cayetano Carreño himself and six other
voices, the night of 23 April 1810, with the accompaniment of the military orchestra
of the “Batallon Veterano.” The performance took place below the balcony on
which were assembled the members of the Supreme Junta.
That Bello wrote this patriotic song is known, and even the first few lines
were recorded for history, but beyond that
the
text is not recorded and is not found in his Obras
completas or, apparently anywhere else.
In addition to the historic collaboration of Bello and Carreño, this
fabulous document has the distinction of having been printed by Venezuela’s
first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in
October of 1808, and was almost certainly printed on 24 April, the day after
the hymn was first sung!
This
broadside seems to be completely unrecorded. It
was unknown to both Medina and Pedro Grases. Searches of NUC, WorldCat,
and COPAC fail to find any copy at all, as is the case when searching the
OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and
England.
Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Grases, Historia de
la imprenta en Venezuela; not in Villasana. As issued. Worming in foremargin,
repaired. A very good copy.

Their Judgment:
FARCICAL Process,
But
Enforceable
Policy . . .
Bolivia. Treaties. 1842. Manuscript Document Signed. Sucre, 10 December 1842. On paper, in Spanish. Folio, 3½ pp.
$500.00

The official, signed report of the Presidential Committee appointed to investigate the just-concluded "treaty of peace, commerce and navigation" with Great Britain. The report observes: "The present treaty is, letter for letter, the same as that concluded in 1837 in Lima by the Proctor of the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation, and the same, also, bearing the date of 30 May 1838 that the Extraordinary Bolivian Congress (meeting in Cochabamba) approved" (our translation). With five members dissenting, the committee decides that the method of congressional approval, though "farcical," was legal and binding.
Bearing signatures, among others, of Pedro Buitrago, Narciso Dulón, Eusebio Gutiérrez, M. de la Cruz Méndez, José M. Dalence, and Manuel Sagarnaga.
Very good condition. Two small tears at folds, not affecting text.


The
Beginning of
Demographic
Studies
Botero,
Giovanni. Relaciones
universales del mundo ... primera y segunda parte. Valladolid: Impresso por
los herederos de Diego Fernandez de Cordoua, 1603–1599. Folio (27 cm;
10.5"). [4], 207, 110 ff. (without final blank and without the maps).
$1875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Botero (1540–1617) was an Italian thinker, priest, poet, and diplomat, and after 1580 an expelled Jesuit. His Relaciones universales del mondo, originally published 1594 to 1595 in Italian, tells of the “universal church” (i.e., Catholicism) in various parts of the world, including America, the Old World, India, the circum-Mediterranean, Africa, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but also England, Scotland, Ireland, and “the realm of Prester John.” More than a few scholars view this as one of the first demographic studies.
This first edition, second issue in Spanish is the translation of Diego de Aguiar. It is composed of the sheets of first edition of 1600–1599 with a new title-page. Printed in roman type, double-column format, it offers a liberal sprinkling of large woodcut initials, some of which are historiated.
Provenance: 19th-century private ownership stamp on verso of title-leaf; bookplate of the John Carter Brown Library (with small release stamp) on the front pastedown.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 603/17; Sabin 6809; Palau 33704; Medina, BHA, 468. 18th-century mottled sheep, raised bands, gilt spine extra; spine gorgeously bright and covers with some abrasions. Title-page and final leaf with foremargins excised and the leaves mounted; first folio 113 with short tears repaired with with cello tape now darkened. Occasional foxing and the other odd spot or stain only; all edges red and a blue ribbon placemarker. A text volume only, this lacks the maps and is priced accordingly; it is an important and famous work with a good provenance in an otherwise very handsome copy, for the reader. (28307)
Briceño, Mariano de. Memoir justificatory of the conduct of the government of Venezuela on the Isla de Aves question, presented to his excellency the secretary of state of the United States.... Washington City: F.H. Sage, printer, 1858. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 22 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$250.00

The Isla de Aves was a matter of contention between the U.S. and Venezuela, as Venezuela claimed sovereignty over the island and thus the exclusive right to exploit the large amount of guano there. (The dispute was eventually decided in favor of Venezuela.) Briceño was envoy extraordinary to the U.S. and minister plenipotentiary of Venezuela.
Not in Palau. Original yellow printed wrappers, removed from a nonce volume with stab holes in the inner margins; inside wrappers with a short closed tear and a little shallow chipping, light soiling and a few stray marks. Fold mark down the center and traces of soiling on the top edges.

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