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A New Bishop for Buenos Aires —Manuscript Decree

•  Decree confirming Pedro Inocencio Bejarano as bishop of Buenos Aires, succeeding the late Manuel de Azamor y Ramírez. Written in a cursive hand. With, in addition to the stamped royal signature, those of various witnesses.

•  Stitched.

Colonial Services Recounted

•  Carrillo was not only a colonel and maestre de campo, he also served as the Chief Secretary of the South Sea (Secretario Mayor de la Mar del Sur); in this latter capacity, his role was crucial in the Spanish coastal defenses against the English during great raiding year of 1740. He also participated in several naval battles in the Pacific during that same year.

•  Palau 259482; not in Alden & Landis, European Americana. Folded with small tear into first line of text.

[AND] Carrillo de Albornoz, Juan Bautista. [drop-title] Relacion de los meritos, y servicios del theniente de infanteria Don Juan Bautista Carrillo de Albornòz, natural de la Ciudad de Lima. [Madrid, 1757]. Folio. [2] ff. (final a blank).
$165.00

•  Juan Carrillo succeeded his father, Diego Carrillo, to the title of conde de Montemar, and in this biographical sketch his service to the Crown seems to have just begun, for he plays more heavily on genealogy and current family connections than on actual service. Francisco Eduardo Paniagua certifies the accuracy of the document and signs it at the end.

•  Palau 259571. Folded as issued.

Vassar Gals a'Gaddin'

•  Juvenile fiction: “A holiday trip of three college girls through the southern continent, up the Amazon, down the Madeira, across the Andes, and up the Pacific coast to Panama,” illustrated by “Champ” and others.

•  Publisher's printed paper–covered boards, rubbed overall but still bright and attractive. Front (inside) hinge starting. Frontispiece recto with inked gift inscription (to Gertie May Kimball from Papa) dated 1887. Pages clean; some with short tears from lower margin, in some instances just touching text. (20812)

Early Commercial Law ofChile

•  This is the law that reformed Chile's comprehensive structure for imposing and collecting import and export duties, regulating internal commerce, and protecting national industries. All Chilean imprints of the pre-1830 era are scarce, and early laws are rare. Searches of OCLC and RLIN locates only three copies in the U.S., and some have slightly different pagination.

•  Briseño, I, 294. Not in Palau. Modern wrappers. Small brown stain on last few leaves. A very good copy.

From the Portable Press — Bolívar’s Constitution

Colombia.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  First printing of the first constitution of Gran Colombia (Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador), with Simón Bolívar as president and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice-president. It adopts the U.S. division of power among the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches, and defines powers and responsibilities much more precisely than the U.S. constitution. Individual rights are itemized, but do not include freedom of religion; however, a scheme is in place for ending slavery. The constitution was centralist and represents much of Bolívar’s political philosophy.

Rare in commerce: No copy has appeared at auction in more than fifty years. The fact that it was printed on the portable press of Bolívar’s Army of Liberation, and in the small town of Cúcuta on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, adds to its rarity.

•  Not in Palau. Late 19th- or early 20th-century cloth over paste boards; binding shows wear and some insect damage. Front free endpaper with institutional rubber stamp. Text with occasional light foxing. Withal, a very good copy of a book that is now nearly impossible to find in any condition.

The Constitution that Came Out of“The War of the Supremes”

•  “Edicion oficial” of the constitution that came out of “The War of the Supremes” (1839–42) and reacted to the decentralization of the 1832 constitution that followed the break up of Gran Colombia with Venezuela and Ecuador going their own ways. This new constitution centralized power in the president, who was granted unlimited authority. Click the images for enlargements.

There were two editions of the constitution in 1843: This one, and another that extended to 27 pages.

•  Not in Palau.   Original printed wrappers, small strip excised from blank area at top of front wrapper. Few dust smudges on wrappers. Very good copy. (15169)

“Official Edition” — AHuman Rights Milestone

•  “Edicion oficial” of the first Colombian constitution to rebel against the stringent control of the 1843 document that centralized power in the president. This compact is notable for its many liberal reforms, such as abolition of slavery, establishment of freedom of the press, and creation of separation of church and state. Click the images for enlargements.

There were two editions in 1853, the other being 24 pages in length.

•  Palau 59737. Original printed yellow wrappers, creased and a little dusty. Very good condition.

For other ABOLITION items,  click here.
For a short “shelf” devoted to
                    FREE PRESS/SPEECH —
            click here.
For HUMAN RIGHTS more
        generally,  click here.

A Proto-Constitution — COLOMBIA

•  A proposed constitution for a loose confederation with each state sovereign and decisions being made by an executive committee composed of one representative of each state. We fail to find evidence that this constitution ever went into effect. This is, however, clearly a precusor to the 1863 constitution and its loose federalism with quasi-independent state governments.

Not in OCLC.

•  Not in Palau. Original printed green wrappers. Waterstaining to inner area of wrappers, same faintly visible in one area of title-page.

Rionegro Printing — NO Library Copies Found

•  The political pendulum swung to the liberals in 1863 and a new constitution was promulgated at Rionegro which was to last until 1886. It renamed the nation the United States of Colombia, gave to the states all powers not reserved to the central government, contained fully defined individual liberties and guarantees, and guaranteed Colombians full religious freedom.
Click the image for an enlargement.

This is the first printing of that new liberal constitution, from the small press in the out-of-the-way town of Rionegro. It is very rare: We trace no copies via OCLC, RLIN, or NUC. Further, searches of the OPACs of the National Library of Colombia and of the universities of Cali and the Andes failed to locate a copy.

•  Not in Palau. Original wrappers, much dog-eared as are the text leaves. Old, mostly faint waterstaining. Withall, a good copy.

Very Early Printing of the 1863 Constitution

•  The period 1840–1880 in Colombian political history was characterized by swings between ascensions of the Liberals and of the Conservatives, the Liberals ruling without serious challenge in the last two decades of that period.

This publication contains the Constitution of 1863 as ratified by the Ríonegro Convention as well as most of the other legislation that the Convention adopted. The constitution incorporated many anti-clerical measures, including: separation of Church and state; full freedom of worship, even for non-Catholics; suppression of religious orders; prohibition of corporate ownership of real property (which amounted to prohibition of Church ownership of property); and governmental supervision of worship. The document also thoroughly decentralized power and made each state a virtual law unto itself.

In an attempt to curb the power of Gen. Mosquera, the presidency was made an office of two-year duration, and immediate re-election or succession was barred.

IMPORTANT AND RARE: NUC Pre-1956 fails to locate any copies, and RLIN finds only one copy (SUNY-Buffalo).

•  Removed from a volume of pamphlets and now in later wrappers. Ownership mark eradicated from title-page. A very good copy of a rare item.

University Matters

•  President Alcántara Harrán's reorganization of the universities.

•  Printed wrappers, sewn as issued. Covers dust-soiled, pages a little dog-eared; signature on front wrapper. Manuscript index at end.

The“First First” among
      STATE Constitutions . . .

•  First printing of the first state constitution for any Latin American nation, in this case for the state in which Bogotá is located. This was written during the early, uncertain days of the Napoleonic occupation of the Spanish peninsula and captivity of the Spanish king. Political matters were wild and wooly with some viceroyalties experiencing harsh rule while others began to experience first experiments in self-government and democracy.
Click the images for enlargements.

•  Posada, Bibliografia bogotana, 231; Palau 59632. Sewn as issued, without the wrappers. Minor soiling to title-page and last (blank) page. Old inked numbers at top of title-page. A very good copy.

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