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The Interesting Estate of the Choir Master
Popayán, 1621

•  Detailed here is the last will and testament of the choir master of Popayán, Colombia. Ramírez was an absentee office holder, for he lived in Peñafiel, Spain, indulged in this failure to take up his duties in the New World by the bishop of Popayán—who happened to be his uncle. The choir master’s wealth was considerable and while not itemized as in an estate inventory, it is more than hinted at via the bequests here of real estate (with provenance), of silver and gold chalices and crosses, and of cash in the form of coin. The bequests also give an interesting picture of the size of his family and the ranking of nieces, nephews, etc.

Certified, contemporary copy of the original.

•  Sewn. In good condition. Very legible notarial hand.

The Choir Master OwnedVineyards
   (& Maria Got Them)

•  Don Alonso Ramírez was the past choir master of Popayán, Colombia, and by this document gives various properties to María de la Puente, widow of Diego Ramírez Carrillo (Don Alonso’s nephew) and Doña Isabel Ramírez Carrillo, Maria’s daughter. The properties include a vineyard (“nueve viñas” that Don Alonso bought from Diego on 9 March 1591; another (“viña a Manzanillo”) that he bought from Juan Arranz, the elder, citizen of Manzanillo, on 7 December 1612; a third vineyard (“viña a Majuelo”) that he purchased from Francisco Santos and his wife (María Muñoz), citizens of Manzanillo, on 20 April 1614; a piece of land in Manzanillo, in the region called “tierras de las Tapias,” sown with two cargas of seed, purchased from Gaspar Decian on 6 January 1586; and a house in the parish of Nuestra Señora de Mediavilla that he purchased on 16 July 1605 from the administrators of the trust that Joratalina Sarmiento established. Click the image for an enlargement.

A contemporaneous certified copy of the original document.

•  Written in a clear notarial hand. Very good condition.

Lima Mourns Charles III

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•  Fr. Rico, an Oratorian, describes the memorial services in Lima on the occasion of the death of King Carlos III, as well as the commemorative art work and its Latin-language epigraphs. Fray Bernardon Rueda's “Oracion funebre que en las solemnes exequias del Rey nuestro señor don Carlos III” has a sectional title-page and its own pagination; the folding plate is of the funeral monument erected in the king's memory.

Rare: WorldCat locates only two copies in the U.S.

An important source on the social and artistic life of Lima in the decade following the Tupac Amaru rebellion.

•  John Carter Brown Library, Catalogue, 1493-1800, III,324; Medina, Lima, 1697; Sabin 73902; Vargas Ugarte, Impresos peruanos, 2546.   Contemporary limp vellum with late, neatly inked title on spine. Some foxing. Plate lacking lower half and small portion of upper one; a handsome skeleton (memento mori) archer is the focus of what remains. Bookplate sometime removed; rubber-stamps on several pages, including title, reading (yes, in English), “Bought of F. Perez Velasco October 1912.”  (25771)

Very Early VENEZUELAN Imprint

Relating to INDEPENDENCE!

•  Young Rivas, son of one of the leaders of the first independent government in Venezuela, calls on all Venezuelans to unite, saying “the inhabitants of this city” have overthrown an illegitimate government, have established a “supreme authority,” and are now breathing “the air of Independence.” He points out the remaining provinces are the body of the new nation and that without them Caracas is merely a bodyless head. “Unite or die” is his plea, and by doing so, “[w]e will form a nation that will know how to maintain the honor of the Spanish people and that will make all others respect us.” Click the image for an enlargement.

The origins of printing in Venezuela are still, at this late date, shrouded in shadows. There remain questions of whether itinerant printers established themselves now and then for short periods of time, printing a form or booklet — and definitely some playing cards — and then moving on. The accepted date for “the beginning” of printing in Venezuela is October, 1808, with the arrival of the press of Gallagher and Lamb and this issuance of the first issue of Andrés Bello’s Gazeta de Caracas.

Very Rare. This broadside was unknown to Medina and is only the 16th item in Pedro Grases chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. In his entry he located only the copies in the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Spain, Venezuela, Colombia, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas. Graces, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela, Reportorio #16; Villasana, VI, 108. As issued; minor worming in foremargin; repaired. A very good copy.

Travelling toWhere Few Wanted to Go

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•  First American edition of the brothers Robertson's wonderful account of their travels in South America culminating in their arrival in Paraguay and an extended residence there. They also recount the efforts to emancipate the various South American regions from Spanish control, compare and contrast Portuguese and Spanish America, describe flora and fauna, discuss native populations, etc. The preliminary leaves of advertisements for other books from the same publishers have their own additional interest.

•  American Imprints 52683; Sabin 71961. This edition not in Palau. Publisher's pebbled brown cloth bindings: black tape at top of one spine and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear, publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped; text blocks slightly skewed in bindings and light waterstaining in lower inner margins of vol. I. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. (28891)

AndTHEN . . .

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•  First American edition of the brothers Roberston's classic account of crazy Dr. Francia and the constant fear that pervaded daily life in Paraguay during his insane dictatorship. As the title makes clear, this is a sequel to the brothers' earlier work.

Binding:  Publisher's dark red ribbon-embossed cloth of an abstract pattern on a textured (pebbled) background not found in Krupp's Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50.

•  American Imprints 58260; Sabin 71962. This edition not in Palau.   Bindings as above: black tape at top of spines and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear; publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped and text blocks slightly skewed in bindings. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings.  (28890)

Letters of an American — Pareño's Copy

[Rocafuerte, Vicente]. 

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•  During his exile and residence in Philadelphia Vicente Rocafuerte, a man prominent in the political affairs of Mexico and Ecuador, wrote these letters to explain to Spanish America the American federalist system of government. The spur for writing was his having read Juan Egaña's “Del federalismo y de la anarquia” (Santiago de Chile: Imprenta nacional, Abril de 1823). In one letter he compares and contrasts article by article the U.S., Mexican, and Guatemalan constitutions.

Provenance:  Alberto Pareño's copy with his initials on the spine of the book.

•  Uncut copy. Bound in 20th-century blue buckram. A very good copy.  (29298)

Printed inPhiladelphia . . .

•  The author of this was a native of Antioquia, a lawyer, and a diplomat; he wrote this treatise while serving as the Venezuelan plenipotentiary minister to the United States. It was printed for the first time in Philadelphia, and appeared simultaneously in two editions, one in English and the other in Spanish. Writing in hopes of influencing the congress of Grand Colombia, which in 1826 was considering revising the constitution, Salazar offers his noteworthy, extended thoughts on what political organization would be best.

This is a very scarce book. Palau did not know of this English translation, and fewer than eight U.S. libraries report owning a copy of it.

•  Palau 286648 (for the Spanish-language edition); Sabin 75576; Shoemaker 35093a. Recent quarter dark green morocco with marbled paper sides. Pages 3 through 6 are supplied in xerographic facsimile. Browning and foxing.

ICAPTURED Their Guns
    & I Seized Their Press !

•  Commander of the Royalist forces and soon-to-be viceroy Juan Sámano publishes for the general public Gen. Morillo's operational report of 12 December 1817, from Calabozo, Venezuela. In it the Royalist general details his successful campaigns against Simón Bolívar and José Antonio Páez. He details the arms and armaments captured and records that in one engagement not only obtained two fine bronze cannons, but also one of Bolívar's portable presses!

•  Posada, Bibliografía bogotana, II, 322. Very fine condition.

Carrying on with Government duringWar

•  Sánchez Chávez is the Intendent of Potosí and since March, 1816, has been carrying out additional duties that Gen. Juan Ramírez assigned him. He has incurred additional expenses, including having hired a secretary to help with the additional paperwork and letter writing. He asks Serna, the Mariscal de Campo of the Royal Army in Peru, for an additional 45 pesos per month as compensation.

In a marginal note in his own hand, Serna agrees to the request.

•  Very Good condition, clearly written and easy to read.  (27625)

An Easter Sermon

•  Easter-tide sermon on Christ and the Cross. Larrain eventually rose to be archbishop.

•  Not in Palau. Modern light wrappers, lacking original wrappers. Very good condition.

A ClassicGERMAN View of America: John Carter Brown's Copy

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•  First edition of this descriptive overview of the New World, sponsored by German Protestant theologian Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten and compiled by Johann Friedrich Schröter, who translated and incorporated much of Lafitau's Moeurs des sauvages Américains, among other sources. The black-letter text is ornamented with decorative capitals, head- and tailpieces, and (in this copy) six copper-engraved plates (of the original larger number, see collation); present here are maps of “Hayti,” San Domingo, Mexico, and “die Mexicanische See,” and plates XII (antiquities representing deities) and XIV (two ceremonial activities).

Along with its accounts of native religions and customs, and its discovery and exploration narratives, the work includes a section on chocolate (“ein Geschenk, das Mexico den Europäern gemacht,” p. 333), potatoes, cassava, and other New World food items, as well as beers and wines.

Provenance:  Private bookplate on pastedowns and ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on first leaf of preliminaries and elsewhere. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.

•  Howes S200; Library Company, Afro-Americana, 9182; Sabin 77989.   19th-century half brown morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped titles and bands; moderately rubbed. Front pastedowns each with private bookplate of John Carter Brown as above, subsequently rubber-stamped by the library bearing his name (properly deaccessioned), title-pages each with faded early inked inscription (dated 1752 and 1753), sectional title-page of vol. I and first text page of vol. II each with Brown's red signature rubber-stamp. Lacking four maps and 58 plates. Scattered faint foxing and spotting, vol. II with lower portions of front endpapers and first few leaves waterstained, pages overall generally clean. Priced to reflect plate absences — but this is a worthwhile text, complete, solidly bound, and with an interesting association.  (29149)

Christian Fletcher'sEND & Other Tales of the South Seas

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•  Uncut copy, first edition — privately printed for the author, and preceding the London first of the same year — of one of the earliest accounts of the aftermath of the Bounty mutiny and the fate of the mutineers. Shillibeer was a lieutenant of the Royal Marines aboard the HMS Briton, which sailed to Pitcairn Island and also made stops at Valparaiso, Lima, the Marquesas, and the Galapagos Islands, all of which are described here. Present is a record of an interview with John Adams, the last surviving mutineer, done while Shillibeer was on Pitcairn Island; also here are a glossary of Marquesas words and phrases, an indignant description of Capt. David Porter's attempt to annex the island of Nukahiva in the name of the United States, and an account of the workings of the Inquisition in Lima.

The work is illustrated with12 plates, including the engraved frontispiece of “Patookee a friendly chief”; depictions of Golgotha, the Tajuca waterfall, and “Captain Watson shewing his Irons”; an oversized, folding view of San Sebastian; a portrait of Friday Fletcher October Christian; and a view of the island of Juan Fernandez “printed in the native colour [red ochre] of the earth of this Island” (p. 155). All images were drawn and etched by the author himself. Although the title-page mentions 18 illustrations, the binder's instructions list 16 and specify that 16 is the correct number, and all bibliographical references call for 16, which number is met by three of the plates' bearing several images each.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription of Fairman R. Furness, of the prominent Furness-Bullitt family. Title-page with earlier signature of “A.G. Findlay.”

•  Hill, Collection of Pacific Voyages, 1563; Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration, II, S42; Sabin 80483; NSTC 2S19683.   Contemporary half calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding rubbed and abraded overall, spine head and label chipped. Front pastedown with small booklplate bearing no name; ownership inscriptions as above. Lower outer corner of title-page torn away; list of Briton officers with small tear repaired some time ago, tissue now lifting from repair. Pages and plates browned at edges with moderate spotting, staining, and dust-soiling; four pages with ink blurred from press. A fascinating book, an interesting copy.  (28374)

Free Trade forSouth America

•  The king here adds to his 16 October 1765 decree that established free commerce for the Caribbean islands and the provinces of Campeche, Santa Marta, and Rio del Hacha. He now extends the privilege to the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, the legal ports on the Pacific coast, and elsewhere in South America. Click the images for enlargements.

Handsomely printed, with the royal coat of arms on the title-page and same page with a handsome decorative border. One large woodcut initial.

•  Palau 251081.   20th-century quarter vellum with green cloth sides. Spine lettered in black and red. Crisp copy.  (28863)

The KEYSTONE of Hispanic-American Colonial Law
A VeryHANDSOME Edition

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•  Handsome mid-19th century edition of the first comprehensive compilation of the laws of the Spanish Indies. Antonio Rodríguez de León Pinello compiled it by 1635, but it circulated only in manuscript until Fernando Jiménez de Paniagua brought it up to date and saw the result through the press in 1681. Prior to the publication of this massive work, it was common practice for lawyers and courts in the various legal districts of the New World (i.e., audiencias) to compile in manuscript the laws in force in order that they might be used as precedents. Upon publication of this code, the number of precedents did not (as might have been expected) decrease via "regularization" but instead increased: The courts continued to accept the cases and laws on point in the old local manuscript compilations and also those contained in the Recopilación!

In sum, this is a major work for all collections of international and Hispanic-specific law. The first edition is very uncommon in today's marketplace, meaning most scholars and collectors must settle for a later edition, such as this fifth—which has the happy advantage of being handsomely printed in double-column format. This copy is attractively bound, as well.

•  Palau 137466; Sabin 68390. Victorian acid-stained sheep with gilt spines extra. Marbled edges. Tape adhered to one title-page at inner margin. Ownershjp signatures on title-page. A nice set.

Troublesome Soldiers to FaceCriminal Courts

Spain.

•  Mexico City printing of the royal decree of 31 August 1799 in which the crown declares null and void the use of the fuero militar in cases of mutiny, attempted mutiny, and rebellion. He orders that all such cases fall under the jurisdiction of the audiencias and not the military courts.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in not in González de Cossío, 510.   Removed from a nonce volume. Left margin irregular.  (25824)

Alto Peru — An Exceptional “Natural Son”

•  While granting permission for one particular supplicant (in Alto Peru) to take religious vows and to obtain benefices despite his illegitimate birth, the King reiterates to the ecclesiastical authorities that natural and other illegitimate sons are not to be regularly accepted into holy orders.

•  Folded as issued.

The King . . . Appeases His Abused
    ACCOUNTANTS . . .

•  The officials of the Royal Accounting Office in Buenos Aires have complained to the king of ill-treatment at the hands of other government officials, and the king here declares how the accountants are to be treated.

•  Folded as issued.

An AMERICAN Dissatisfied with New-Granada

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•  First edition of this travel account, in which Steuart describes his journey from New York to Bogotá and Carthagena. The author, who opens by debunking “Extravagant Ideas prevalent regarding South America” (p. 13), is highly critical of the local virtue, temperament, religious observances, apparel, and cuisine (complaining particularly of excessive cumin and garlic), reserving his praise primarily for the excellent chocolate. In his concluding remarks, he expresses much pessimism regarding any possibility of successful international commerce with the South American states.

Binding:  Publisher's ribbon-embossed green floral-patterned cloth of Krupp's style Ft6.

•  American Imprints 53109; Palau 322394; Sabin 91388. Not in Smith, American Travellers Abroad. On the binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50.   Publisher's green floral-patterned cloth, spine with printed paper label; corners and spine foot rubbed, spine head pulled, paper label darkened with edges chipped. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription; occasional pencilled annotations and marks of emphasis. Light to moderate foxing.  (25425)

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Bureaucracies WereALWAYS Bureaucracies
  (Humans Have Always Been Human)

•  The Commandant General of the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, returns a circular misdirected to him. It should have gone to Administrators of the Treasury at Potosí and concerns the "number of letras de cambio" that they should be sending to the capital.

•  Very good condition. Waterstain in upper margin, not affecting text.

Colonial Support for theRoyal Retreat — MS. Accounting 1781–85

(Subsidies for the Escorial).

•  Certified copy of a document relating to the 13,200 ducats annually due the monks of the monastery of the Escorial in Spain, promised them in perpetuity by King Philip IV in 1654. In exchange for this annual subsidy of proceeds from encomiendas in Huaylas, Chuquitanta, Conchucas, and other regions in Peru, the monks promised to say masses and to do certain other religious acts for the crown. This document contains specific and detailed accounting data for the years 1781, 1782, 1783, 1784, and 1785.

•  Sewn, in good condition.

TO Part VIII . . .

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