To aid in getting a refreshed grip on the administration of the New World, Philip IV of Spain asked Juan Díez de la Calle, a member of the Consejo de Indias, to produce a concise administrative handbook for use solely by the Council of the Indies, the King, and his close advisors. Here one finds all of the administrative divisions with dates of creation; office holders and their salaries and when the office was created; differences existing between administrative districts; and an interesting section on the various “annual” convoys (“armadas”) and the general in charge of each.

Provenance: Ownership signature at top of title-page of “Guill[er]mo Godolphin,” i.e., Sir William Godolphin.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 645/45; Palau 73741; Sabin 20133.   Early limp vellum. Lacking two leaves: “Al Lector” leaf and the sectional title-leaf. A very good copy.  (25808)

•  Sometime bound in a nonce volume (removed).

Printing seems to have arrived in El Salvador in 1825, placing this in the first decade of that art there.

Apparently rare: We trace no copy via NUC Pre-1956, WorldCat, CCILA, or METABASE.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. A few small holds from insect damage, a few of the few repaired with archival tissue. Old bibliographical notations in pencil in margins. Light waterstaining in upper outer corner.  (25791)

The book begins with Lingua ("On Language"), wherein Erasmus complains that humans abuse their gift of language and twist it to make a mockery of God's world and word. This is followed by the Principis Christiani Institvtio ("The Christian Education of a Prince"), directed primarily at the young Emperor Charles V Hapsburg, instructing him in, among other things, the benefits of passivism. This is considered to be one of the greatest contributions to the genre of the education of a Christian prince. The Querela Pacis ("Complaint of Peace"), next, was written in 1517 when the "Congress of Kings" met, hoping to preserve peace throughout Europe during a period of religious and social strife. Here Erasmus pleads for toleration, in some ways (but definitely not others) foreshadowing modern concepts of multiculturalism and diversity.

The volume's final work is the famous "Praise of Folly," which Erasmus claims he wrote on a journey from Italy to England while thinking about his friend Thomas More (hence the pun More -> moriæ). Here Folly, personified as a woman (of course), speaks in her own defence, pointing out the merits of the un-Christian practices of the day. That is followed by two of Erasmus's letters: "De Ratione Studii," intended for Petrus Viterius, and "De Instituendi," intended for Erasmus's students.

All works are given in the original Latin, annotated, and followed by full indices. The resulting thick little volume is a pleasing one—Maire printed it nicely—and this copy is an exceptionally crisp and clean exemplar.

•  On Erasmus, see: Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, 145–47. Full vellum with yapp edges. Round spine with author and title handwritten at top in sepia ink; yellow head- and tailbands well preserved. Tiny initials ink on front fly-leaf. Very little foxing. Overall, excellent.

Jansenist

The text here is in Latin, printed in roman and italic with sidenotes, large woodcut initials, intricate headpieces, and ornaments, including a number of dainty stars and at least two impressive, richly inked tailpieces. The title-page features a large printer's device for the widow and children of Wilhelm Metternich's shop.

Gratian's Decretum, written in the 12th century and henceforth amended (most significantly in the 16th), was a legal cornerstone of ecclesiastical courts until 1917 and a major influence on the most recent laws of 1983, even though it was never officially promulgated by the Church.

•  On van Espen, see: NCE, V, 543.   Contemporary flexible vellum, remnants of four leather ties, ink title to spine; soiled and shelf-worn, small chip one to corner. Marginal waterstains and the odd ink- or other stain, a few small bits of paper lost at edges, very minor but persistent marginal worming, one small hole in text (a natural flaw), and browning/foxing (heaviest in the commentary). Deckle on some leaves, and one témoine. Early inscription in ink on title-page.  (30254)

The five articles go so far as to proclaim that sharing of bad news is treason and punishable as such.

•  One fold.

•  NSTC 2F12262, 2J13268, & 2B13609.   Green cloth over boards, gilt rules and lettering to spine; cloth worn away at spine extremities and corners and splitting over front joint; preliminary pages (including frontispiece) and pp. 1–2 separated from binding. Private ownership signature at top edge of title-pages; a (different) private owner's pressure- and rubber-stamps; institutional bookplate. Off-setting to six pages from old newspaper articles or leaves laid in; old newspaper article (a review of a much later biography of Fouché) still inserted; Inner margin of pp. 327–8 repaired, not affecting text. Spotting and staining of various sorts and a few dog-ears; not a swell copy but a perfectly serviceable one.  (14222)

Click the interior image
for an enlargement.

•  Not in Goldsmiths’-Kress. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped title-label; leather rubbed over corners, joints, and spine extremities, with some scuffing to back cover and leather showing minor cracking over spine. Front fly-leaf with early inked annotations; title-page with owner’s name in lower margin inked out. Pages lightly spotted; one leaf with tear from outer margin, with small loss of paper not touching text.

A search of RLIN, OCLC, NSTC, and NUC Pre-1956 shows only four U.S. holdings of this pamphlet.

•  NSTC 2N1853. Recent moiré cloth–covered boards. Title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. One leaf with short edge tear just touching text.