
NEW & OLD
WORLD 
HISPANICA Una miscelánea
A B Ca-Cb Cc-Cz D-Fe Ff-G H-J K-L
Ma-Mew Mex-Mz N-O P-R Sa-So Sp-U V-Z
Let's NOT Bring Back
the Inquisition
S., Y. O. Anecdota importante relativa a la Inquisicion de España, y varias reflexiones sobre el mismo asunto. Mejico: Impr. de D.M. Ontiveros, 1820. Small 4to. 35, [1 (blank)] pp.
$375.00
Strong but not rabid anti-Inquisition thoughts, expressed in 63 numbered paragraphs. Also addresses the question of freedom of the press and its intersection with the role of the Inquisition in barring unapproved ideas. A good contribution to the history of Human Rights.
Uncommon: OCLC locates only the copies at the Bancroft and Chilean National libraries; although, clearly, there is or was one in the Sutro Library.
Sutro 175. Removed from a nonce volume. A good clean copy. (21742)
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For more INQUISITION material, click here.
For a short “shelf” devoted to
FREE PRESS/SPEECH, click here.
For more HUMAN RIGHTS, click here.
For EUROPEAN (Heritage!)
LAW, click here.
Printed
in Philadelphia!
Salazar, J[osé] M[aría].
Observations
on the political reforms of Colombia. Tr. from the manuscript
by Edward Barry. Philadelphia: Pr. by William Stavely, 1828. 8vo. 47, [1 (blank)]
pp.
$1250.00
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.
For
more of PHILADELPHIA
interest, click
here.

Important Biography of a
Scholar of the Tarascan
& Matlaltzinga Languages
Salguero, Pedro. Vida del venerable padre y exemplarissimo varon el maestro Fr. Diego Basalenque, Provincial que fue de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Mechoacan del Orden de N.P.S. Agustin. Roma: En la Imprenta de los Herederos de Barbielini, 1761. 8vo (21.5 cm; 8.5" ). xvi, 194 pp.
$1300.00
Second edition (first was Mexico, 1664) of the standard biography of Father Basalenque (1577–1651), the Provincial of the Augustinians in Michoacan and the author of Arte de la lengua tarasca, the best colonial-era grammar of the Tarascan (Purépecha) language, and of Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Michoacán, del Orden de N.P.S. Agustín, the respected history of his order in Michoacan. He was also an accomplished student of the Matlatltzinga language, leaving unpublished (until the 20th century) several manuscripts.
Click the images for enlargements.
This work discusses his humility, obedience to the Agustinian rule and vows, and in part his work among the native population.
This second edition additionally contains Lucas Centeno's compilation of the documents relating to the reinterment of Fr. Basalenque's remains in the Convento de Santa María de Gracia in Valladolid (now Morelia), Mexico.
Sabin 75779; Palau 287455; Medina, BHA, 3996. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. Rodent damage to binding (bits devoured especially at back cover fore-edge) and some nibbling to lower edge of closed book (not anywhere near the text). Clean, solid, unwormed copy. (28616)
For more 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
For more of NATIVE AMERICAN interest, click here.
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For more RELIGION, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
For more BIOGRAPHIES, mostly 20th-Century
“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.

El Convento de Santa Clara de la Parra — The Foundation of a Mystic
San
Antonio Capilla, Fernando de.
Vida singular de la madre Maria de Christo; venerable, por esclarecida virgen;
por su rigurosa penitencia, por los favores que recibio de Dios; y por fundadora
de los beaterios en las villas de la Parra, y Almendralejo. Madrid: Manuel Ruiz
de Murga, 1716. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.25"). [32], 338, [30 (index)] pp.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition:
Biography of the Spanish mystic Maria de Christo (1654–1711), written
by her confessor. Madre
Maria founded and served as prioress of several beaterios, including
the famously austere La Parra. The title-page is printed in red and black,
and the text is preceded by a woodcut image of the Mater Dolorosa pierced by
seven swords.
Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locare fewer than half a dozen
copies in U.S. libraries. COPAC locates only the copy in the British Library
and the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico finds
ten in Spain.
Palau 289972. Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked
title, ties partially intact; text block mostly separated from spine, front
free endpaper torn. Pages lightly age-toned (a few somewhat more so) with
mild foxing; a few corners creased. (29102)
For more 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
For more RELIGION, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
For more BIOGRAPHIES, mostly 20th-Century
“General Reading” & Inexpensive, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.

Plate by Araoz
San Pedro, José María de. Apologia de Santa Teresa de Jesus, que dirige a las rr. mm. carmelitas descalzas de la ciudad de Mexico. Mexico: La oficina de Ontiveros, 1812. 8vo. [4] ff., plt., 44 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This is the
first and only edition of a well-written and footnoted biography of St. Teresa de Jesús. It seeks to rebut negative criticisms and actual charges of harboring vice that had been contained in some 18th-century peninsular publications.
Neither
Medina, nor Palau, nor Garritz, nor the cataloguer for the NUC Pre-1956
entry notes a plate as present. The engraved plate in
our copy, which is signed “Araoz M.o,” shows St. Teresa kneeling
in prayer in her garden. In the background are a lake or a river and a mountain.
Christ is seen off to the right, emerging from a stand of trees near the water.
In front of the saint are some flowers and other cultivated plants which are
being watered by an irrigation system fed by a well; two symbolic doves and
a yearning (or dedicated) heart also appear. Below the engraving is a quotation
from Ecclesiastes that the saint used in her writings.
The engraver was Manuel de Aráoz, one of the first students of the Mexican Academy of Painting, a noted engraver, and later subdirector of the Academy's department of engraving.
Medina, Mexico, 10812; Palau 293431; Garritz 1569. On the engraver, see: Diccionario Porrúa de historia, biografía y geografía de México (5a ed.), I, 165. Without the plain wrappers one expects. Three pin-type wormholes affecting some pages, including the plate, not offensively. Discoloration along inner margin of title-page; soiling affecting edges/margins variably; upper outer portions of title-leaf, last two text leaves, and final blank most affected. Ample-margined copy. (27616)
MEXICO
is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For RELIGION, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.

Carrying on with Government during
War
Sánchez Chávez, José Manuel. Autograph Letter Signed, in Spanish, on paper, to José de la Serna. Potosí: 29 November 1816. Folio. [2] pp.
$150.00
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)
For more SOUTH AMERICANA, click here.
For more of MILITARY/NAVAL
interest, click here.
For our MSS in SPANISH, click here.

The
FIRST Dominican-Born Writer to Publish a Book
& a Book about HISPANOLA at That!
Sánchez Valverde, Antonio. Idea del valor de la isla Española, utilidades que de ella puede sacar su monarquia. Madrid: Impr. de Pedro Marin, 1785. 4to. [4] ff., xx, 208 pp., [2] ff., table; without the map.
$1400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sánchez Valverde was the first writer born in Santo Domingo to publish a book. In fact he published several, but all agree his most important is his Idea del valor de la isla Española. In it he writes of the entire island of Hispaniola, both the Spanish portion and the French. He surveys the natural history, the crops, the people, the slaves, the climate, the topography, the hydrology, the ports, and the prospects.
Provenance: Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on title-page; later in the John Carter Brown Library (bookplate); note at end “Collated with G.G. Church copy. July 31, 1912. dup.” Deaccessioned 2008.
Evidence of readership: Scattered marginalia in French through p. 50, almost invariably giving the French for obscure words and phrases in Spanish in the text. Perhaps owned by someone living in the Haitian area of the island?
Palau 296409; Medina, BHA, 5154; Sabin 76309. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, vellum split at fore-edge of front one exposing the substrate; vellum cockled and old, faint inked writing on it. Front hinge (inside) open; without the map; stamp as noted above. A good copy. (28324)
For more 18TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
For ABOLITION / BLACK
HISTORY, click here.
For CARIBBEANA, click here.
For more VOYAGES, TRAVELS, & books on
“EXOTIC” PLACES, click here.
For NATURAL HISTORY, click here.
For more Books with SPECIAL
PROVENANCE, click here.
For Books for the BUSTED
BIBLIOPHILE, click here.
Sardó,
Joaquín. Relación histórica y moral de la portentosa
imagen de N. Sr. Jesucristo crucificado aparecido en una de las cuevas de S. Miguel
de Chalma, hoy real convento y santuario de este nombre, de religiosos ermitaños
de N.G.P. y doctor S. Agustin, en esta Nueva España, y en esta provincia
del santísimo nombre de Jesús de México. Con los compendios
de las vidas de los dos venerables religiosos legos y primeros anacoretas de este
santo desierto, F. Bartolomé de Jesús María, y F. Juan de
San Josef. [Mexico]: Casa de Arizpe, 1810. Small 4to. [7] ff., 386 pp., plt.
$950.00

One has here the standard and well-thought-of account of the Sanctuary of Jesus Christ at Chalma, the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico. The cave housing the Christ Crucified statue was a pre-Columbian sacred site and pilgrimage destination; miraculously the pre-Columbian statue with magical healing power morphed into the Christ image soon after it was visited by early Augustinian friars, who took over the cave and the surrounding area and build a church and religious compound. The original Christ statue was destroyed by fire in the 18th century.
Click either image for an enlargement.
In addition to the wealth of information here about the origins of the cave as a site of miracles, its history throughout the colonial period, and accounts of miracles occurring there, this work also has important
biographies of Augustinians of the 17th century who played important roles in the care and perpetuation of the site.
The engraving shows the cave, the Christ figure, pilgrims, and Augustinian friars.
Palau 302085; Medina, Mexico, 10516. 19th-century mottled sheep, abraded, missing spine label; spine is cracking down center, and volume may sometime split into two halves. Some brown stains, most notable in inner and upper or lower margins; lower outside corner of title–page neatly excised. Old ink notes and scribblings.
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
For Books for the BUSTED
BIBLIOPHILE, click here.
(Satires). [drop-title] Suplica de los pobres al Doctor Don Francisco Bullon. [Spain, ca. 1710?]. Small 4to. [2] ff. [with] [drop-title] Segvndo memorial del pobre de las covachvelas al Doctor Bvllon, este año de 1710. [Spain, 1710]. 8vo. [4] ff.
$325.00


A
17th-Century Set
Segneri, Paolo. El incredvlo sin escvsa. Obra...en qve se demvestra, qve no puede dexar de conocer, qual es la verdadera religion, quien quiere conocerla. Tradvcida de la lengva toscana à la castellana por don Juan de Espinola, Baeza, Echaburu.... [Volume I:] Barcelona: Impr. de Maria Marti, viuda, 1723; [volume II:] Madrid: Juan Garcia Infançon, 1696. 2 vols. Small 4to. I: [8] ff., 320 pp., [2] ff. II: [12] ff., 357, [1] pp., [17] ff.
$250.00

Segneri was an important and prolific 17th-century writer. Offered here is a mixed set:
The third edition of volume I, but first edition of volume II.
Palau 305907 & 305909; not in DeBacker-Sommervogel, but see: V, 1076. Vellum over
light boards; remnants of ties. Old ownership marks of a convent library in Bogotá. Patch of
vellum missing from back cover of volume II and that volume's front hinge (inside) reinforced
with tape. Bookplates of a U.S., 20th-century woman collector.


A Local-Use Manual from a
Fine Woman Printer
Segura, José de. Manual de administrar los santos sacramentos de la eucharistia, y extremauncion, y oficiar los entierros, segun el uso, y observacion del Sagrario de la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana desta ciudad. Mexico: Por Doña Maria de Benavides, Viuda de Juan de Ribera, 1697. Small 8vo. [5] ff., 130 pp., [2] ff.
$2225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Specifically designed for use of the Bethlemite Order in its convents
and hospitals in Mexico, based specifically on the use of the Mexico City Cathedral!
Illustrated with
a
full-page woodcut of the Christ in the manger with Mary and Joseph the volume is from the press of one of Mexico's famous woman
printers; Fr. Angel Serra's name is also associated with this volume as its
compiler.
Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four copies in U.S.
libraries.
Medina, Mexico, 1680. Contemporary stiff vellum,
with “MANUAL” in old lettering on spine; binding stained and darkened,
lacking ties, and a little sprung. Title-page soiled with square dark area
of staining in lower outer corner extending into the text of the title. Waterstaining
to early and late sections, and odd spottings variously; paper yet strong.
Withal, a good+ copy of a scarce and important early Mexican medical-related
item. (29862)
For 17TH-CENTURY BOOKS, click here.
For CATHOLICA, click here.
For more MEDICINE, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de; José María Zelaa é Hidalgo (rev. & ed.). Glorias de Queretaro, en la fundacion y admirables progresos de la muy i. y ven. congregacion eclesiástica de presbiteros seculares de Maria Santisima de Guadalupe de Mexico, con que se ilustra y en el suntuoso templo que dedicó a su obsequio el Br. D. Juan Caballero y Ocio... que en otro tiempo escribio el Dr. D. Cárlos de Sigüenza y Góngora. Mexico: En la oficina de M.J. de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1803. Small 4to (19.8 cm; 7.875"). [8] ff., 235, [1] pp., [2] ff., 2 fold. plans. [bound with] Zelaa e Hidalgo, José María. Adiciones al libro de las Glorias de Querétaro, que se imprimió en México el año de mil ochocientos tres. Mexico: Imprenta de Arizpe, 1810. Small 4to (19.8 cm; 7.875"). [6] ff., 94 pp., [2] ff.
$11,000.00
Click any image above for an enlargement.
In 1680, in Mexico City, the Mexican polymath Sigüenza y Góngora
(1645–1700) published the first edition of this highly important work
of art history. Recounting the great celebrations surrounding the dedication
of the “temple of Our Lady of Guadalupe” in Querétaro that
the priest Juan Caballero y Ocio had built and donated, it not only describes
the festivities in detail (“Frailes, monjas, gigantes, tarascas, cofradías,
mulatos, indios, todos en la celebración’), but is profuse and
precise in telling of the nature and minutia of the art within the temple.

Extraordinarily difficult to find today, that 1680 work was already rare and
hard to obtain by the beginning of the 19th century — so José María
Zelaa e Hidalgo decided, in the first years of the century before last, to bring
out a new edition with some editorial revision and additions. This he accomplished
in 1803. Zelaa was a zealous historian of his home town of Querétaro,
and the combination of his scholarship with Sigüenza's earlier scholarship
made this second edition of the latter’s work a true advance. Then, in
1810, Zelaa brought out a volume entirely made up of his own reportings, and
that volume is here bound with his 1803 edition of Sigüenza.
The pairing of Zelaa’s two efforts in one volume is both uncommon and
intellectually reinforcing. But here, it is more than that: It is a personal
memento of a life’s work as well, for
this
copy bears the bookplate of the editor himself.
Provenance: Bookplate
of José María Zelaa é Hidalgo. 20th-century rubber-stamp
with initials only of a private Mexican collector.
Sigüenza: Medina, Mexico, 9637; Palau 312964. Zelaa:
Medina, Mexico, 10540; Garritz 940; not in Palau. Publisher's sheep,
gilt spine; small amount of leather missing from base of spine. Collector’s
stamp partly offset to title-page; otherwise, the occasional stray stain only.
“Association
copies” don’t get much more “associated” than this.
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For more Books with SPECIAL
PROVENANCE, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
It also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | PRB&M HOME