
NEW & OLD
WORLD 
HISPANICA Una miscelánea
A-B C D-F G-J K-Mew
Mex-O
P-Rh Ri-So Sp-T U-Z
[
]
Classic Spanish Bibliography — Inscribed by an Editor
*&* Presented to an Important Author
Gallardo, Bartolomé José. Ensayo de una biblioteca española de libros raros y curiosos.... Madrid: M. Rivadeneyra, 1863–89. 4 vols. 8vo (27.8 cm, 11"). I: xi, [1] pp., 1404 col. II: vii, [1] pp., 1104 col., 179, [1] pp. III: x, [2] pp., 1280 col., [2] pp. IV: [6], 1572pp.
$1200.00
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First edition of this important bibliographical reference work: Gallardo's extensive notes on numerous rare and significant Spanish books and manuscripts, many of which were described herein for the first time. The notes were edited and compiled in vols. I and II by Remón Zarco del Valle and J. Sancho Rayon, and in vols. III and IV by Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo. Altogether, this four-volume set offers an impressive mass of detailed information, incorporating valuable literary fragments by and biographies of some of the greatest names in Spanish literature as well as some of the most obscure.
Provenance: This copy from the library of author and diplomat Don Juan Valera y Alcalá Galiano; vol. I with a presentation inscription addressed to him on the half-title, with the bookplate of his son Luis Valera on the front pastedown of each volume. The inscription to Valera was
written by one of the work's editors, Remón Zarco del Valle.
Palau 97065. Contemporary brown morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and volume number, vols. III and IV matching I and II very closely but not quite identical; joints, edges, and extremities rubbed, spines of III and IV lightly sunned. Vol. I with inscription and all vols. with bookplate as above. One leaf of vol. I with paper flaw, noticeable but not touching text; six leaves of vol. II each with tear at inner margin repaired some time ago, not touching text. Vols. I and II: pages slightly age-toned with occasional faint spots, almost entirely clean. Vols. III and IV: somewhat more pronounced age-toning, scattered mild spotting. Overall a clean, solid set with an interesting provenance. (29360)
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A Major Play in the
Reemergence of Spanish Tragedy
[García de la Huerta, Vicente Antonio]. Raquel, tragedia española en tres jornadas. No place [Madrid]: No publisher/printer [Antonio de Sancha], no date [1778]. Small 8vo. 103, [1 (blank)] pp., plate.
$250.00
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Raquel occupies an important place in the mid-18th-century rebirth of the writing of tragedies for the stage in Spain, notably for reestablishing the classical (i.e., Aristotelian) unities.
This particular edition has long been a mystery, but a fine cataloguer at the University of Salamanca has worked out what many others have not: This printing of Raquel, is a “separada del vol. I. de las “Obras poéticas” de Huerta, editadas por Sancha en 1778–79,” and this is why it seems complete by the pagination and signature collation, but yet seems to lack a title-page. It doesn't: One was never printed for it.
Aguilar Piñal, IV, 862; Herrera Navarro, Autores teatrales, 205; Palau 99106; Rodríguez Moñino, Antonio Sancha, 162. Contemporary acid-stained sheep (“pasta espanola”), spine label lost. Light foxing and old staining. Upper margin of the plate closely cropped, taking upper portions of all letters of first line of caption but not rendering reading impossible. A nice copy. (34987)
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Protecting the Virgin of Guadalupe from the
Impugnings of Juan Bautista Muñoz
Gomez Marin, Manuel. Defensa guadalupana ... contra la disertacion de D. Juan Bautista Muñoz. Méjico: Impr. de Alejandro Valdes, 1819. Small 4to. [5] ff., 55, [1 (blank)] pp.
$525.00
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Juan Bautista Muñoz (1745–99, with death by apoplexy) was Charles III's official chronicler of New World. In a posthumously published article — “Memoria sobre las apariciones y el culto de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en México . . . “, Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, V (1817), 204–24 — Muñoz
denied the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, calling it merely the illusion of a “mere Indian.” The cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe was so important to Mexicans of all classes and political persuasions that a spirited defense was assured; and Gómez Marín, a distinguished poet, naturalist, and religious writer, provides one here.
Grajales & Burrus, Bibliografía guadalupana, 325; Medina, Mexico, 11486; Palau 104079; Sabin 27768; Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 2980. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-leaf soiled and slightly foxed; upper inner corner of all leaves rodent gnawed with small loss of paper, not touching text. Two small pin-type wormholes penetrating from back toward front of volume, stopping on p. 13; some bug-spotting on last blank leaf. One leaf unaccountably browned. Not a fine copy, certainly; definitely, one priced for its faults. (34649)
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González Bustillo, Juan. Extracto, ô Relacion methodica, y puntual de los autos de reconocimiento, practicado en virtud de commission del señor presidente de la Real Audiencia de este reino de Guatemala. Pueblo de Mixco [Guatemala]: Impreso en la oficina de A. Sanchez Cubillas, 1774. Folio (29.5 cm; 11.675"). [2], 86 pp. (without final leaf with one erratum).
$10,750.00
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Following the ruin of Santiago de los Caballeros by the big earthquake of 1773, the capital of Guatemala was moved first to the little town of Mixco and then later to the location of the present site of Guatemala City. Offered here is the highly important report of the commission headed by Juan González Bustillo on that devastating July, 1773 earthquake: It occupies pp. 1–55 and is followed by "Prosigue la relacion, ô Extracto de todo lo que resulta èvacuado en la Junta general, y demas que se ha tenido presente hasta la conclusion del assunto de translacion, e informe, que debe hacerse à Su Magestad” on pp. 57–86.
The careful, lengthy, and contemporary reports present here detail the day’s events, give the sequence of the destruction of various buildings and areas of the city, recount salvage and evacuation efforts, etc. The writers (and the citizens) erroneously blamed the nearby volcanos for causing the tremors and quaking, but that was logical at the time. Seeking historical perspective, the commissioners make significant and informed comparisons with earlier earthquakes.
This document is one of the very few printed in the temporary capital of Mixco, a press having been salvaged from the ruins in the former capital. Thus, Mixco was the second city/town to have a press in Central America, and then, for only a short time—appoximately two years.
In addition to being important for its contents and in the realm of printing history, the González Bustillo report is uncommon: We trace only half a dozen copies in U.S. libraries.
Medina, Guatemala, 384; Palau 105113; Sabin 27811. Modern full calf, very plain style. Without the final leaf with one erratum on it. (13841)

A Bishop of LIMA Feuds with the POPE
González Vigil, Francisco de Paula. Light in Darkness. a book for Catholics
and Protestants, letter to the Pope, and an analysis of the brief of the 10th of June, 1851. Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1852. 12mo. 44 pp.
$150.00
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González Vigil was the Roman Catholic of Lima, Peru, and in 1848–49 he published his six-volume Defensa de la autoridad de los gobiernos y de los obispos contra las pretensiones de la Curia romana (i.e., “Defense of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authorities against the pretensions of the Roman Curia”) . The pope was not pleased by this challenge to his temporal power and in 1851 placed the book on the Index librorum prohibitorum.
In 1852 González Vigil responded to the pope with his Carta al Papa y análisis del Breve de 10 de junio de 1851, which is here in English translation from a Boston publisher.
A scarce American Catholicum.
Removed from a nonce volume; a little dusty and some dog-earing. (37963)

His Masterpiece
Granada, Luis de. Introduction [sic] del symbolo de la fe, en la qual se trata de las excelencias de la fe, y de los dos principales mysterios della, que son la creacion del mundo, y la redempcion del genero humano, con otras cosas anexas a estos dos mysterios, repartidas en quatro partes ... de nuevo ... corregida y emendada en esta tercera impression. Salamanca: por los herederos de M. Gast, 1585. Folio. 4 parts in 1 vol. I: [10] ff., 188 pp., [2] ff. II: 221, [1] p., [1] f. (lacking pp. 3–18). III: 153, [1] pp., [1] f. IV: 126 pp., [1] f.
$1500.00
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The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature calls this work “the devotional masterpiece of Luis de Granada” and expands: “The Dominican's longest work, it [is] . . . an encyclopedia of Christian religion in the light of the Spanish conception of the world” ( p. 293). It was first published in 1583: This edition contains parts one through four; a fifth part appeared in 1588.
Printed in double-column format, roman type, this has headlines in italic and offers woodcut headpieces and initials.
Binding: Late 19th- or early 20th-century mottled calf, spine brightly gilt extra with author and title gilt on red leather label, speckled edges. Binder's label of Jaime M. Alves, Lisbon.
Provenance: Contemporary ownership signatures of Ruy Gago and Cristobal Martinez at top of title-page; 20th-century bookplate of Alfonso Cassuto.
Palau 108157. Bound as above, a little scuffed with boards lightly bumped at corners and spine still notably shiny. Bookplate “Biblioteca Alfonso Cassuto” on front pastedown and small embossed stamp of same to main title-page and section titles. Some sections browned or with foxing, and with light, limited waterstaining in others; last section and a few other places with generally marginal worming that can or cost a few letters; lacking the prologue leaves of part II. Short closed tear in bottom margin of one leaf from a natural paper flaw; last leaf with corner repaired. A solid, handsome volume though not quite complete, offering a text of great repute and importance. (32627)
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On the LOYALTY Oath of 1820
[Granados, Francisco]. [drop-title] La cola de las zorras de Sanson, ó defensa de su autor. [colophon: Mexico: Alejandro Valdes, 1820]. 4to. 7, [1 (blank)] pp.
$285.00
This piece is signed "F. B. y E." at the end, but Garritz identifies the author as Granados. It concerns the oath of allegiance that the constitution required of public officials.
Medina, Mexico, 11697; Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 3585; Sutro 112; Steele 12. Folded, never bound. Minor worming affecting a few letters. Writing in pencil on first page. (3905)
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MUSICAL SCHOLARSHIP Printed Beautifully
Printed Masterfully!
Grañén Porrúa, María Isabel. Tesoros musicales de la Nueva España: Siglo XVI. Tacámbaro de Codallos [Mexico]: Taller Martín Pescador, 2018. Small 4to (25.7 cm, 10"). 46 pp., [1] f., 2 fold. plts., illuis.
$375.00
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Dr. María Isabel Grañén Porrúa is Mexico's leading scholar of 16th-century printing in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and Juan Pascoe of the Taller Martín Pescador is Mexico's greatest living handpress printer. Her scholarship, based on archival research and the minute study of early colonial-era printed musical texts, and his precise and meticulous presswork are here combined to give us a masterful study of a neglected area of the history of the book in Mexico, in a volume that is joy in the hand and a jewel to the eye.
Prior to publication here, the extended essay had been “presentado en el simposio 'El libro en la Nueva España. Historiografía en Construcción.' Dirección de Estudios Históricos del INAH, octubre de 2017.”
Only 210 copies were printed: Florencio Ramírez composed the text using Dante, Centaur, Poliphilus, and Blado type. Juan Pascoe and Martín Urbgina printed the work on Tamayo De Ponte paper using a Vandercook cylinder press and two Washington handpresses. The work was bound by Fermín Urbina.
The two folding plates are printed in black and red, as is the title-page and the first page of text. Other illustrations are an Antonio Espinosa vignette, a woodcut of a kneeling Mexica man, and two printer's ornaments. All are printed from zinc plates.
Green shelfback with yellow paper spine label and matching yellow paper on the boards. Author and title printed on front board in a frame of printer's ornaments. As new. (40095)
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Spanish as a
Second Language, 1835
Granja, Juan de la. Rasgos históricos de magnanimidad, valor, y nobleeza: Anecdotas, sentencias y ejemplos raros de virtud; dichos notables, cuentos, fábulas y ocurrencias graciosas, en prosa y en verso. Nueva York: Imprenta de Don Juan de la Granja, 1835. Small 8vo. 252 pp., [2 (index, ads)] ff.
$500.00
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Dissident Latin American writers of the 19th century found it convenient to have their controversial writings printed in the U.S. Juan de la Granja, a native of Spain who spent time as a merchant in Mexico before being expelled following Mexican independence, was a successful printer of Spanish-language books, periodicals, and a newspaper in New York City in the 1830s, before returning to Mexico to establish the first telegraph in that nation. His press printed more than a few political hot-topic books but he also printed bread and butter books like this one, designed specifically “Para el uso de las escuelas, y particularmente dedicados á la juventud que aprende el castellano, con cuyo objecto ha procurado el editor mezclar lo útil con lo dulce.”
Provenance: Early 19th-century ownership signatures on front free endpaper of Anthony Coe Ogilvie and E.H.(?) Ogilvie.
American Imprints 31923. Not in Palau. Publisher’s quarter cloth with paper-covered sides; binding waterspotted. Scattered light foxing. A good copy. (26144)
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Before the
War of JENKINS' EAR
Great Britain. The convention between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain, concluded at the Pardo on the 14th of January 1739, N.S. London: Printed by Samuel Buckley, 1739. 4to (21.7 cm, 8.625"). 28 pp.
$600.00
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Ineffectual trilingual treaty, one of two copies printed in London in the same year, this edition most likely the first. The 1739 Convention of Pardo (a.k.a. Treaty of Pardo or Convention of El Pardo) was designed to avoid a war between Spain and Great Britain over trade conflicts and the boundaries of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas by reimbursing Britain for damaged ships and creating, through a committee, plans to negotiate a neutral trading area. Despite these efforts, the War of Jenkins' Ear erupted later that year.
This pamphlet presents the treaty and two separate articles with more specific details on implementation of its arrangements in French, Spanish, and English, with the British ratification statements recorded in Latin and English and the Spanish ones in Spanish and English.
Several ships are mentioned by name, and the West Indies and Puerto Rico appear as locales for conflict.
ESTC T4473; Sabin 16195; not in Alden & Landis, European Americana; Goldsmiths'-Kress 07664. Removed from nonce volume, first leaf separating from text block; light age-toning, one top margin trimmed closely, light marginal pencilling on first and final leaves.
A good printed relic of a failed peace effort. (38080)
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“La Felicidad de las Sociedades Esta Vinculada en la Recta Administracion de Justicia”
Anger/Angst in AREQUIPA
[drop-title] Grito de la justicia deprimida. [colophon: Arequipa: Imprenta libre, administrada por Jose Matos, 1829]. Folio. [4] pp.
$175.00
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Concerns a mud-slinging match in near past months in the Peruvian town of Arequipa: “Bien ruidosa ha sido la cause de los libelos famosos qu corrieron ahora pocos meses en esta capital contra personas las mas notables de ella.”
No copies located via NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, or CCILA.
Removed from a nonce volume; worming in text costing letters but not whole words, and not impairing ability to read. Good ++. (34438)
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“Nuestro Esclarecido Gefe”
Guatemala. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Broadside, begins: “El Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, encargado del gobierno, a los habitantes de la República. Guatemaltecos! Un acontecimiento grave y doloroso me obliga a dirijiros la palabra.” [Guatemala: No publisher/printer, 1865]. Folio (34 cm; 13.25"). [1] p.
$775.00
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Pedro de Aycinena announces the death of long-time leader and sometimes president Rafael Carrera, dated in the text 14 April 1865.
Carrera was an epitome of the 19th-century caudillo.Minister Aycinena announces that he will assume the presidential powers until a new leader can be appointed.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate only one library copy worldwide — in the U.S.
Valenzuela, VI, 119. As issued; one small piece of blank paper torn from lower outer corner. Overall age-toning. (31054)
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“They Promise Each Other Reciprocal Peace & Friendship”
Guatemala. Treaties. Tratado de amistad y alianza entre
los estados de Guatemala y Los Altos. Guatemala: Imprenta del Gobierno del Estado, a cargo de
A. Espana, 1839. Folio (31 cm; 12.25"). [1] f.
$1000.00
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Ten-article treaty of peace and friendship between Guatemala and the newly
created nation of Los Altos. It achieved independence from Guatemala officially on 2 February
1838. This treaty is dated 18 December of the same year.The state of Los Altos came into being because of political differences and tensions
between Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango and other parts of western Central America.
No copy traced via WorldCat, COPAC, CCILA, or METABASE; there is no OPAC at
the Biblioteca Nacional de Guatemala to be searched.
Almost-overall waterstain giving the paper an aged look. Upper margin with small area eaten by
vermin and repaired with archival tissue; lower foremargin damaged with loss and repaired with
undetermined tape. Overall good+. (30884)
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“Habrá Paz Perpetua y Perfecta y Amistad Sincera e Invariable”
Guatemala. Treaties. [drop-title] Tratado de amistad, comercio y navegación entre la República de Guatemala y las ciudades libres de Lubeck, Bremen y Hamburgo. [Guatemala: No publisher/printer, 1850]. Folio (33 cm.; 13"). 12 pp.
$875.00
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The text of this treaty is printed in parallel Spanish and
German. At the top of the first page it reads: “Rafael Carrera, Presidente de la República de Guatemala, por cuanto entre la República de Guatemala y las ciudades libres anseáticas de Lubeck, Bremen y Hamburgo, se ha concluido y firmado en esta ciudad el dia veinticinco de junio del corriente año . . . un tratado de amistad, comercio y navegacion. . . .” It is dated in the text at the end 7 June 1850.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate only two copies, both in the U.S. However, we do know of a third copy at Tulane.
Not in Valenzuela. Folded and stitched as issued; minor chipping in lower margins. Scattered faint foxing. A very good copy. (31053)
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War & Peace, & Prosperity?
(Guatemala in the 1870s). A collection of 17 broadsides, 2-page publications, and pamphlets. Guatemala: Various publishers/presses, 1870–79. All items folio.
$3450.00
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For Guatemala the 1870s were years of a Liberal government and 19th-century Liberal reforms: confiscation of Church property and the concomitant excloistering of nuns and monks, improved sanitation, improved supervision of food handling, economic reforms, securing a free press, bringing telegraphy and the railroad to the nation, and improving the police force and public education.
The decade began with the 1871 overthrow of Vicente Cerna Sandoval's Conservative regime and then saw other military actions including the putting down of the 1872 attempted coup d'etat by the recently ousted Conservatives; and because that failed plot was supported by the government of Honduras, Guatemala went to war with its neighbor.
The collection touches on war, politics, reform, public health, and reaction to reform.
A complete list of contents is available.
The 1870s saw changes in the printing industry in Guatemala; printing could be done on thinner paper and this collection bears witness to that, with some chipping at edges, some brittleness over all, and some items damp-damaged with loss of blank areas (only). Over all, good to very good condition, with a very few exceptions. (36863)
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The ART of NEW WORLD Engraving & Printing in
GUATEMALA, 1794 through 1823

(Guatemalan Job Printing Ephemera COLONIAL ART ON PAPER). A collection of 61 broadsides, chiefly announcements of degree defenses. Guatemala: Various publishers, 1794–1823. Folio (see below). [61] ff.
[SOLD]
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This is a great and eye-pleasing assemblage for the study of Guatemalan Colonial and (in a few cases) earlyIndependence Era art, specifically of engraving, etching, and typography. Announcements of university degree defenses are a
rare printing genre; for example, none of the 61 items in this collection are held in the John Carter Brown Library. Additionally, only 16 were discovered by Medina.
Of the 61 items, 37 are in the smaller folio format (appx. 29.5 x 20 cm; 11.75" x 8.875") and 24 in the larger folio format (42 x 30.5 cm; 16.5" x 12").
Each broadside has an engraving or etching in the top area: The very attractive images include saints and Madonnas, including three instances of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but also coats of arms and, very interestingly, portraits of living individuals. The typography is always center-justified above a final paragraph or two that is right justified; and the printers have used a variety of ornaments to create interesting borders.
There is one case of an image being used twice: once on a small format broadside and also on a large one. The etched text has been eliminated on one of these; and when one looks carefully at the other images it is clear that engraved text has been masked or removed from some of them also — further evidence of recycling as having been a printshop practice.
Remarkably, one of the broadsides is bilingual (Latin & Spanish) and is a publication
not of a university defense but a publication of that Enlightenment development, the social organization “La Sociedad Economica,” in this case La Sociedad Economica de Guatemala. It announces that it has been reborn, and will not let the authorities “suffocate” it. Another is a
eulogy for a retired university professor.
Among the defense announcements, some give the actual questions/topics that will be asked/defended. The date range of the items is 1794 to 1823 and
the engravers include Juan Jose Rosales de Santa Cruz, Narcisco Rosal, Juan Pedro Larrabe, Garci-Aguirre, Francisco Cabrera, Valladolid, and Jose Casildo Espana. Notably one production is by the Mexican engraver Villavicencio.
Finally, the printers are the usual admirable suspects: Bracamonte, Beteta, and Arevalo.
It is interesting to see them represented by such UNusual ephemera!
Medina, Guatemala, 761; 814; 852; 1523; 1525; 1557; 1577; 1580; 1596; 1613, 1626; 1758 1898; 1806; 1918; 2138. All items are in very good condition, in Mylar sleeves, the entire collection in a quarter morocco clamshell case. (33845)
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A Third Generation
MEXICAN Woman Printer
Gutiérrez Dávila, Julián. Memorias históricas de la Congregación de el Oratorio de la Ciudad de México: bosquejada antes con el nombre de unión y fundada con auctoridad ordinaria. Despues, con la apostólica, erigida, y confirmada en Congregación de el Oratorio: copiada a el exemplar de la que en Roma fundó el esclarecido patriarca San Phelipe Neri en las quales se da noticia, asi de su fundación como de su apostólica erección y confirmación: y juntamente de muchas de las personas, que en uno, y otro tiempo la han illustrado ... Mexico: en la Imprenta Real del Superior Govierno, y del Nuevo Rezado, de Doña Maria de Ribera, 1736. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). [12] ff., 260, 198, 316 pp., [24] ff., plt.
[SOLD]
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Sweeping in its breadth and detailed in its depth, Gutiérrez Dávila's history of the Oratorian Order in Mexico from its founding in the second half of the 17th century offers fact and myth about the order as well as biography and near-hagiography of many members, up to to ca. 1730.
The Oratorians were unlike the other religious orders in New Spain: “The Oratory of St. Philip Neri was founded by the saint in Rome in 1575. . . . It consists of independent communities of secular priests held under obedience but not bound by vows, and it is dedicated to prayer, preaching, and the sacraments” (online Encyclopedia Britannica). That is, members were free to leave at any time and embraced no vows of silence, poverty, or denial.
Further, “[e]ach Oratorian community enjoyed locally autonomous government by their own elected officials, and acquired many of the benefits of both religious and lay corporations without the burden of formal vows, or professional exclusion from religious offices” (Reed).
Scholars have noted that Oratorians used preaching to help shape the formation of patriotic culture and historical writing in colonial Mexico.
The author (1676–1740) was a member of the order and had served as its provost. He dedicated this work to Archbishop and Viceroy Juan Antonio de Vizarron, y Eguiarreta, whose coat of arms appears in a woodcut on the recto of the leaf following the title-leaf. The title-page is printed in black and red and has a woodcut of the “logo” of the Mexico City Oratory. The text is printed in double-column format in roman and italic, with head- and tailpieces and woodcut initials.
The tome comes from the shop of
one of Mexico's famous widow printers, Maria de Rivera — daughter and granddaughter of other woman printers (her mother Maria de Benavides, her grandmother Paula de Benavides). This three generations of women printers spanned the period 1641–1754 and printed 860 known books, sermons, pamphlets, and broadsides.
The Mexican engraver
Jose Antonio Amador provided a full-page plate, which a cataloguer at the John Carter Brown Library describes as “A priest [Saint Philip Neri?] wearing a biretta and holding a flower stand[ing] on clouds, flanked by angels. Below him is a group of priests [Oratorians] who carry a book, birettas, and rosary. One angel throws flowers down on the priests while holding a rosary, the other holds a sacred heart and a book.”
Provenance: Marca de fuego in upper edges of an unidentified Oratorian monastery
In all, a very important book for its text, illustration, printer, and genre.
Sabin 18778; Medina, Mexico, 3418; Palau 11568; Streit, Bibliotheca missionum, III, 389; Lathrop C. Harper, Three catalogues of Americana, II, 333; Benjamin Reed, “Devotion to Saint Philip Neri in Mexico City, 1659-1821" (digital repository, University of New Mexico). Modern quarter brown leather with red and green title and author labels to spine; handsome blind tooling with gilt accents. Text with variably light old waterstaining to leaves' lower half nearly throughout and occasionally another sort of spot or blot; yet
a copy that impresses one as clean and crisp. (36013)
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One of the Scarcer Elzevir Works
Haestens, Hendrik van. La nouvelle Troye ou Memorable histoire du siege d'Ostende. Le plus signalé qu'on ait veu en l'Europe. En laquelle sont descripts & naifvement representés en diverses figures, les assauts, deffenses, inventions de guerre, mines, contremines, retranchemens, combats par terre & par mer, & autres choses remarcables advenues de part & d'autre, avec ce qui s'est passé par chascun jour durant ledit siege depuis le 5 iuing 1601 iusqu'au 20 septemb. 1604 qu'elle fut renduë. Recoeuillie des plus asseurés memoires. A Leyde: Chez Loys Elzevier, 1615. 4to (20 cm; 8"). [4] ff., 293 [i.e., 297], [1] pp., 14 fold. plates, port., coat of arms.
$950.00
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French-language translation of De bloedige belegeringe der stad Oostende in Vlaanderen, a classic account of siege of Ostend (1601–04), a protracted battle during the Eighty Years' War (i.e., the War for Dutch Independence) that eventually ousted the Dutch from Belgium.
The text is illustrated with a full page engraved portrait of Mauretius of Nassau, an engraving of his coat of arms, and
14 engraved folding plates.
A curious aspect of this Elzevir production is that the firm used very inferior paper and many of the surviving copies are severely browned in sections; this copy is no exception. The anomaly is clearly visible in the copy that the Austrian National Library (i.e., Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) digitized for googlebooks.
Willems 99; Copinger, Elzevier Press, 2063; Berghman 129; Rahir, Elzevier, 78. Contemporary vellum over paste boards; a large portion of the vellum gone from the rear cover, exposing the boards, and front free endpaper lacking. Evidence of ties. Several quires severely browned, others age-toned; some leaves loosened; worming in margins, only occasionally entering text. A lesser copy, essentially a near good one; still, rare and interesting. (35264)
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The Famous Heredia Catalogue with
Auction Prices
Heredia, Ricardo. Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. Ricardo Heredia. Paris: Ém. Paul, L. Huard, & Guillemin, 1891–1894. 8vo (27 cm, 10.6"). 4 vols. I: xxiii, [1], 332 pp.; illus. II: xi, [1], 482, [2] pp.; illus. III: viii, 340 pp.; illus. IV: viii, 524 pp.
$900.00
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First edition: Auction catalogue of the extensive, impressive library of bibliophile Ricardo Heredia y Livermore, Conde de Benahavís (1831–96). Heredia built “perhaps the greatest collection of Spanish books ever formed” (as noted by an old cataloguing slip laid into this set), incorporating the former Salvá y Mallén collection; this catalogue serves as an important reference work for a wide swathe of Spanish literature, theology, belles-lettres, etc.
The listings are augmented in the first three volumes by numerous in-text reproductions of illustrations and title-pages from the books. This copy includes
auction prices neatly inked alongside every book.
Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-ruled bands; sides showing minor rubbing, edges, joints, and extremities moreso. All hinges (inside) cracked or tender, some endpapers with pencilled notations. Vol. I: Two pages with light offsetting from now-absent item, one leaf with lower outer corner torn away. Vol. IV with bookplate of Alvaro de Fontagud y Aguilera. Pages gently age-toned, most noticeably in vol. IV, with occasional light smudges; each volume with last page browned. (29161)
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What Would Now Be Called a
“Feeler” or “Heads-Up”?
Herrera y Cisneros, Gaspar de. Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent On paper, in Spanish. Spain: 26 November 1612. Folio (30.8 cm; 12. 125"). [1] p., lacking the integral address leaf.
$100.00
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Herrera seeks help with financial matters relating to an inheritance; he does not, in this probably “introductory” missive, specify their nature.
Crumpling at all edges, light brown stain in upper third of the leaf; good condition. Written in a slightly difficult hand: A good paleographical specimen.
(31209)
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The Mining Revival & The Father of
Mexican Independence
Hidalgo, Miguel de, Father of Mexican Independence. Document Signed (Br. Hidalgo), on paper, in Spanish. No place [mining region of Real de Bolaños or Aguas Calientes], no date [1780]. Folio, 1 p., bound in a dossier of documents relating to the execution of the provisions of the will of Augustina Velázquez. [with] A number of other collateral documents relating to the Condes de Vivanco. On paper, in Spanish. Mexico City, Real de Bolaños, Aguas Clientes, Valladolid (now Morelia), and elsewhere in Mexico. Folio (31 cm, 12.25") and smaller.
Approximately
350 ff.
$7500.00
In 1780 Augustina Velázquez died and her will provided, among other things, for a huge number of masses to be said for her. Subsidy for the masses was spread among the priests in the mining region where she had lived Real de Bolaños and Aguas Calientes. Those receiving sums of money signed receipts, and among the dozens was a newly ordained minister who signed his receipt "Br. Hidalgo." The young bachiller became famous in 1810 for initiating the uprising that began the eleven-year struggle for Mexican Independence.
This is a fine, extremely early example of Father Hidalgo's signature.
The woman who provided the money for the above mentioned masses was the wife of Antonio de Vivano (also spelled Bibano) Gutiérrez and mother of Antonio Guadalupe de Vivano, the first two Condes de Vivanco. Cambridge scholar David Brading credits Antonio de Vivanco with restoring the mining region of Bolaños to prosperity in the early 1770s, following the region's sharp decline in silver ore production during the first two-thirds of the 18th century whereby he became very wealthy.
In addition to payment for masses for her soul, Doña Augustina's will provides for large sums of money to be spent on construction work on the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the bishopric of Guadalajara. The paperwork, including receipts, associated with the distribution of her largesse is weighty and detailed.
Among the collateral documents in this offering are copies of the last wills and testaments of Antonio de Vivanco Gutiérrez (1796), Augustina Velázquez (1780), and Antonio Guadalupe de Vivanco (1800); the inventory of the younger Vivanco's massive estate (1801); and a marvelous
calligraphic manuscript in which the bishop of Guadalajara grants a special privilege to Vivanco the elder. All are notarially certified copies of the originals.
All documents in very good condition, sewn, in contemporary vellum bindings. (3731)
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(Holy Roman Empire). Respuesta de su Magestad Imperial al manifiesto publicado por el Rey de Francia. Barcelona: Rafael Figuero, 1688. 4to. 12 pp.
$320.00

“Dico che Questi
Indiani del Paraguay non Son Neofiti”
Ibáñez de Echavarri, Bernardo. Regno gesuitico del Paraguay dimostrato co' documenti piu classici de' medesimi padri della compagnia, i quali confessano, e mostrano ad evidenza la regia sovranità del r.p. generale con independenza, e con odio verso la Spagna. Anno 1760. In Lisbona: Nella Stamperia Reale, 1770. 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). xix, [1], 167, [1] pp.
$875.00
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Translation of “Parte primera: El reyno jesuitico del Paraguay,” originally published in vol. IV of the Coleccion general de documentos (Madrid: Imprenta real de la Gaceta, 1768–70). It is
a vitriolic anti-Jesuit diatribe by a man who had been expelled from the Society of Jesus, not once, but twice! A definite “other side of the coin” from Father Lozano's account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, and originally written in Spanish, Ibanez's work proved popular and by 1774 had appeared in German, French, and this Italian translation. Of course, at that time the Jesuits were hot news, having been expelled in 1767 from the Spanish empire and made to find refuge in Italy and elsewhere.
Some copies have a frontispiece but not this one. Of the nine copies we trace to U.S. libraries, we know that at least two lack the frontispiece, but others may also. We have checked the OPAC records for the other seven but because all seven are clearly copy cataloguing we have to wonder about their accuracy.
Binding: 20th-century half dark green crushed morocco with marbled paper sides in a swirl pattern and top edge gilt, signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930. Unidentified owner's gilt monogram at base of spine. Binding signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930.
Sabin 58530; Streit, Bibliotheca missionum, III, 932; Palau 56514; Maggs, Bibliotheca Americana, I, 887. Bound as above with old “wall paper” wrappers bound in. Title-page with a very little light soiling and one other leaf with a single spot likewise light; text notably clean and with good margins. A very good copy. (34707)
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El Pronunciamiento de Sensuntepeque
“Imparcial, Un.” Broadside. Begins: Acta de
pronunciamiento de Sensuntepeque. Vivan los derechos del Pueblo. — Muera la tiranía. San
Salvador: Impr. del Gobierno, 1863. Tall folio (35 cm; 13.75"). [1] p.
$875.00
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Editio princeps of the famous “Pronunciamiento de Sensuntepeque,” the grass-roots denouncement of the liberal Barrios government. All but one family of the town banded together to draft and sign this document and to send manuscript copies throughout the country to foment a popular revolution and to support the Guatemalan invasion aimed at ousting Barrios.
This is a 180-degree turn-around stance from that of 12 November 1859 when the town published a decree fully supporting Barrios.
Pres. Carrera of Guatemala, a Conservative with ambitions to control all of Central America, did unseat Barrios and in October of 1863 installed Francisco Dueñas as president.
The meeting at which this document was drafted occurred on 27 February 1863, months prior to the Guatemalan invasion, but this first printed version did not appear until after the fall of Barrios and the installation of the Conservative government. It is dated 11 November 1863.
A postscript to the “Pronunciamiento” states “esta acta no se pudo dar a luz en su oportunidad por haber sido persequidos, encarcelados y confiscados los firmantes.” The names of the signers are present (in type) above the postscript.
Searches of WorldCat, COPAC, CCILA, and Metabase locate no copies.
Top margin crumpled and with a few tears and some small loss of paper, but not of text. One horizontal fold. (31068)
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A MANUSCRIPT Epitome of the
Laws Relating to Indians in Spanish America
(Indians, South America). Manuscript on paper. In Spanish. “Resumen de d[e]r[ech]os tocantes a los Yndios, sobre su reduccion. [Spanish America, most likely the Viceroyalty of Peru]: ca. 1725. Small 4to (21.5 cm; 8.5"). [14] ff. (3 ff. blank).
[SOLD]
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Because Spanish colonial-era laws concerning Indians were numerous and published in the unwieldy Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de Indias (5 vols., 1681 with subsequent revisions and editions) and authoritatively interpreted in Solorzano Pereira's also hefty Politica indiana (2 vols., 1648 and later editions), lawyers and judges often resorted to reducing the laws most relevant to their own work to a manuscript epitome, i.e., a booklet offering an abstract of each chosen law with its proper citation to either the Recopilacion or to Politica indiana when the full law or interpretation might be wanted.
THIS IS JUST SUCH A WORKING EPITOME, and that it speaks both to laws relating to Indians generally and, as per its title, to
laws relating specifically to Indians settled in reducciones helps to localize it. In regions where the indigenous populations were sedentary (e.g., Mexico, Guatemala, central Peru) there was no need to force them into “reducciones” (essentially, created communities with a high degree of “townness”); but in places were the natives were nomadic (e.g., Paraguay, and some jungle regions of the Viceroyalty of Peru) enforced resettlement was the norm.
Whether the Indians within the ken of this law practice were sedentary by tradition or “resettled,” they were to enjoy numerous privileges and exemptions and also were prohibited from doing certain things. The first chapter headings here are a good summary of these privileges, exemptions, and prohibitions: “On the treatment of Indians,” “Personal service,” “Privileges in legal matters,” and “On criminal behavior.” A second section of the manuscript, in a different hand, offers chapters titled “On the service of Indians,” “On the privileges that the Indians enjoy because of their status as miserables [i.e., a Roman law term for certain categories of individuals],” “On conducting legal proceedings against Indians,” and “Other privileges granted to the Indians.” The many dozens of laws recited here sketch the legal parameters of Indian life under Spain: the requirement of fixed addresses, the ban on white and black residents in the Indian reducciones, bans on polygamy and wine, whippings for those who move to another settlement without permission, and more.
We assign the manuscript's place of composition to the viceroyalty of Peru because in the period to 1776 it included regions were there were reducciones, whereas there were none in the viceroyalty of Mexico.
Written in a clear secretarial hand on two different paper stocks: One for the first six leaves, a different for the last four. Original stitching. Some stray ink stains. Slight loss of text in one corner, minimal worming, otherwise only minor wear. Overall, very good. (36916)
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Death of a Grand Inquisitor
(Inquisition). Solemnes exequias celebradas en la Santa Iglesia de Salamanca y Real Seminario de San Carlos en la translacion del cadaver del excmo. sr. don Felipe Bertran, obispo de Salmanca, inquisidor general caballero prelado gran cruz de la real y distinguida orden española de Carlos III. Mexico: Imp. del Br. Don Joseph Fernandez Jauregui, 1791. 4to (20.5 cm; 8.135"). [9] ff., xlvi, xxvi pp., [2] ff.
$650.00
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Sole Mexican edition of the official account of the funeral and ceremonies on the death of Bishop Felipe Bertran, the Inquisitor General of Spain.
WorldCat locates only six U.S. libraries reporting ownership.
Medina, Mexico, 8139; Palau 317550. Original plain wrappers, front one lacking. Light dust-soiling. Very good copy. (28210)
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"Intruso, El." Respuesta de otro pensador mejicano sobre bagages y coches de providencia. [Mexico]: Alejandro Valdes, 1820. 4to. [2] ff.
$300.00
“El Intruso” discusses two problems: Beasts of burden are being commandeered by the military and the coaches for hire business is perpetrating various abuses of its own. The coach business is a monopoly of Manuel Antonio Valdés y Munguía, father of Alejandro Valdés, the printer of this piece!
Searches of OCLC, RLIN and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four copies in the U.S.
Medina, Mexico, 11808; Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 3654; Steele 46; Sutro 134. Removed from a volume with ragged inner margin. Faint rubber-stamp in one margin. (10727)
Sumptuously Bound
First American Edition of Irving's FIRST HISTORICAL Work
Irving, Washington. A history of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus. New York: G. & C. Carvill, 1828. 8vo (22 cm; 8.625"). 3 vols. I: xvi, 399 pp., 1 folded map. II: viii, [1], 10–367. III: viii, [1], 14–419, [1] pp.
$850.00
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First American edition of Irving's somewhat fanciful yet readable work on Christopher Columbus. Irving notes in the preface “the sight of disjointed papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader” so he has decided to create a narrative rather than simply translate pertinent documents related to Columbus as originally asked. This edition comes with a
large folding map of Columbus' route through the Bahama Islands.
Binding: Gorgeous 19th-century acid-stained autumnal binding: Covers framed with a gilt floral roll and brilliantly crossed with bands of walnut brown, ochre, deep green, russet red, black, and grey, all
very bright. Spines gilt extra with compartment devices and multiple interesting rolls, and bearing black leather gilt labels; board edges touched at corners with gilt; marbled endpapers.
Provenance: Signature of Sam Baird on front endpaper and title-page of vol. I and half-title of vol. II.
As described in the BAL, signature sign 6 is not present on p. 41 in vol. I and the last page of vol. III is unnumbered.
BAL 10124. Bound as above, bindings moderately rubbed with one sliver of leather lost at a joint and a small patch lost near the bottom of one back cover. Age-toning, foxing, and some other spotting; some corners creased (some corners improperly trimmed during manufacture. Inscriptions as above, light pencilling on endpapers of one volume; map wrinkled with some old light staining and a tear repaired some time ago from back, with cloth tape — folds strong.
A classic semi-historical work most strikingly bound. (36170)
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Royal Household Affairs
Partial Payment for Her Majesty's
Tapestry
Isabel I, Queen of Spain. Document on paper, in Spanish, signed "Yo la Reyna." Granada, 8 May 1501. Folio (31.2 cm, 12.25"). [1] p.
$4000.00
On the top half of this page the Queen orders Sancho de Parades, her chamberlain, to pay Germán de Paris and his partner Jacques 22,600 maravides remaining on the 78,600 maravides that she owes them for a tapestry. The woven piece is a gift for a church, and includes 12 depictions of the royal coat of arms.
On the bottom half is a signed receipt, in Spanish, dated Granada 8 May 1501, wherein Germán de Paris and Jacques acknowledge receiving the above mentioned payment.
The usual slash of cancellation (faintly visible above), indicating that this has been entered into the account books. Remnant of stiff paper at top of verso indicating it was once mounted in an album. (19360)
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Economic Development through
Better Roads — CUBA, 1795
Jáuregui, Juan Tomás de. Memoria sobre proporcionar arbitrios para la construcción de caminos en esta jurisdicción. En La Havana: en la imprenta de Estevan Bolona, 1795. 4to (25 cm; 10"). 12 pp.
$4850.00
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Jáuregui (d. 1809) was the “primer consul del Real Tribunal del Consulado” in Cuba, and it was the Consulado's “Junta de Gobierno” that ordered this report published — although his was the minority report. At the crown's urging, such Consulados had been created throughout the Empire to aim at economic development and commercial improvement of the various regions of the New World under Spanish control, in good Enlightenment fashion.
Public works and land use are traditionally fraught with concern and intransigence on the part of the various parties involved, and in the Cuban case at hand, this was certainly so; the Junta had appointed a four-member committee “para meditar los arbitrios que conceptuasen mas oportunos y menos gravosos para la formacin de caminos” (“to decide the tax rates that will be least burdensome but still will bring about the most timely creation of [good] roads”). Jáuregui's opinion was clearly and concisely expressed and shows a progressive tax structure differentiating
users of the roads and the wear each category was most likely to create.
Handsomely printed on extremely good quality paper.
Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CCPB, and the OPACs of the national libraries of Mexico and Spain locate only three copies: two in the U.S. and one in Chile. One of the U.S. copies is incomplete. How many copies may be in Cuban libraries is unknown.
Sabin 35823; Trelles, Bibliografía cubana de los siglos XVII y XVIII (2nd ed.), 166; Medina, Habana, 130. A fine copy in original plain wrappers. Housed in a quarter dark red morocco clamshell case. (34735)
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Spanish Statecraft — First English Appearance
Juan de Santa María, fray. Christian policie: Or, the Christian common-wealth. London: Pr. by Thomas Harper for Richard Collins, 1632. 4to (22 cm, 8.6"). [18 of 19 (lacks blank {only}, 481, [1] pp.
$2850.00
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Uncommon first edition of this English translation of Fray Juan de Santa María's Tratado de República y policía christiana, published in 1615. A Christian perspective on the powers and responsibilities of monarchs, the work was inspired by the Franciscan author's opposition to the government of the Duke of Lerma. The English rendition was often assigned to Edward Blount (who signed the dedication), but is now generally considered the work of
scholar and poet James Mabbe, known for his translations of Cervantes and other works of Spanish literature and theology.
The title-page here is a cancel, changing the publisher from Edward Blount to Richard Collins. The work was additionally issued in the same year with yet another title-page, under the title, Policy Unveiled: Wherein may be Learned the Order of True Policie in Kingdomes and Commonwealths, the Matters of Justice, and Government. . . .
Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 9 U.S. holdings.
ESTC S107911; STC (2nd ed.) 14831. Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Lacks initial blank leaf, as is the case with virtually all copies. Two leaves with tattered outer edges, one leaf with small hole affecting a few letters; pages with some moderate offsetting, a few browned. (25084)
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