This is a handsome production from the Hogal press, which is considered one of the finest operating in Mexico in the 18th century. It sports a full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of José de Castorena y Urzúa, the bishop of the Yucatan, and a notably strong, lovely one of St. Joseph and the Infant Christ; neither is signed.

Provenance: Marca de fuego of the main Mercedarian convent in Mexico City, in upper and lower edges of the book.

WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 combine to locate only five copies of this in the U.S., one of which is incomplete.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3086; Palau 218002; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 480.   Contemporary limp vellum with ties. An occasional spot or stain; two short, slim, delicate wormtracks to (in each case) perhaps six leaves, across text but not affecting reading, and a third even shorter, slimmer, entirely marginal.foray in a number of other leaves. A very nice copy.  (29581)

Diego Bringas de Manzaneda y Encinas was a Franciscan and his epitome of Abad's work is written in “octava rima”: as such it holds an important place in Mexican colonial-era poetry, especially in the subgenre of Christian poetry.

The work's chief themes are the Immaculate Conception and the attributes of God, but it also delves into the relation of science and our understanding of the cosmos: Newton and Huygens are specifically mentioned in the section on knowledge.

•  Palau 258 & 35854; DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 3; Medina, Mexico, 7400.   Contemporary vellum over light boards. All edges green. A very nice copy of a significant work of early Mexican poetry, religion, and, at points, science.  (29433)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Brunet, I, 652; Willems 452.   Late 18th-century plain morocco, turn-ins with gilt roll, rebacked some time ago with lighter morocco; old leather rubbed and variably discolored, front cover with old patch repair. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations and affixed cataloguing slip. A few pages with faint staining, most clean. One leaf with small paper flaw affecting about six letters. All edges gilt.  (27391)

Title-page strikingly set in black and red.  Also, partly in black-letter.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) B3502; ESTC R19392.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32243)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.

The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.

Rare.  A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.

•  De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146.   Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding.  (24526)

•  WIng (rev. ed.) B3843; ESTC R19524.   Removed from a nonce volume; very good condition, very clean and nice.  (32236)

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 45.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum with small spots of staining and rear pastedown gone, binding overall clean and tight. Frontispiece with shallow chip to lower edge not into plate area; pages slightly age-toned with some very faint spotting in the second part, otherwise clean.  (29267)

an elaborate emblematic frontispiece engraved by Zapata

The Bibliotheca Mexicana was the private press of the great bibliographer, writer, and secular cleric Juan Jose de Eguiara y Eguren.

•  Medina, Mexico, 4534; Viñaza 345; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 58; León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2083; Sabin 10954; Palau 44871; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 212 (but also see II, 761).   Late 20th-century Mexican mottled sheep (i.e., Valencia style) with elaborate gilt-panelled covers, very bright; raised bands with gilt ruling above and below, gilt devices on the bands, gilt pattern along joints, and three green spine labels with author, title, and date in gilt. Gilt inner dentelles and marbled endpapers. Light waterstain to corner of first eight leaves. Some edges chipped. Wormholes throughout, mostly in margins but some in text; worming repaired with tape, and discoloration associated with this — otherwise, generally, light age-toning and foxing only. A decidedly lesser copy than we customarily offer, but consequently priced below the now-standard range of $2250 to $3000 for better ones and still solid. Probably destined for an impoverished scholar.  (30714)