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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)
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)

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)

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)

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)

STILL a Most Interesting “Read” An Edinburgh Edition
Hall, Basil. Extracts from a journal, written on the coasts of Chili, Peru, and
Mexico, in the years 1820, 1821, 1822. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co. and Hurst, Robinson, & Co., 1826. 12mo (14.5 cm, 5.75"). Add. engr. t.-p., xii, 313, [1 (blank)], add. engr. t.-p., x, 311, [1] pp. (lacking map).
$215.00

Captain Hall, a curious, good-humored, and open-minded English observer remembered for his later Travels in North America, here records his impressions of the countryside, customs, and social and intellectual lives of the areas he visited in South America and Mexico, which included Valparaiso, Lima, Santiago, Talcuhuana, Arauco, Guayaquil, Panama, and Acapulco. The sketches are strongly and consistently critical of Spain's government of her colonies, though admiring of the fundamental "excellent character of the Spaniards."
Hall's journal was first published in 1824; the present fifth edition was the second volume issued in the "Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts" series. The text has been expanded from the second edition.
Sabin 29718; Palau 112072 (first ed.). Contemporary half calf over marbled paper sides, spine ruled in double gilt fillets with gilt-stamped devices in compartments; worn and abraded with leather cracking over spine, and joints cracked but holding, Lacking map. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription. First and last few pages lightly spotted. (3436)

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)
For our MSS in SPANISH, click here.
(Hidalgo Revolt). Mexico (viceroyalty). Mexico dividida en quarteles mayores y menores...para plantear su nueva policía en el año de 1811. Mexico: Manuel Antonio Valdes, [1811].
$300.00
As a direct result of Father Hidalgo's rebellion, the viceroy established a new system of policing the capital, as explained in this publication.
Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 1165; Medina, Mexico, 10591. Plain wrappers, lacking the engraved plan (which, though it is called for in the bibliographies, we have never seen in any copy in trade). Excellent copy.
Iglesias e Inzaurraga, J. M. Observaciones hechas en los informes de segunda y tercera instancia, por el Licenciado J.M. Iglesias e Inzaurraga en el negocio seguido por D. Bonifacio de Tosta, contra D. Jose Domingo Rascon sobre restitucion in integrum. Mexico: Imp. de A. Boix, 1855. 8vo. 56 pp., [1] f.
$250.00

The Inquisition & Father Hidalgo's “MANIFESTO”
(INQUISITION). Mexico. Inquisition. Broadside, begins: Sabed: que ha llegado á nuestras manos un proclama del rebelde Cura de Dolores que se titula: 'Manifiesto, que el Señor Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla::::,, [sic] haze al Pueblo.” Mexico: no publisher/printer, 26 January 1811. Folio (43.4 cm; 17.125"). [1] p.
$12,500.00
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Approximately two months prior to Father Hidalgo's capture by the Royal Forces, the Holy Office issued this decree condemning a publication of the Father of Mexican Independence as seditious, Lutheran, and anti-Catholic. Other writings circulating in manuscript are also condemned: One beginning, “Hemos llegado a la epoca” and ending, “De una Patriota de Lagos” and another beginning,
“Es posible. Americanos!” and ending, “será gratificado con quinientos pesos.” Copies of each were burned by the public executioner and all citizens are warned of the penalties — excommunication and fines — for owning or reading these writings, or failing to denounce those who do.
Printed on two sheets precisely glued together to form a seamless whole, in double-column format and with the woodcut seal of the Inquisition in the lower right corner of the lower edge.
Garritz located only the copy in the Biblioteca Nacional and WorldCat locates only seven U.S. institutions holding copies.
Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 1137. Not in Palau; Medina, Mexico; Ziga & Espinosa, Adiciones a la imprenta en Mexico; González de Cossío, 510, or González de Cossío, Cien. Old folds; a few small wormholes touching or costing a very few letters and one larger hole costing five letters, but not impeding reading sense. Slight discoloration along the area where the two sheets are pasted together and at points on vertical fold. (34599)
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)
For INQUISITION material, click here.
“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 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)

LEC: A Southern Californian Landmark
Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Los Angeles: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at The Plantin Press, 1959. 8vo. xiv, [6], 428, [2] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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Helen Hunt Jackson avowedly wrote Ramona, set during the Spanish missions period of California, to do for the American Indian what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the African-American The novel appeared as a book in 1884, five years after she heard an eloquent lecture by two Ponca Indians, Standing Bear and Bright Eyes, on the injustices inflicted upon the Indian at the hands of greedy white settlers. Roused to action, she had written her first book on the subject in 1881, a well-researched work of non-fiction called A Century of Dishonor; but unhappily, neither that one nor this mobilized much support for the rights of the first Americans — although the novel was very, very popular. The introduction here is by J. Frank Dobie who writes, “her chief work lives on, not only in print but in the minds and emotions of people who call for the book in libraries, buy it in stores, read it, and are moved by it. Helen Hunt Jackson's outcries of moral indignation against America's shifty and cruel treatment of Indians still lift human spirits — even though comparatively few people are moved to lift hands against ambitious patriots still trying to get hold of Indian property . . . Her passion against wrong and for right will make her book live a long, long while yet.”
The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.
Binding: In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298. Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy. (30117)

San Antonio of the Gardens, The Flower of Death, The Legend of Padre José . . .
Janvier, Thomas Allibone. Stories of old New Spain. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1898. 8vo. Frontis., 326, [10 (adv.)] pp.
$40.00
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Early reprint of these Mexican-themed stories, originally issued as no. 71 from Appleton's Town and Country Library.Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Arthur K. Brewer.
BAL 10842 (first ed. only). Publisher's cloth, front cover stamped in black and red, spine stamped in black and gilt, with very minor rubbing to extremities. Front pastedown with bookplate.
An excellent, attractive copy of a very attractive little production. (13540)

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)

Genealogical Detail
Jecker, Juan B. Alegato de buena prueba presentado por D. Juan B. Jecker... sobre sucesion al Mayorazgo de Riveria.... Mexico: Impr. de J.M. Lara, 1853. 8vo. 45 pp., fold. genealogical tree.
$275.00

The Stakes Here Are Very High . . .
(La Luz Mine). Demanda promovida en Guanajuato por los herederos de D. Manuel Rubio y doña Francisca Posadas, para recobrar sus derechos en la mina de La Luz. Mexico: Tipo. de R. Rafael, 1848. Small 8vo. 26 pp.
$240.00

A “SMOKING GUN” Is Brandished . . .
(La Luz Mine). Dueños de la Mina de La Luz. Recurso de atentado, que algunos de los dueños de la mina de La Luz han promovido.... Mexico: Impr. de Ignacio Cumplido, 1848. Small 4to. 20 pp.
$240.00

Sale of a
SHARE Is Contested . . .
(La Luz Mine). Castañeda y Nájera, Manuel de. Alegato de buena prueba presentado por parte de la testamentaria del Señor D. Juan de Dios Perez Galvez, en el negocio que sigue contra D. Luis, Da. Concepcion y D. Ignacio Otero. Mexico: Imp. del Instructor del Pueblo, 1853. 8vo. 92 pp.
$250.00
For MINING, click here.



The Road to Heaven in
Nahuatl
León, Martín de. Camino del cielo en lengua mexicana, con todos los requisitos necessarios para conseguir este fin, co[n] todo lo que un Xp[r]iano deue creer, saber, y obrar, desde el punto que tiene uso de razon, hasta que muere. En Mexico: En la Emprenta de Diego Lopez Davalos, 1611. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). Fols. 10–11, 13–69, 69[!]–73, [nothing missing] 76, 75, 77–108, 110–23.
$7250.00
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Sole colonial-era edition and one rare in commerce of Fr. Martín de León's famous work for priests ministering to Nahuatl-speaking Indians. Fray Martín is universally held to have been one of the great scholars of the language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, admired for his fluency and ability to explain complex matters in elegant yet easy to understand expositions, as here in his confessionary, catechism, and calendar essay.
Tragedy struck this copy, which lacks the title-leaf, licences, dedication, preliminaries concerning use of the word “Teotlacatl,” prologue, the remarks on the Mexican language, the first nine leaves of the catechism in Nahuatl, and fols. 109 and 124–60. Surviving is most of the catechism, the section in Spanish on the syncretism of the Spanish and the Mexican religious calendars, and all but the last half page of the confessionary in Nahuatl, the missing paragraph supplied in early, neat manuscript — the book's sad owner redeeming its losses as best he could?
Sabin 40080; Palau 135423; Medina, Mexico, 160; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 37; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2252; Viñaza 127; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 1543; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl-136. Disbound but sewn; housed in a quarter red morocco clamshell case with marbled paper sides. Waterstaining throughout causing many pages to have an almost uniform tan appearance except in the foremargins; foremargins with shouldernotes shaved. Missing leaves as itemized above; fols. 30, 80–81, and 110–11 damaged with small loss, and repairs to some of these margins plus a few others; other usually minor scattered stains. The interesting woodcut on fol. 100 verso and text on recto, holed, still striking and readable respectively. Pencilled marks of emphasis and one faded note (or signature?) across a bottom margin in old ink.
Priced much, much less than a good, complete copy; and a relic with much more than its lowered price to recommend it. (25860)

FIRST BIBLIOGRAPHY of
AMERICANA (PLUS)
León Pinelo, Antonio de. Epítome de la bibliotheca oriental, y occidental, nautica, y geográfica ... Añadido y enmendado nuevamente en que se contienen los escritores de las Indias orientales, y occidentales, y reinos convecinos China, Tartaria, Japón, Persia, Armenia, Etiopia y otras partes. Madrid: En la oficina de Francisco Martinez Abad, 1737–38. Folio (30 cm; 11.75"). 3 vols. I: [71], [135], [27] ff. II: [221] ff. III: 202 pp.
$9000.00
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Antonio de León Pinelo (1589–1660) was a Spanish-colonial historian. Born in Cordova de Tucuman and educated at the Jesuit college of Lima, he left the New World for Spain in 1612 and there enjoyed a highly successful career, becoming attorney of the Council of the Indies and later a judge in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville.
His Epitome was originally published in Madrid in 1629 and is here in the second edition as
enlarged and annotated by Andres Gonzalez de Barcia: It was the first bibliography for the field of Americana and to this day
it remains an important source for scholars and collectors of the colonial era of the New World for its wealth of bibliographic data and most especially information about manuscripts.
Rich says of this edition that it is, “The most complete general bibliography of geographical works, travels, missionary reports, etc.” And LeClerc echoes him: “ouvrage extremement important pour la bibliographie americaine.”
The work is handsomely printed (although erratic in its pagination and signature markings), in double-column format, featuring title-pages in black and red with an engaging small engraved vignette of a ship between pillars reading “Plus” and “Ultra.”
Provenance: Ownership stamp of Carlos Sanz in several places.
Sabin 40053; Palau 135738; Alden & Landis 737/135; Medina, BHA, 3071; Borba de Moraes, II, 150; LeClerc 872. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards, a little soiled especially to spnes, retaining button and loop closures; hinges (inside) open in a few places but bindings strong. Occasional waterstain or other sign of exposure to dampness; a few gutter margins (only) of first volume with a short wormtrack; some cockling of paper. (34810)

Let Me Make One Thing (OK, quite a few things!) Perfectly Clear . . .
Lizana y Beaumont, Francisco Javier. [drop-title] Nos d. Francisco Xavier de Lizana y Beaumont, por la gracia de Dios y la Santa Sede apóstolica arzobispo de México, del Consejo de Su Mag. &c. A los curas, coadjutores, vicarios, y eclesiasticos de esta nuestra diocesi. Salud en el Señor. Bendito sea el Padre de las misericordias, y Dios de todo consuelo ... [México]: No publisher/printer, [in text at end] 1803. Folio (29.5 cm, 11.5"). 12 pp.
$425.00
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On 30 January 1803, Lizana y Beaumont took possession of the archbishopric of Mexico City. Slightly more than a month later he issued this wide-ranging pastoral letter to his clergy, addressing issues of marriage, sanctioned separations of husbands and wives, indulgences, blessing of religious statues, instruction of children in the catechism, the need for everyone to attend mass, and the requirement that priests visiting Mexico City present themselves in a timely way at the Cathedral for permission to be in the city. In other words, the new archbishop is making it clear to his clergy what his chief initial concerns are and doing so in black and white.
This uncommon text is dated as having been issued 5 March 1803. Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. institutions reporting ownership: UTexas, DLC, UC-Berkeley.
Medina, Mexico, 9605. Sewn, in “wallpaper” polychromatic (orange, blue-green, yellow, white) wrappers. Creased at midpoint horizontally a long time ago; all corners dog-eared. Pencilled “dup” in upper margin of p. 1.
A rumpled but complete copy in a very interesting wrapper. (39467)

John Carter Brown's Copy, Acquired from Stevens
López de Cogolludo, Diego. Historia de Yucathan. Madrid: Juan Garcia Infanzon, 1688. Folio (29 cm; 11.5"). [1 of 15] ff., 760 pp., [16] ff.
$9250.00
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In this account of the conquest and Spanish settlement of the Yucatan, López de Cogolludo, a Franciscan missionary and administrator originally from Alcalá de Henares, presents a sought-after account. He had access to a manuscript version of Bishop Landa's work and consulted such important printed sources as Torquemada.
He also presents his personal eye-witness accounts of events during his 30 years among the Maya (1634–65).
Robert Patch says in the Encyclopedia of Latin American History & Culture (III, 458) that López de Cogolludo wrote this history in the 1650s and that it is “a major source not only for the history of Yucatán but also for the study of Maya culture.”
Provenance: Small booklabel: “Marchio Regaliae D.D. 1741.” John Carter Brown (1797–1874) purchased this from Henry Stevens in 1845/1846. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Palau 141001; Sabin 14210. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties, front joint (inside) starting to open. Scattered foxing, including on title-page; short tear, repaired, in title; some staining in early margins and into text; without the preliminaries or the added engraved title. Doodling in many margins; ink stains from a careless quill user on several pages. John Carter Brown's stamped signature on p. 1. A less than perfect copy that yet does not “feel” maimed; a copy with a distinguished provenance to match the distinction of the work. (27561)

Cortés Malinche & Montezuma
López de Gómara, Francisco. Historia, di Don Ferdinando Cortes, marchese della Valle, capitano varlorosissimo. In Venetia: per Giouanni Bonadio, 1564. 8vo. [8], 354 of 356 ff. (lacking fol. 1 and final blank).
$3500.00
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Following the achievement of the conquest of Mexico, Cortés did not know how to stop and rest on his laurels: He sought greater fame and honor and to do this embarked on several ill-conceived expeditions that added no luster to his name, and when it became clear that the king was not going to make him a viceroy, the slide down the slope was an unpleasant one. Still striving, he enlisted his chaplain Francisco López de Gómara to write a history of the New World that would include a laudatory biography.
The Historia general de las Indias (first published in 1552) is divided into two parts which stand on their own although clearly written as two parts of a whole. Part I is a history of events concerning the discovery and conquests of the New World exclusive of those involving Cortés. Part II is entirely dedicated to the telling of Cortés's role in the conquest of Mexico and subsequent discoveries.
In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz, López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.
The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. The title-page is printed in roman and italic and has the woodcut printer's device.
Alden & Landis 564/25; Sabin 27741; Medina, BHA, 159n; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2v. 18th-century vellum over paste boards, soiled and a bit rubbed; red leather spine label, with a chip, and an old circular paper shelf-label. Title-page dust-soiled, mounted; small, narrow, oblong portion of blank area of title-page excised and filled in at an early time. Lacks folio 1 and final blank. Top margins closely trimmed, sometimes costing the running heads and folio numbers. (25767)

Cortés Historia in Italian — Signed American,
PROVIDENCE
Red Morocco
Lopez de Gomara, Francisco. Historia, di Don Ferdinando Cortes, marchese della Valle, capitano varlorosissimo. Venetia: Per Francesco Lorenzini da Turino, MDLX [1560]. 8vo (15 cm; 5.75"). [11 of 12], 348 ff. (lacks the title-leaf).
$3200.00
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In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz (first published with title Historia di Mexico, et quando si discoperse la nuoua Hispagna [Roma: appresso Valerio & Luigi Dirici fratelli, M.D.L.V]), López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of
Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.
The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. Leaves 292–96 contain
a brief study of Nahuatl and include lists of numbers, months, days, and years in that language.
Binding: American signed binding by Coombs of Providence, R.I., for John Carter Brown (ca. 1865), with his binder's ticket. Full red morocco, round spine, raised bands; author, title, place and date of publication in gilt on spine; gilt roll on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt. Gilt supra-libros of John Carter Brown on front cover.
Provenance: Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on first leaf of preliminaries, supra-libros as above. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Alden & Landis 560/28; Sabin 27739; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2t; Medina, BHA, 159n. This edition not in H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, but see 1692. Binding as above. Lacks the title-leaf; (therefore) first leaf of preliminaries with a John Carter Brown's personal ownership stamp and his bookplate on front pastedown. Waterstaining, barely visible in many margins and lightly across text in last half. Four leaves with very old scribbling (pen trials?) in margins. A treasure with a distinguished provenance, presenting itself in the classic fashion of a 19th-century “collector's copy.” (28914)

Cheating the Church Out of the Tithe Tax
Lopez Torrija, Carlos. Broadside. Begins: El Dr. Maestro Don Carlos Lopez Torrija ... Hago saver a todos los fieles ... qu sean duenos de hazinas de labor, rancho, tierreas dezimales, vezinos y moradores, estantes, y havitantes en la iurisidccion de la Ciudad de los Angeles ... Puebla de los Angeles: [Diego Fernandez de Leon], 1687. Folio extra (43 x 31 cm, 17" x 12.125"). [1] p.
$1250.00
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Lopez Torrija is identified as an “Abogado de la Real Audiencia de Mexico . . . Cura en interin de la Parrochial de el Patriarcha San Ioseph de esta Ciudad, Iuez de Testamentos, Capellanias, obras pias, y diezmos en ella y todo su Obispado.” Here he seeks to rectify a quirk in the law concerning collection of the tithe (“diezmo”) tax. Indians and certain others who are exempt from paying the tithe tax have been raising corn and other crops on land that was lent, rented, or otherwise made available to them, thus allowing them to raise and sell more crops.
Reading between the lines, it is clear that the landowners are then splitting the “saved” sums with the farmers — or, sometimes, simply demanding them in full — with those payments to be taken out of the sale proceeds. Now all such arrangements must be registered and approved by the Church.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only one copy worldwide — at the John Carter Brown Library.
Not in Medina, Puebla; Gavito, Adiciones a la Imprenta en la Puebla; not CCILA. Folded once longitudinally, otherwise, as printed. Crisp copy. (40408)

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