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In this decree Llamosas and Tovar Ponte explain the coup d’etat of 19 April in which the viceroy was deposed and a caretaker government was installed. Although stating loyalty to the imprisoned Spanish king, the revolutionaries repeatedly use the terms “independent” and “independence.”

This historic document was printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October of 1808, and it is universally dated as having come off the press on 20 April 1810!

Very Rare.  This broadside was unknown to Medina and is only the 15th item in Pedro Grases chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. In his entry he located only the copies in the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Villasana. Grases, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela, Repertorio #15. As issued, but one later fold. Worming in upper and lower margins; repaired. Pencilling in margins. A very good copy.

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Llamosas and Tovar Ponte were among the leading figures of the early Independence movement in Venezuela. Both served as president of Junta of Defense of the Rule of Fernando VII (later, The Revolutionary Junta), Llamosas 19 April – Aug 1810, and Tovar Aug 1810 – 2 March 1811. Additionally Tovar Ponte, the favorite son of an elite family, was a member of the 1811 Congress and a signer of the Venezuelan Act of Independence.

This historic document was printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October of 1808, and is it universally dated as having come off the press on 20 April!

Very Rare.  This broadside was unknown to Medina and is only the 14th item in Pedro Grases chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. In his entry he located only the copies in the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Villasana. Grases, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela, Repertorio #14. As issued. Worming in fore-margin, touching but not costing three letters; repaired. A very good copy.

Outrageous in extremis, this has as its proximate target Captain John Smith, who is satirized while references to Florida and America fly left and right, including, for example on p. 5, a poem “engraven on a Pillar of Gold, in the famous City of Chiapa” that purports to be in Maya! — this with, “by the assistance of Mr. Gage,” a translation helpfully given below it.

The title-page better than a cataloguer summarizes this work: “Relating his adventures to sea. His first landing, and strange combat with a mighty bear. His furious battle with his six and thirty men, against an army of eleven kings, with their overthrow and deaths. His relieving of Kemper Castle. His strange and admirable sea fight with six huge galleys of Spain, and nine thousand soldiers. His being taken prisoner, and hard usage. His being set at liberty by the king's command, in exchange for twenty-four Spanish captains, and return for England. A comical description of Captain Jones's ruby nose. Part the second. His incredible adventures and atchievements [sic] by sea and land, particularly his miraculous deliverance from a wreck at sea, by the support of a dolphin. His several desperate duels. His combat with Bahader Cham, a giant of the race of Og. His loves with the queen of No-Land, and basely leaving her. His deep employments, and happy success in business of state. All which, and more, is but the tythe of his own relation, which he continued until he grew speechless and died. With his elegy and epitaph.”

Provenance: 20th-century bookplate of Frank L. Hadley

Searches of WorldCat and ESTC locate only four copies in U.S. institutions.

•  Sabin 41685; ESTC T116640.   20th-century half tan calf with tan linen sides. Booksellers' catalogue entry pasted to the front free endpaper. Engraved title-page closely trimmed at left edge, costing a sliver of the image.  (25940)

•  Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de livres du XIXème, I, 772. Uncut, mostly unopened copy. Publisher's wrappers, printed in black and red; front one off, with expectable chipping and with soiling. Some pages lightly spotted; mostly, clean. Now housed in a simple acid-free phase-box. (14356)

This document gives the rules, constitutions, privileges, and indulgences of the third order in Lima on the occasion of its reestablishment at the conventual church of St. Michael. A fine woodcut of the arms of the Mercedarian order, surrounded by a typographic border, graces the verso of the title-leaf.

This is the first edition of the Breve compendio; it was reprinted in 1870.

•  Medina, Lima, 1945. Limp vellum lightly cockled and a little stained/soiled, with small hole to front cover from a defect in the skin; traces of adhesive on covers and a small paper label on front one. One small wormhole piercing margin of some leaves; traces of soiling and very light waterstaining. Library bookplate and personal rubber-stamp on front pastedown; old call number neatly penned (and crossed out) on title-page verso.

Palau states that this piece was actually printed in the U.S., and the paper on which it is printed would certainly substantiate that claim, as does the fact that it is held by the Library Company of Philadelphia, famous for its collection of Spanish-language books printed in Philadelphia with false imprint information.

An extremely rare piece of Bolívariana. This copy belonged to one of Mérida's family.

•  Palau 165374; not in Shaw & Shoemaker; not in Shoemaker. Original wrappers, one chip; stains on rear wrapper and soil to front one. Once upon a time, folded as to fit in a pocket. Very Good condition.

Sabin calls this work a “rare and valuable compendium of the old mining laws and mineral customs.” Galvez was a special commissioner charged with making reforms in the governing of Mexico; his work greatly influenced the 1786 replacement of the Mexican provinces with 12 intendencias. The 18th century saw a rebirth of the Mexican and the Peruvian silver industry as new technologies and techniques were introduced. Concomitant with the increased production was increased wealth for the mine owners and the crown.

•  Palau 251938a; Medina, Lima, 1636; Sabin 56260.   Recent calf bordered in gilt tooling, spine with gilt bands and floral devices in compartments, gilt-stamped leather title label; a few very small scuffs to covers. All edges sprinkled blue and red. Title-page recto and verso with inked ownership inscriptions in an early hand. Final leaf with repairs to outer edge; penultimate two leaves with lower corners torn away, outer edge of one with small chewed portion. Occasional spots of foxing. Two worm pinholes to title-page; more extensive worming to inner margins of central 20 leaves, on some pages touching text without affecting comprehensibility. Handsome.  (3039)

•  Palau 167403. Folded as issued.

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•  Brunet, III, 1811; DeBacker-Sommervogel, V, 1165; Graesse, IV, 568; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 1958; Palau 174558; Sabin 49888.   Contemporary quarter mottled sheep and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-tooled compartment bands; spine leather chipped/cracked with spots of insect damage, corners abraded, and sides/edges otherwise lightly rubbed. Some leaves browned; scattered light stains. Lacking the map, text complete.  (26248)