MANUSCRIPTS A-B   •   C   •   D-F   •   G-J   •   K-M   •   N-R   •   S-Z
Our numerous SPANISH-LANGUAGE MANUSCRIPTS now have
  their own separate, dedicated catalogue: Click here.

---

He Survived “La Noche Triste” & Much, Much More
   THE CONQUEROR'S REWARD  

Move your mouse over the document above, and click,
to select and view details.

•  Pedro de Villanueva was one of the conquistadores of Mexico.  He was among Cortés's original party, part of the Francisco de Saucedo (also spelled “Salcedo”) contingent, whose ship was delayed in leaving Cuba.  With Saucedo, a friend of Cortés, he arrived at Villarica de Veracruz in July of 1519, shortly after Cortés and his men had destroyed the “idols” at Cempoala.

Villanueva was among the small but grand “army” that marched into Tenochtitlán in the Spring of 1520 and in July of the same year were to flee the western world's largest city fighting for their lives, on the “Noche Triste.”  He survived the hell and slaughter of the causeways and later returned with the greatly augmented force that destroyed the Aztec capital and its empire. Still later he was with Cortés in the exploration and conquest of Pánuco and following that with Nuño de Guzmán in the exploration and conquest of Zacatecas and Jalisco. He and his brother Fernando (also a member of the Saucedo contingent) jointly received an encomienda (Quechula) and settled in Puebla de los Angeles where Pedro served as a regidor on the town council in the 1540s and 1550s.

In the last years of the 1550s Villanueva petitioned the crown for the grant of a coat of arms in recognition of his service to the crown in the conquest of Mexico.  Felipe II honored that request in this impressive document.  He enumerates the Conqueror's deeds, specifically mentioning Don Hernando Cortés and Nuño de Guzmán and the various conquests in which Villanueva participated.  He describes the coat of arms being granted and the significance of the colors and symbols.  The granted arms are beautifully accomplished in many colors within the text of the document, with that text yielding space to the large miniature: Measuring 17.5 x 15 cm (7" x 6"), the arms are painted with a formal frame delimiting their presentation on a red field with corner brackets of gold over blue.  Surmounting the arms is a knight's helm with plumage, trailing from which are decorative “swooshes.”  The new Villanueva arms are quartered, showing a cyphered “M” surmounted by a fleur de lis in the upper left, a crowned lion en passant in the upper right, an arm holding a sword rising out of a flowing river in the lower left, and a castle on a hill in the lower right.

The text of the grant of arms is elegantly indited in a standard court semi-round gothic in sepia ink and is enclosed on the left, right, and top sides by an illuminated and historiated sash-like border.  In the upper left and right corners are miniatures of Justice and Knowledge in sylvan settings.  Running between those two along the top of the document is a decorative panel incorporating flowers, fruits, mythic animals, and cherubs.  Below this, the king's name is accomplished in large letters of gold on a field of red accented with gold, and the “D” of his honorific “Don” is given special treatment.  This is elaborated in an ornate, almost baroque style that comes close to obfuscating the fact of its being a majuscule “d”:  Wrought in gold, the letter at first appears to be merely a “frame” for the royal coat of arms that fills its center.  The king's arms are accomplished in gold, white, black, red, and blue; the whole being laid on a blue field with white accents.

The panels running down the left and right sides of the document are accomplished in red, gold, green, pink, white, red, blue, and brown, many in several shades.  The decoration includes birds of several varieties including a fine owl, animals including a watchful rabbit, strawberries and other fruits, and flowers, ribbons, grotesques, and butterflies.




The document is signed in the king's name by Juana (Joanna Habsburg) de Austria, “princesa de Portugal.”  Married to Prince Juan of Portugal, young Juana (b. 1537) was the regent of the Spanish crown from 1554 until her brother Philip's return to Spain in September of 1559. She had just lost her husband to death and borne his posthumous son, both in January, 1554, when she left Portugal and her child in the Spring of that year to assume the regency throne in Valladolid.



In format and content this document differs dramatically from the cartas executorias de hidalguía that most collectors are familiar with.  Here we have a single large sheet of vellum handsomely engrossed, artfully illuminated, and exquisitely decorated with a composite border containing miniatures.  This is not a bound volume of copies of documents created for storage in the family archive. This was created for display in a prominent place of honor; and it is a magnificent display item.  This is not a grant of nobility nor a confirmation of it based on something that some vague ancestor did; rather it is a grant of a coat of arms to a man who himself performed significant military and other service for the Crown and whom the Crown wishes to honor both publicly and privately.  Only a few hundred of Cortés's men survived the Noche Triste, the reentry into and destruction of Mexico City, and the subsequent conquests in Panuco and elsewhere.  The number of grants such as this to actual members of Cortés's original “army” were few.

And surviving grants to those actual participants in the Conquest are extremely rare, even more so in commerce. This is the only royal grant of a coat of arms to an actual member of Cortés's “army” that we have seen that has ever appeared in the marketplace.  Via published auction records and our extensive archive of dealer catalogues, we trace no instance before this one of the offering for sale of a grant of arms to a Conqueror of Mexico.  Yes, there are examples in various libraries and museums in Mexico and Spain, and probably in the U.S., but such examples seem to have entered their institutional resting places via donation from descendants of Conquerors, not via purchase.

Provenance:  It is awesome to realize that this is no mere retained secretarial copy of Felipe's grant of arms to Pedro de Villanueva.  This gorgeous document not only records the king's rewards to one of Cortés's men, but was that Conqueror's personal property.  It is the copy of the decree sent to him expressly, by the Crown!



•  On Villanueva, see: Icaza, Diccionario autobiográfico de conquistadores y pobladores de la Nueva España, I, 88–89; Thomas, Who's Who of the Conquistadors, 146; Himmerich y Valencia, The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521–1555, 262; Díaz del Castillo, Verdadera historia de la conquista de la Nueva España, chap. LIII. On Juana de Austria, see: the work of Dr. Kelli Ringhofer.  Overall in very good condition.  Some fold tears, some minor rubbing of small areas of images, stains as visible in our illustrations.  The wax seal and its silk cords no longer present. Text clear, not faded, and colors strong.

To review the pictures of this document more systematically than
“mousing over” the image at our description's top may allow:

This entry is repeated in the
“D–F” section of this
catalogue . . .

Extended MANUSCRIPT in anUNCOMMON PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Precious few manuscript sources in the Ibanag language survive from the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. Only a handful of missionaries worked in the region of the northeastern Philippine provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, most notably in Tuguegarao City, Solana, Cabagan, and Ilagan, where the language was/is spoken; and not all mastered the tongue. Fray Antonio Lobato was one of those who did and it was he who took Fr. José Bugarin's Ibanag–Spanish dictionary, created in the previous century, and edited it to a usable work — though the result was not published until the 19th century, and, apparently, no other work was published in the language during the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries.

The importance, then, of a large body of work set down in the Ibanag language, from the 18th century and as written/spoken by one of the seminal scholars of the language, should be obvious for anyone researching the language as understood by missionaries, as used by missionaries, as influenced by Spanish, and as held out by Spaniards of authority as the model of Ibanag speech to be emulated. Beyond this, of course, is the interest of the sermons themselves, letting us see what the Ibanaq speakers were hearing from their missionaries — or, at least, this missionary — in this place, in this period.

Fray Antonio's sermons are here written in a clear, easy to read hand and the dates of composition or of delivery are often noted.

Provenance:  A signature “Fr. Antonio Lobato de Sto. Thomas” appears at the bottom of the last page and is almost certainly that of the the friar himself, which would mean that this is his autograph manuscript of the sermons.

•  Contemporary very stiff vellum. Binding gnawed by a rodent with loss. Written on a good quality European paper, with some soiling and an occasional stain. No faults are serious and overall this is a remarkably good survival for an 18th-century Philippines manuscript. Now housed in a blue cloth clamshell box.  (23668)

“The Victoria Album”

•  Not many of the leaves in this autograph book (manufactured for and published by the New York firm of J.C. Riker, ca. 1850) have been inscribed, but those that have are appealing in content: A possibly original poem labelled “To My Augusta” praises her “mild but bright blue eye,” while another poem exhorts the recipient to “Hope! . . . Smile! . . . Remember Your Friend.” Some of the datelines give Mount Pocono, Bethlehem, and Easton (all in Pennsylvania) as locations, while “Phil.” presumably indicates Philadelphia. Following the theme stated on the front cover, with its portrait of Queen Victoria and banner reading “The Victoria Album,” the album pages are interspersed with metal-engraved plates depicting an assortment of royal women including Victoria herself (looking very young), Anne of Denmark, and Isabella of Valois. The front cover vignette has been reproduced, in gilt, opposite the frontispiece portrait.

Provenance: The inscription on the front fly-leaf reads “Miss Augusta E. Luckenback [/] presented to her by her dear sister Em [/] Feb.y 11th/53.”

Binding: Publisher’s red morocco, spine gilt extra, front and back covers with gilt-stamped vignettes of Queen Victoria, front vignette surrounded by gilt-stamped floral border. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, edges and spine rubbed, still bright and attractive. Mild foxing to some leaves and plates.

For more POST-1820 AMERICANA,  click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest,  click here.
For more Books with SPECIAL
               PROVENANCE,  click here.

“Northern Liberties” — Philadelphia

•  By this legal instrument William Tyson “of Northern Liberties [now a part of the city of Philadelphia] in the County of Philadelphia and state of Pennsylvania, Dealer” agrees to pay Thomas Walton “of the same place” two hundred pounds “current money of the said state of Pennsylvania in specie” of 100 pounds is payable with interest. The rate of interest is unstated but is six percent per annum.

Tyson and Walton signed the document on 24 August 1791.

An excellent display piece.

•  Old folds with a few short tears. Residue of mounting tape at two points on the left margin. (14729)

BROUGHAM on Literature & Science — with MS. Letter

•  Sole edition. The first address extolls the virtues of popular literature as a means of educating the masses, while the second sums up Newton's career and contributions. At the back of the volume is affixed a lengthy newspaper clipping of a letter from Brougham, celebrating the poems of Burns — an unsurprising subject of effusion for this Scottish-born lawyer, journalist, politician, and man of many interests generally. Famous for defending Princess Caroline against the Pains and Penalties Bill, he was also the fashionable eponym of the brougham carriage, a prominent abolitionist, an educational reformer, and the man who made Cannes a popular vacation destination among the English. Click the images for enlargements.

Provenance:  Ownership signature on front free endpaper, “Mr. Justice McDougall, Jamaica.”

Autograph manuscript addition: Tipped onto the title-page is a manuscript letter signed by Brougham, dated 1839. In this informal but warmly written letter apparently addressed to an uncle, he declines an invitation and briefly mentions “the children,” whom he thought were left safe from the measles at Paris; he had one living daughter at the time of this letter's composition, and may be referring to members of his extended family.

•  NSTC 2B51067.   Publisher's limp red cloth in imitation of morocco, yapp edges, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; extremities rubbed, spine slightly darkened with small paper label, sides with small areas of minor discoloration. All edges stained red. Front free endpaper with early inked inscription and small private pressure-stamp. Pages age-toned; one early inked correction.  (26986)

A Volume EXTRA ILLUSTRATED & Then Some!

Click the images for enlargements.

•  An extra-illustrated copy. Noted 19th-century book collector, devoted Baptist, and political and civic activist Horatio Gates Jones, an honored participant in the centennial celebration at Brown, created this extra-illustrated copy of the official publication. Added as embellishments are an original copy of the broadside publication of the theses for the first commencement of the College of Rhode Island (the first name of Brown University), 19 autograph letters signed, 14 engravings (views, portraits), 15 photographs (including cartes de visite), eight clipped signatures, and 5 other items including a partially printed document from 1738.

Provenance:  Horatio Gates Jones, Jr. (American, 1822–93); donated to the Crozer Theological Seminary; later deaccessioned.

A full list of contents is available by clicking here.

•  In a late 19th-century black half leather binding with red morocco spine label. Occasional library pressure-stamps. Very good condition.  (25981)

What’s Going on Here?

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Deed from the Hon. Thomas Burnside to Benjamin Patton, transferring the rights to a 559-acre property in western Pennsylvania previously owned by David Curry, deceased, which land became the property of the county upon default of payment of taxes. Two years later Patton sold the same tract to the George Curry, executor of David Curry’s estate. Patton had paid $14.65 in 1811 and sold in 1813 for $200.00.

The Irish-born Burnside, then treasurer of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, was later a justice of the Pennsylvania state supreme court.

A notary’s seal is affixed to the document, which was signed by both Burnside and Patton.

•  Creased and slightly age-toned, with the folios separated and some offsetting from seal; a few small holes, touching text without notable loss.

TO Part II . . .

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