Provenance:  On front free endpaper in 18th-century hands: “del uso de Sor Maria Coleta,” lined through; below which, “del uso de Sor M[ari]a Juan Nep[umacen]a.

The printer has supplied two charming initials, an “I” and a “C.”

•  Medina, Mexico, 9208.   Publisher's limp vellum with remnants of ties. Occasional light foxing. Ownership signatures as noted.  (23966)

This edition begins with a handsome engraved title by the famous Mexican engraver Luis Montes de Oca, signed in the lower left corner and bearing the Mexican national emblem in the lower center of the plate. This is one of the first appearances of that emblem, and it is most fitting that it be the work of this artist.

Provenance:  Bookplate of the famous 19th-century Mexican collector, bibliographer, and historian of the book, Joaquín García Icazbalceta.

•  Palau 46951.  19th-century quarter black morocco with marbled paper sides; spine tooled in gilt to replicate a raised-band spine with spine compartments; two small abrasions. Interior with light, scattered foxing only. A lovely little book. (25216)

•  Medina, Mexico, 8973. Sewn as issued with original plain wrappers and with later marbled wrappers.

Uncut bifolia are extremely rare.

This is handsomely printed!

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in González de Cossío, 510.   Folded once and never bound. Crisp.  (24584)

Our offering is a bifolium containing two copies of the decree, meant to be separated but never cut. Uncut bifolia are extremely rare.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in González de Cossío, 510. Folded once and never bound. Crisp.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico.   Folded twice but never bound. Uncut.  (24565)

For RARE CATHOLICA solo,
click here.

Uncommon.  OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8711.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards of printer's waste, vellum cockled and that of the front cover lightly rodent-gnawed at board edges. Worming in text, some of which is meander type, costing letters. Not a great copy, but given the scarcity, an acceptable one.  (24103)

Signed by the crown with a wooden stamp, “Yo el Rey.”

This copy sent to Santiago, Chile, and docketed there.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and untattered.  (25817)

Thetwo oversized, folding maps were engraved by T. Conder; a genealogical chart in vol. I shows the descent of the Mexican kings from the 13th century, whilenumerous engraved plates depict Mexican artifacts, costumes, activities, flora and fauna, architecture, etc.

Provenance: A copy of this work was given to each member upon admission and the last page of this copy indicates that it belonged to Joaquín Gorospe who was admitted to membership on 20 April 1803.

Uncommon: No U.S. library reports owning this edition.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9488.   Lacking the wrappers. Soiling to title-page and verso of last leaf. A few age spots.  (26871)

Provenance:  First in the University of Miami Library, deacessioned; then in the library of Robert Chamberlain and later in that of Franz V. Scholes, both noted scholars of the Yucatán. Their signatures are on the front free endpaper and their notes are penciled in the margins of many pages.

A mixed set in mixed bindings: all volumes except 11 are first editions, the exception being a 1966 reprint. Many original wrappers bound in. Volumes 1–10 in early quarter cloth, 11–42 in modern full cloth.

•  Griffin, Latin America: A guide to the historical literature, 2063; Palau 56442.   Bindings as above: Vols. 1–10 with abrasion/discoloration to spines, otherwise minor wear; moderate foxing, and some early annotations. Vols. 11–42, cloth bright; mostly clean internally, last 2 pages of last volume supplied in facsimile. Vol. 38 lacking fascicles 3, 4, 5, and 6.  (25828)

The author was a captain in the Infantry Regiment of New Spain, and a member of the Florentine Academy and the Academy of Volterra. He was also the Count of Colombini.

Uncommon: Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9424; Palau 57013.   In original marbled wrappers. Wrappers torn along spine. Some dog-earing, including to wrappers, and those corners soiled. Else a good and nice copy.  (25644)

This copy bears the full-page woodcut portrait of Pope Clement VII on the verso of the fourth preliminary leaf, which is not found with all copies. Additionally, the title-page bears an interesting 14-piece composite woodcut border and the verso of that page has a stunning full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, to whom the letter is addressed. The coat of arms is surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The text is printed in roman with side- and shouldernotes; the lay-out is elegant and there is one large, handsome woodcut initial.

As usual, the letter is here bound with Peter Martyr's De Rebus, et insulis noviter repertis, which provides an account of the recently discovered islands of the West Indies and their inhabitants. It is often considered a substitute for the lost Cortés letter.

One of the most important early descriptions of Mexico and of the first encounter of the West with the Aztec civilization, this is a work of bedrock importance to the New World. No complete copy has appeared for sale since 1985.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 524/5; Sabin 16947; Harrisse, BAV, 125. Sanz 933–34; Medina, BHA, 70; Church 53; Burden 5; JCB, German Americana, 524/4; Streeter Sale 190.   18th-century half vellum and sprinkled paper over boards, gilt red leather label. Map supplied in expert facsimile; blank leaf H8 lacking. Bookplate of John Carter Brown (Library) on front pastedown, with deaccession stamp. Occasional very minor soiling in the text, else very good — a copy clean and even crisp.  (26808)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Sabin 16953.   Contemporary treed calf, front joint (outside) starting at top to open. A good+ copy — in fact, a rather nice one.  (20510)

•  Sabin 16964.   Publisher's quarter cloth over marbled paper boards, lightly abraded; light foxing to interior. Private bookplate. Good+ copy. (20502)

In the year before her pen is silenced and less than three before she falls victim to the plague while caring for her sick Sisters, Sor Juana, the New World’s greatest lyric poet, attests to a legal document concerning her convent’s economic investments. She was the nunnery’s contadora (bookkeeper). By way of horribly evocative contrast, opposite her signature on the facing page is that of Francisco Aguiar y Seijas, Archbishop of Mexico, the misogynist who caused her to give up her writing and quasi-secular ways.

Able to bully the most gifted member of his religious community only following the return to Spain of her last viceregal patron and protector, the Marquis de la Laguna, Aguiar y Seijas applied increasing pressure to Sor Juana and the prioress of her Hieronymite convent. It took him from 1688 until 1693 to put “la decima Musa” “in her place.”

Documents signed by the polymath Sor Juana are very rare and highly sought after; this one desirably shows the trust her Sisters placed in her. The pairing of her signature with her arch enemy's is chilling and visually impactful.

•  In very good condition.