MEXICO - UNA PIÑATA BIBLIOGRÁFICA
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“Tell Us About MEXICO, WhereMAXIMILIAN Now Lives”

•  Written during the French intervention and clearly aimed at the French reading public who wanted to know more about the land that had attracted Emperor Maximilian. It is a history of Mexico from pre-Columbian times through the Mexican War, with attention paid to the Toltecs and the Aztecs and their arts, sciences, society, and religion. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The latter part of the book offers a very brief recounting of Javier Mina, the War for Texas independence, and the U.S. intervention in the 1840s and consequent loss of California, New Mexico, etc. to the U.S.

Provenance: From the collection of Alberto Pareño, with his initials at the base of the spine.

•  Sabin 9561; Palau 37698; Bernal 4295.   20th-century red cloth, with original green printed wrappers bound in. Occasional light foxing. (21371)

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The Economics of Pulque

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•  The small businessmen who grow maguey plants and who make the indigenous alcohol known as pulque address the state assembly of Mexico on the economics of their entwined businesses, and do so in hopes of an adjustment in the newly proposed tax on maguey and its fruits. An interesting and detailed, if one-sided, presentation.

The document is signed in type (on p. 15) by more than 30 growers, with Delmonte and Quintana Roo the first two names.

Rare: Both NUC and OCLC locate only the copy at Yale and CCILA locates only the copy in the Lafragua collection in Mexico.

Provenance:  Gilt supra-libros of John B. Stetson on the front cover. (Yes, Stetson as in the Stetson hat!)

•  Not in Goldsmiths-Kress; not in Palau; not in Sutro.   Bound in 20th-century red cloth. Very good copy.  (24830)

A Conqueror of Mexico . . .
      A Manuscript Document SIGNED

•  Bernal Díaz, a companion of Cortés in the Conquest of the Aztecs and author of the world famous Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, signed his name many times before he died at the advanced age of 88, yet his is one of the most elusive autographs in the world. There are no records of his autograph ever having been offered at auction in England or the United States. Such famous collectors as Phillipps, Heber, Harmsworth, and Sang never owned an example of his handwriting; such famous dealers as Rosenbach, Fleming, Kraus, Maggs Bros., and Quaritch never offered a Bernal Díaz letter or document; and such famous libraries as The Library of Congress, The John Carter Brown, Harvard, Yale, The Bancroft, The Rosenbach Foundation, The Newberry, The Sutro, The University of Texas, and The New York Public do not count his signature among their treasures.

The document we here offer is a cabildo (i.e., town council) act. Bernal Díaz served as a member of the cabildo of Santiago de Guatemala for a number of years, an honor bestowed on him as a conqueror and early settler of the region. In this document the cabildo acknowledges receipt of a royal decree, reads it verbatim into its minutes, and formally agrees to comply. The king writes that he is informed that the post of notary public and "del número" in Santiago is vacant because Juan Núñez de Soria, who held the royal appointment to that position, "is gone to Our kingdoms of Peru." On the advice of the Royal Audiencia (i.e., High Court) the king appoints Juan de Rojas to be notary public and "del número."

•  The document is housed in a red half morocco slipcase with an internal corset. Six small wormholes in each leaf affect one or two letters each, but not the signature of Bernal Díaz.

Who's In Charge of What & How Much They Are Paid

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•  In Latin American history the 17th century is generally characterized as “the century of decline,” which perception was simply inevitable given the robust and energetic nature of the events of the 16th century! The 17th was also the century of entropy: That is, disorder or randomness was becoming more and more prevalent in the administration of such a vast empire and that system of government was experiencing an inevitable and steady deterioration.

Apprehensive of this, the crown sought to stem its loss of control and to stop the development of regional and social “realities” not in accord with royal guidelines or desires. The contretemps between Viceroy/Bishop Palafox of Mexico and the religious orders wanting to enjoy extraordinary exemptions from governmental oversight provides one example.

To aid in getting a refreshed grip on the administration of the New World, Philip IV of Spain asked Juan Díez de la Calle, a member of the Consejo de Indias, to produce a concise administrative handbook for use solely by the Council of the Indies, the King, and his close advisors. Here one finds all of the administrative divisions with dates of creation; office holders and their salaries and when the office was created; differences existing between administrative districts; and an interesting section on the various “annual” convoys (“armadas”) and the general in charge of each.

Provenance: Ownership signature at top of title-page of “Guill[er]mo Godolphin,” i.e., Sir William Godolphin.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 645/45; Palau 73741; Sabin 20133.   Early limp vellum. Lacking two leaves: “Al Lector” leaf and the sectional title-leaf. A very good copy.  (25808)

Early Biography of Palafox

•  First edition: Life of the celebrated yet controversial viceroy and reformer Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza. Abbé Dinouart consulted an unpublished biography begun by the Jesuit Pierre Champion (and halted due to Champion's “franchise,” according to Barbier) to produce this important account of Palafox's life, accomplishments, and disputes with the Jesuits. Dinouart's Vie includes the text (in French translation) of Palafox's letters to the king of Spain and to Pope Innocent X on behalf of the cruelly treated Mexican Indians, as well as the text of the petition by Charles III of Spain to the Pope, requesting that Palafox be considered for canonization. Click the images for enlargements.

The work is illustrated with a frontispiece and three copper-engraved plates done by Louis le Grand after designs by Gravelot.

•  Sabin 20201; Palau 73986; LeClerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 3180; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 1003–04.   Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; corners, joints, and spine extremities rubbed, spine with two pinpoint holes and surface cracks to leather. Front free endpaper partially separated, with pencilled annotation on verso; inner margins of one plate and opposing page with small area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item, pages otherwise clean. All edges marbled in blue. An attractive copy.  (25799)

Gómez Farías asSlanderer

• Freedom of the press and the ever difficult question of attendant libel/slander are the background and the topics of this publication. Gómez Farías, the son of Valentín Gómez Farías and a savvy economist and politician, said in an editorial that the commercial firm of Barron, Forbes, & Cia. was in “a cozy deal” with authorities in Tepic; the firm and its principals thought themselves slandered and took the matter to the courts; Gómez Farías was taken to trial.

Presented here is Gómez Farías’ side of things, in a very uneditorialized manner.

At the top of the title-page: “Juicio de imprenta.”

• Sewn as issued, lacking front wrapper but rear one present. A good+ copy.

One That Got Away!

•  This highly important Neo-Latin book “got away” from the great bibliographer José Toribio Medina: In his entry for this work he says he saw it but he then mislaid his notes!! Eguiara y Eguren (1696–1763) was the versatile cleric of the Cathedral of Mexico who was the first to attempt a systematic study of Mexican scientific and writings from pre-conquest to his own time, who held a chair of philosophy at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, who was a respected and charismatic preacher, and who through his eloquence helped spark a brief renaissance in the study of Latin and in the publishing in that language in Mexico.
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The Selectae dissertationes mexicanae was planned as a three-volume work but only this volume was published, the other two having been left in manuscript. It was printed by the widow Hogal, who continued to maintain the high standards of printing that she established with her husband; more than one bibliographer has compared the Hogal output favorably with that of the best European contemporaries. The title-page is in black and red with the text in double-column format in roman and italic, and the whole has decent margins. The volume was intended as a university level text for the study of certain theological concepts.




Provenance:   Marca de fuego on top and bottom edges of the closed volume of the “Convento Grande de Nuestra Señora de la Merced” in Mexico City.

Very uncommon. We trace only one copy in the U.S., at the University of Texas.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3763 Palau 78637; Beristain, I, 216–21. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of button and loop ties. Marca de fuego as noted previously. Some worming into text on pages 361–94, costing letters but not impairing sense.

Troublesome Deserters

(Expediente/ Army Discipline).

•  Expediente concerning military discipline. Included are certified copies of original decrees by Secretary of the Army Galvez and portions of royal decrees, as well as a printed document. Specifically detailed are the punishments for first-time deserters, second timers, and third-time or more runways.

•  Very good condition. Sewn.

A Capuchin on the Trinity, with Some POETRY as Well

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•  Originally published in 1702 and here in its first Mexican edition, this work on God and the Trinity is from the pen of a Capuchin from Seville — hence his religious name. He served as a missionary in Andalucia and, despite assertions by one university cataloguer that are copied by several others, he never was a missionary in Mexico.

The volume ends with a “Corona Florida a la Santisima Trinidad,” being a small literary collection of coplas, canciones, and a romance “en Metafora del Sol, que discurre por los doce signos del Zodiaco.”

Binding: Publisher's mottled sheep, gilt spine extra. Marbled endpapers; all edges red.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8016.   Binding lightly worn. A few gatherings starting to extrude. A very good, clean copy.  (26851)

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

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•  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:

Masses Lands & Messuages —
Pray for the Soul of Fr. Domingo

•  In 1747 Pedro Pablo de Riascos, acting with the power of attorney of Dr. José Antonio Navarro, a priest and citizen of Tehuacán, endows a chaplaincy with a 3000-peso mortgage on a hacienda de labor named "Señor San José Nopala" in the region of Tehuacán. The holder of the position was obligated to say 25 masses a year for the soul of Father Domingo del Moral y Beristain, a friend of Dr. Navarro's and the man from whom he inherited the property mentioned above.

This is the file relating to that chaplaincy and its various holders during the first 100 years of its existence. It also contains a detailed listing of the lands and messuages of the hacienda and their value as of March 1748, and a certain amount of information about the development of the hacienda in the years prior to 1748.

•  Sewn, dusty, tattered, incomplete at end. Written in a variety of easy-to-read hands. Some tears. Now housed in a simple phase box.

One forFranciscan Novices

•  Second edition of this primer based on the doctrines of St. Bonaventure, but adapted to the practices of the Franciscan Order — here specifically set forth for novices. The first edition appeared in Mexico in 1721. Click the images for enlargements.

A scarce work, having been printed in a limited number of copies for the very limited-sized audience of Franciscan novices.

•  Medina, Mexico, 5761.   Contemporary limp vellum. Very clean and crisp. A truly excellent copy.  (22204)

Were? the Franciscans Getting TooUppity?

Franciscans.

•  Uncommon document concerning an anonymous “manifiesto” attacking the Franciscans and their stand vis-a-vis independence of royal authority in Spain and the Americas.
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•  Not in Palau; not in Medina, BHA. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with shadow of pencilled numeral in upper margin; one leaf with institutional pressure stamp. Most leaves with old damage to outer margins, repaired of old in most instances, with loss of some words or letters from a number of shouldernotes; a few instances of early inked bracketing.

Surprising Content — Capuchins in Tibet
Surprising Frontispiece — Uncalled for, Signed, & Au Sanguine

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•  A remarkable book, demonstrating how small the world had already become in the 18th century. Mexico in 1765 seems an unlikely place for a discussion of Tibetan missions, but here is an elaborate report on the Capuchin missions in Tibet, published half way around the world in Mexico. It is possible that these reports came across the Pacific, or equally, that they came via Europe. In any case, a most exotic combination of topic and imprint.

A special issue copy: Present here is an uncalled-for frontispiece. It is of four Capuchin martyrs, is signed by the artist Navarro, is engraved on copper, and is printed au sanguine -- the color reserved for only the most special copies of 18th-century books. This frontispiece is not called for by Medina and is not present in any of the copies reported as held in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 4991; Palau 45600; Sabin 11098; Maggs, Bibliotheca Asiatica, 611.   Full antique calf, spine gilt, leather label. Slight worming to late leaves, repaired with tape in an inoffensive fashion. Quite a good copy.  (12725)

TO Part IV . . .

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