Biblioteca del Convento de la Recoleta

The Recoleta library  in Arequipa, Peru, holds a remarkable collection of colonial Spanish books, as well as imprints from the major European and Latin American printing centers during the Hand-press Period. We'll be posting photos of interesting finds, as well as updates on various projects.

[recoleta2015]

Gun violence--17th century bookplate

Bookplate found to the front of an 1806 Madrid imprint which illustrates a miracle performed by Our Virgin de los Remedios. On June 29, 1639 a man was shot by another pistol-wielding fellow and the Saint saved his life.  The deed is illustrated and described to the bottom of the bookplate.  Not an ordinary Ex Libris!

[recoleta2015]

Suffering in Syria

In 1632 a group of Franciscan friars traveled to the Holy Land and Juan de Calahorra tells of their trip in his Chronica de la Provincia of Syria, y Tierra Santa de Gerusalem (Madrid, 1684). His description tells of the cruel wars and miserable conditions throughout the area which run contrary to the noble and courteous principles of nature and could well open any news report of today, 400 years later.

Helen, October 2016

[recoleta2015]

Fore-edge label

Fore-edge shelf label of volume one of a seven volume set by Laurentius Surius De Probatis Sanctorum Historii (Cologne, 1570-1581). Volumes 2-7 are like-wise nicely labeled, but lack the birds.

Helen, September 2016

[recoleta2015]

Butter churn

Early illustrations of machinery and equipment are often difficult to understand. Here though is a clear illustration of a butter churn from Semanario de Agricultura y Artes, Tomo I (Madrid, 1979) which quite clearly shows how to build your own churn, along with a display of how to sit while churning and the appropriate apparel to wear. 

Helen

July, 2016 

[recoleta2015]

One of the finest examples of publishing during The Golden Age of Printing is the three-volume set, Ezechielem Explanationes,  published in Rome during the years 1596 through 1604. The work is an imagined reconstruction of the Temple of Solomon. 

The author was an architect, mathematician and Jesuit scholar who, under commission from Philip II of Spain, created an imagined reconstruction of the entire Temple. 

It contains 27 large fold-out illustrations which show detail down to the individual brick. The work stands as a basic source for determining ancient Hebrew weights and measures and is acknowledged as having deeply influenced European baroque architecture. 

-Helen

[recoleta2015]

Emoticon from 1603

From Juan Marquez, Los Dos Estados de la Espiritual Hierusalom, Medina del Campo, 1603

Look like a simple “Hi!” to me.

Helen, May 7, 2016

[recoleta2015]

Strange message from long ago and far away

This is found to the rear of Rodrigo de Portillo, Libro de los Tratados de Christo s.n. y de su Santiss[ima]a Madre, Toro (Spain), 1630

I read it as “Sage---Ano de mi lisaesle” which makes no sense. Nor can I get anything out of putting spaces between various letters in the last word.

The hand with marks on the fingers further adds to the mystery.

Any ideas?

Helen April 28, 2016

[recoleta2015]

Happy vernal equinox from the Recoleta! Here's a leafy mandrake to celebrate. -John

[recoleta2015]

Happy anniversary, books!

Maybe they don’t want to remember this day. 400 years ago today, on 17 February 1616,  these three books were all expurgated by Diego Mexía de Fernangil, a Spanish poet-turned-inquisitor, in Potosí. I have no idea when they made their way from Potosí to Arequipa or why they remained together after that fateful day.

Here is the inquisitor note from the bottom book. Previously, we featured the top book in the stack, including some precisely razored-out passages inside--no doubt Diego’s doing!

-John

[recoleta2015]

The Recoleta has at least sixteen volumes from various editions of the Suma de la theologia moral, by Corella and Cintruenigo (see more volumes here). This particular copy of part six of the 1734 edition has some interesting interventions.

First, the title page shows evidence of poor masking and registration when printing the red and black. Notice the doubled tilde of “Señora” under “Virgen Maria.”

Second, there are some math problems on the pastedown inside the back cover. I recognize the 1734 from the date of publication. Was this a user from 1862 trying to work out how many years it had been since the book was published?

Third, we have an undated note in Spanish that was used as a bookmark. We haven not yet tried to translate it, so any attempts would be welcome.

Fourth, the marca de fuego.

-John

[recoleta2015]

What do drawings in books tell us about users?

In the case of this 1726 Lyon imprint from the Recoleta’s collection, it may shed some light on when the book was used. The style of dress and hair suggest to me that this is a portrait of a man from around the turn into the 19th Century. Any ideas? We know it’s after 1726 (plus shipping and handling).

-John

[recoleta2015]

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

This 1604 Salamanca imprint met the wrong end of an inquisitor’s pen and razor in 1616 in Potosi, a major mining town in modern Bolivia. 

My Spanish paleography skills are rough at best, so if anyone would like to take a stab at translating, feel free. From what I can tell, the inquisitor helpfully instructs the reader to “turn the page” on the title page and lays out a rationale for his work on the verso. The third and fourth photos show an expurgation with evidence of both the pen and the razor, and a view of the sewing follows.

[cuartodemaravillas]

The first page says “vuelve la hoja” = turn the page, as you said. 

The inquisitor instruction says: 

(Cruz) Yo don Mexia de Fernangu por comisión del comisario del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición expurgue esta suma de la opinión del poder de dar misas anticipadas por estar declarado lo contrario por la Santa Sede Apostólica. Firmado en Potosí a 17 de febrero de 1616

It says that the inquisitor has expurgated a text about the power of giving mass before the mass was paid, because what the book says is against the Holy See decision. 

Hope that helps!

An archivist from Spain. 

[recoleta2015]

Muchas gracias!

[recoleta2015]

Look who has a Wikipedia page! 

Diego Mexía de Fernangil 

-John

[recoleta2015]

Two examples of marcas de fuego, or book brands, from the Recoleta’s collection. This marking practice is more typically seen in Mexican monastic libraries, but was also common at the Recoleta. To remove the mark, one would have to guillotine the entire edge off the text block, potentially risking the text inside, making this an effective marking system. Most of our brands appear at the head of the text block, some on the tail, and a few on both edges. We don’t often find them on the fore edge.

-John

[recoleta2015]

Curious Incidents in the Life of a Book

This series of photos is of the work Sermones de Tiempo by Luis de Granada, Madrid, 1791.

--The first 3 are of the vellum cover, an apparent antiphonal, unknown date, and binders’ waste from an 1844 French text on political science.

 --The next is the beginning of the text at page 33.

 --Internal sewing.

 --End of text at page 430 and a further look at the sewing. The published work continued to 496 pages.

 --Back cover.

 This treatment presents too many questions to list.

Helen

Dec 12, 2015

[recoleta2015]

Quechua Marginalia

Though we are in the home of the Quechua language, one rarely sees the language in print and this is the first instance that I have found it in marginalia. Quechua was an unwritten language until the Spanish came in the 16th century and imposed an alphabet on the spoken tongue. A local scholar has transcribed this as:

Umaccallecch churicuchallay ccancunan yllayta illic tipanmam jesuchristo yayanshcispa muchui ccanta chaytan tahuantin (sign of the cross).

 Translated into English this means:

 The head will disappear. You, my sons will suffer miseries. My shining ray will gleam and the light of our God Jesus Christ’s power will defeat the four.

 My sources state that this is not a commentary on the text but a personal observation, no doubt inspired by the text, which is Tratado de los Evangelicos by Francisco de Avila (or Davila) from Lima in 1648. This note was penned during the 17th or 18th centuries. There are no ownership marks which might help to reveal the source, but the author was probably an educated native Peruvian.

Helen

Nov.27, 2015

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The Plague!

Antiphonal and Oration Against the Contagion of the Plague was offered in the Monastery of Saint Clara, Coimbra Portugal (no date) to grant immunity against the plague. This piece was published by Plantin (Antwerp, 1749).  It has curiously been entirely defaced with no date or attribution to the defacement.  

A version of the original text available at 

https://books.google.com.pe/books?id=6fU-AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA118&dq=antiphona+et+oratio+contra+luem+contagiosam&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=antiphona%20et%20oratio%20contra%20luem%20contagiosam&f=false

Are there any experts out there who can explain the reason for the defacement?

Helen

18 Oct. 2015

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Francisco Suarez Indio Filipino

The portrait above of Philip V of Spain was created by Francisco Suarez, one of the most famous of the native artists of the Colony of the Philippines during the Spanish reign. This work follows the title page of Cursus Juris Canonici, 1743 by the Jesuit priest, Pedro Murillo.

Suarez’s work has taken on international significance today.China has claimed ownership one of the islands in the South China Sea which is also claimed by the Philippines. A map by Suarez, drawn in 1734, has been submitted to the United Nations Tribunal on the Law of the Sea as proof of long-standing Philippino ownership.

There is even a Harry Potter connection!

See story at http://verafiles.org/ph-to-submit-300-year-old-map-to-un-in-case-vs-china/

Helen 4Oct.2015