Whereas the library at The Recoleta, though largely unused today, evinces signs of past activity, San Francisco showed almost none: one whole wall of some 3,000 vellum bindings looked like they have never been touched. The books had, through a combination of tight shelving and perhaps a geologic peculiarity stayed on the shelves during the 2001 earthquake. The wall facing the vellums housed the apparently “modern” collection but we soon discovered considerable overlap, the “modern” collection actually differing by binding type rather than imprint date. Our preliminary supposition is that the vellums are largely Spanish bindings, protecting the books much more effectively than many of the Northern European leather and board casings in their trip across the world. The climate in Arequipa has been stable enough that the common experience of vellum springing out from the book block is not a factor and the vellum coverings, tough and impervious, have not broken away from the spines as have the leather-covered boards. San Francisco houses the entire array of European bindings from the 15th to the 20th centuries and Gary marveled at the “archaeologically original” conditions as he knocked plaster off the tops of the rows.
Of the four to five thousand books in The Infiernillo (Recoleta), about 500 are from the pre- or early 1700s. The main collection contains another 2,000. (Another 2,000 18th century imprints will no doubt be our target after the initial proposals are accomplished.) As might be expected, there is a preponderance of religious/philosophic works (perhaps 80%) and the remaining cover the entire spectrum: literature, science and crafts, history and travel, linguistics, sociology. About half the works are Spanish imprints and the remainder are from the usual early publishing centers of Europe: Venice, Antwerp, Leuven, Paris, Rome, etc. The content of the religious/philosophic works reflect the intellectual fervor of Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe. I look forward to straightening out three or four editions of The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda’s Mystical City of God. She was a 17th century Spanish nun whose works were censured for a while. I see that we have a Portuguese edition, not reported elsewhere, and I am curious about the publishing history. On the other hand, I dread the Council of Trent, which looks like a bibliographic mess. My husband’s field in the history of economic thought is the School of Salamanca and I not infrequently catch him reading; Alvaro reads everything. My whiney enjoinders against reading receive little compliance and I have to remember that we are all retired and are supposed to be having fun.
I have learned to treat early Latin American imprints with respect. The term incunable in Latin American bibliography technically encompasses the first 50 years of printing in Latin America. The first Latin American imprint is Mexico City, 1539; printing didn’t reach Lima until 1589 so we will no doubt be locking up all 16th century Latin American imprints and I am beginning to consider the same treatment for at least the early 17th century. They are all “rare,” with generally fewer than five copies reported of any work. (No doubt that number will grow as librarians begin to move into other uncharted Latin American libraries.)
I was surprised to find that almost 20% of the early European imprints are original editions and 36% are reported by three or fewer libraries in the world. We have discovered very few original titles and those which we have are of little importance. Plantin was given special export privileges by the court of Spain and The Recoleta
holds over forty from the shop of Christophe and his successors. There are many beautiful Bibles, such as Biblio Sacra com Glossa Ordinaria a Strabo Fuldensi (vols. 1-6, Mersium, Antwerp, 1624) with illustrations by Ruebens, held only by two other libraries in Europe. The wealth of the holdings is great and I am startled daily by unusual discoveries.
Appendix 1-2
Analysis of the rarity and value of the Recoleta collection
The electronic catalog divides the collection into Fondo Antiquo (publications from 1500-1800) and Fondo Moderno (1800 to date). Of the collection Antiquo there are some 4,000 books. We have analyzed 3% (or 130) of these by searching for their existence as reported to the international database of 1.3 billion items held by 18,000 libraries world-wide.
Our findings are:
Of the 130 books analyzed, 24 or 18% of the collections are unique editions. (This means that the same title is available, but only in other editions.)
There are 47 or 36% of the books which are held by 3 or fewer libraries in the world.
Two titles are unique, being held by no libraries in any edition anywhere.
They are Constitutiones Synodales del Obispado de Cadiz, published in Madrid in 1594 and Compendio de los Libros Historicos de la Santa Biblia, vols 1 & 3, published in Madrid in 1800. Neither can be considered particularly valuable nor subject to theft, but they are curious, since one very rarely finds a book which is unique in the world.
There are works of value. Noteworthy examples are:
--A total of 36 books from the printing house of Christophe Plantin of Antwerp, the most famous printer of Europe in the 17th century. He, his family and associates greatly furthered the history of printing by introducing new type faces still in use today and advanced the use of decoration and illustration in printing. There are some 200 works of scholarship on “Plantiniana” in the international database of libraries. His printed works generally sell from $2,000 to $20,000, depending on the work and its condition.
--Bibla Sacra cum Glossa Ordinaria a Strabo Fuldensi. Volumen 1-6. Published by Ioannem Mersium, Antwerp, 1624.. Illustrations by Peter Paul Rubens. This important edition is reported to be held only by Cambridge Library in England. It has been microfilmed for use by scholars. Mersium is an important printer of the 17th century whose works vary in price from a few hundred to some thousands of dollars. There is currently no edition of this work for sale in the world.
--Constituciones y Ordenancas de la Universidad (San Marcos, Lima) 1602. This very rare book (held by 2 other libraries in the world) is of singular importance in the history of Latin American bibliography, being the first work published by the first university of the new world.
--Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana Comuesto por la Real Academia Española, Madrid, 1791. This standard dictionary is of great interest to linguists and the early editions such as this are all available in microfilm for scholarly study and regularly sell for over $1,000 in their original editions.
--Orellana, Estevan de. Lugares Selectos de los Autores Latino de Prosa mas Excelentes para exercicio de la traduccion…Lima, Imprenta de los Huerphanos, 1760. An anthology of Latin writers for the use of schools in Lima. Meant to accompany the editor's Latin grammar. Important in Latin American publishing and educational history, Presently selling for $650.
--Camoes, Luis de. Os Lusiadas, Lisbon, Manoel deLyra, 1597. This is the third edition of the major work of the “father of Portuguese poetry.” No early editions of this work are for sale in the world but this is a work which must be protected.
--Tasso, Torquato. Gioie de Rime e Prose, quinta & sesta parte. Vence, Guilio Vasalini, 1586. This important Italian Renaissance poet, playwright and critic published this first edition of criticism and poetry. Currently selling for $1,250.
--Correa y Araujo, Francisco. Libro de Tientos Discursos de Musica y Teorica de Organo, Intitulado Facultad Organica. Alcalá, 1626. This important Baroque Spanish organist published only this one work of compositions and criticism. His work has received great attention, particularly within the last century. Much of this work has been reprinted in various forms and it is available and widely held in microformat. One copy exists at the US Library of Congress. No copies are available for sale.
-- Leon, Hebreo. Dialoghi di Amore. This important and popular work of 16th c. thought was published in numerous editions. This copy of this edition is unique, but others published during the same period are now selling for $2,000.
--There is a significant collection of antiphonals (large hymnals used for communal response in religious ceremonies). They are valuable outside of the book world; the pages are used as decorative pieces. The Recoleta contains these in both paper and vellum format. The paper pages currently sell for about $150 each and the vellum for $1,500-$2,000, depending on their beauty.