Rare Paula de Benavides imprint, from library of José Maria Andrade

Estevan García.

El maximo limosnero, mayor padre de pobres, grande arçobispo de Valencia, provincial de la Andaluzia, Castilla, y Nueva-España, de la orden de San Augustin, s. Thomas de Villanueva [...] Ofrecela al excell.mo señor don Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, duqve de Alburquerque […].

Mexico: viuda de Bernardo Calderon [= Paula de Benavides], 1657.

4°. [8], 85 [i.e. 95], [1] ll. ℗3, A3-C3, D2-I2, K2-N2, O2-T2, V2, X2

With a woodcut coat-of-arms and very attractive woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces.

Later quarter calf with marbled sides, gold-tooled spine.

Mexican biography of St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555), Augustinian ascetic, Archbishop of Valencia, after who Villanova University (Pennsylvania) was named. He seems never to have visited America but sent friars of his order to evangelise in Mexico in 1533. He is stated as a saint on the title page, a year in advance of his actual canonization. Author Estevan García was an Augustinian friar from Puebla de Los Angeles.
               This work was printed by Paula de Benavides. She and her husband Bernardo Calderón began printing books and pamphlets in Mexico City in 1631; widowed with six children, she took over the business in 1641. Between 1640 and 1684, she ran one of the most successful printing workshops and bookshops in Ciudad de México. Books with her impressum are rarely seen on the market today. She created a printing and bookselling dynasty that persisted for three generations after her death. Daughters, daughters-in-law, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters continued printing using the Benavides name.
               This copy from the library of José Maria Andrade (1807-1883), important collector and bibliographer of Mexican printing, though it is not listed in his auction catalogue.

Condition: bookplate of Andrade on first free endpaper. Small remains of label on title. Minor inconsistent staining, foot corner of A5 removed very slightly affecting text. Otherwise in very good condition.

Reference: IB, no. 107916; Medina, Mexico 842; Palau 97857; Simón Díaz. vol. 10, no. 4143.

Literature:

Ana Cecilia Montiel Ontiveros, Beltrán Cabrera, Luz del Carmen. “Paula de Benavides: Impresora del siglo XVII. El inicio de un linaje”. In: Contribuciones desde Coatepec 2010 (10), pp. 103-115.

Barry Taylor, “New acquisitions: 2 early Mexican imprints”. In: Americas and Oceania Collections blog, British Library, 12 March 2013.

José Maria Andrade, P. Deschamps. Catalogue de la riche bibliothèque de D. José Maria Andrade. Livres manuscrits et imprimés. Littérature française et espagnole. Histoire de l'Afrique, de l'Asie et de l'Amerique. 7000 pièces et volumes ayant rapport au Mexique ou imprimés dans ce pays, dont la vente se fera lundi 18 janvier 1869 et jours suivant à Leipzig, dans la salle de ventes de MM. List & Francke. Paris, List & Francke, 1869.