?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
(MEXICAN IMPRINT--1555.) Molina, Alonso de. Aquí comiença un vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Woodcut illustrations on title page recto and verso. [7 of 8], 254 [of 259] leaves. 4to, later vellum, curled; made up from at least 3 partial copies with differing page sizes, title page reinforced on all edges with minimal loss of printing, lacking 7 leaves (the illustrated 8th preliminary leaf, leaves 11 and 253, and the final 4 leaves 256-259), leaves 252, 254, and 255 defective, dampstaining, substantial repairs to several leaves, several closed tears, a few early inked notes, intermittent worming; title page in red and black; inked stamps of collector Joaquin Meabe on leaves [ii] and 3. Mexico: Juan Pablos, 1555
first edition of the first Spanish-Nahuatl dictionary. Alonso de Molina (1513-79) learned Nahuatl, the dominant indigenous language of central Mexico, as a child in New Spain. He taught the language to the first Franciscan missionaries there and subsequently entered the Franciscan order. His dictionary went through many editions (a Nahuatl-Spanish dictionary was added for the second edition in 1571), and is still influential today. García Icazbalceta 23; Medina, Mexico 24; Palau 174351 ("obra rara y extraordinaria"); Pilling 2600; Sabin 49866. A very early and important title, despite its numerous flaws.
