(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS) Pair of account ledgers from a haciend

Sale 2533 - Lot 339

Price Realized: $ 500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.) Pair of account ledgers from a hacienda in Guerrero. [1], 179; [18], 65 leaves. Folio, original limp calf, moderate wear, second volume detached from text block; 36 leaves neatly removed from first volume (possibly before use), dampstaining and moderate wear to second volume only. Tehuilotepec, Guerrero, 1802-06, 1867

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Additional Details

These ledgers record accounts of the Tehuilotepec hacienda just east of the silver-mining town of Taxco, Guerrero. Each volume (numbered 10 and 14) contains entries recording the debts, names, geographic origins, and other vital information of those doing business with hacienda. The second volume, has an alphabetical index of names. Many of the entries are for blacksmiths and miners who found themselves indebted to the hacienda, though those of other professions such as muleteers also appear. Many of the accounts are with employees of the hacienda, and their debts were advanced wages. The hacienda managers sometimes accepted payment in kind and made other adjustments to the original debts based on additional costs incurred. One, for example, had his debt reduced because of medicine he provided, another made or purchased a religious decoration and received a credit for it. The hacienda's resident scribe had the cost of his clothing, room, and board deducted from his salary, which all told came out to 100 pesos. Other interesting details also emerge, as the entries sometimes record what the debtors did with their money; many sent the cash off to family members, most often their mothers. These two ledgers consequently reveal not only the financial inner workings of a hacienda, but also the impact it had on individuals in its orbit.
The final two pages of Volume 14 are diary entries from August and September 1867 regarding a debt-related legal case. The final entry mentions legal fees charged to a Señor Moctezuma.