(MEXICO) Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma Curioso tratado de la

Sale 2564 - Lot 375

Price Realized: $ 13,750

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

Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000

"THE EARLIEST PUBLICATION CONCERNED SOLELY WITH CHOCOLATE" (MEXICO.) Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma. Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del Chocolate. [2], 11 leaves. 4to, later stiff vellum with morocco spine label, a bit bowed; about 1/2-inch of title page fore-edge restored without affecting text, moderate foxing, original 1925 Maggs catalog description laid down on front pastedown. Madrid: Francisco Martinez, 1631

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First edition of "the earliest publication concerned solely with chocolate"--Tigner & Carruth, Literature and Food Studies. Written by a Spanish physician, it was later translated into English, French, Latin, and Italian. Chocolate is here presented as a medicinal drink, to be prepared with red peppers, anise and vanilla, with a logwood husk, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds as options. That does not sound half-bad, with the caveat that we have no idea how the logwood would taste. He also notes that the chocolate is sometimes molded into tablets with sugar, and sold to the ladies of Mexico as a delicacy. European Americana 631/31; Medina BHA II:889 (calls for only one preliminary leaf); Palau 56904; Sabin 14542; Vicaire, page 190. None traced at auction since 1949.