GARNETT RICHARD Autograph Letter Signed R Garnett to Dear Si

Sale 2584 - Lot 107

Unsold

Estimate: $ 100 - $ 200

GARNETT, RICHARD. Autograph Letter Signed, "R. Garnett," to "Dear Sir," thanking for sending an article by [George Parker] Winship, concluding that there nevertheless is insufficient evidence to establish an early Mexican printing of [Escala espiritual by] San Juan Clímaco, suggesting that certain broadsides might be "the first typographical documents of the New World," thanking for a subscription to American Book-Lore, and offering to conduct bibliographical research for him. 4 pages, 8vo, written on a folded sheet; faint offsetting from a printed article to pages 2 and 3, horizontal folds. London, 7 April 1900

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". . . It . . . does not appear . . . [that] there is any authority for a Mexican edition of S. Juan Climaco besides the statement of the Archbishop of San Domingo made so long afterwards which I fear is not sufficient to establish the fact, though it would be in no way surprising if it proved to be true. . . . [T]he paper which ought to have been employed in printing books had been used up in printing official documents? If so, these broadsides would be the first typographical documents of the New World, and there may be a chance of recovering some of them. You are aware that such sheets were frequently used, and thus unintentionally preserved, by book binders; and it may be that the binding of some ancient Mexican book conceals something much more valuable than itself. . . ."
In the July 1899 issue of American Book-Lore appears George Parker Winship's article, "The Earliest American Imprints," in which he states that Escala espiritual para llegar al cielo [The Spiritual Ladder to Heaven (1535), by St. John Climax] is the first book printed in America.