Jul 30, 2020 - Sale 2543

Sale 2543 - Lot 269

Unsold
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 8,000
Loubayssin de Lamarca, Francisco (ca. 1588-1660) Historia Tragicomica de Don Henrique de Castro. Octavo, a8, A-Z8, Aa-Zz8, AAa-IIi8, KKk2, [unsigned]2, final leaf, "Faltas sucedias en la impression" unsigned, its blank integral conjugate present; engraved title, engraved portrait of the author; bound in full contemporary parchment with yapp edges (edges with loss due to bio-predation); part of ffep torn away, engraved title trimmed with slight loss along fore-edge, minor foxing; edges speckled red; early owner's inscription and notes on ffep, later Ricardo Heredia bookplate on front pastedown, 6 1/2 x 4 in. Paris: [Adrian Tiffain] for the widow of Matias Guillemot, 1617.

Additional Details

Probable first edition. A novel set largely in 16th-century Chile, recounting the 1553 Battle of Tucapel, Araucanian sacrifice practices, visits to Mexico and Peru, and a circumnavigation of the globe with Magellan. It is generally regarded as the first novel to make the Spanish New World its primary setting. "El primer autor de una novela cuyo asunto central es americano"--Castillo-Sánchez, "Influencias celestinescas en La historia tragicómica de don Henrique de Castro," in Actas del XIII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, 1998, page 435.

Although a publication date of 1612 with the same imprint is memorialized in Gallardo's 1888 bibliography "Ensayo de una Biblioteca Española de Libros Raros y Curiosos" (III:2821), it is likely that the bibliographer misread or mistakenly transcribed the publication date. Nine years later, Medina repeats the error, citing only Gallardo, and listing no library copies. European Imprints follows Medina, citing no copies, likewise OCLC none. Other than Gallardo's entry, we find no evidence for the existence of a 1612 edition. European Americana 617/79; Medina, Biblioteca Hispano-Chilena 42; Palau 142662. Provenance: collection of notable Spanish bibliophile Ricardo Heredia (1831-1896); Paul-Huard-Guillemin's Heredia sale, 26 April 1894, lot 6059. Rare, no other copies of any edition at auction.