Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2008 Issue

Spanish, South American, and Mexican Rarities from Libreria de Antano

Calligraphic manuscript from 18th century Ecuador.

Calligraphic manuscript from 18th century Ecuador.


Item 31 is a history of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe by Ignacio Carrillo y Perez: Pensil Americano florido en el rigor del invierno, la Imagen di Maria Santisima de Guapalupe. Published in 1797, this book recounts the history of the vision of Our Lady and the building of the sanctuary and later structures in her honor. According to the story, Juan Diego, a Mexican Indian and recent convert to Catholicism, saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary on a hilltop. Mary instructed him to have the local bishop build a small sanctuary on the spot, but when Juan Diego followed the instructions, the Bishop informed him that he would need a sign. That would come when, in a later meeting, Mary provided Juan Diego with Spanish roses in the dead of winter, and also an image on a cloth. Juan Diego saw his vision in 1531, and over the next six years, it would inspire massive conversions to Catholicism among native Indians and a merging of Spanish and native culture. Almost five centuries later, in 2002, Juan Diego was canonized as an American saint. $2,500.

The smaller insert of 30 Mexican rarities includes such items as a 1783 edition of Antonio de Solis' Historia de la conquista de Mexico, one of the best histories of Cortes' conquest of Mexico, and an 1868 calendar honoring the memory of Emperor Maximillian, a surprising Mexican imprint for the time since he had recently been overthrown and executed (Calendario historico de Maximiliano para el ano de 1868).

Libreria de Antano may be reached at (5411) 4822-7178 or info@antano.com.ar.

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    Forum, Jan. 29: Plato. [Apanta ta tou Platonos. Omnia Platonis opera], 2 parts in 2 vol., editio princeps of Plato's works in the original Greek, Venice, House of Aldus, 1513. £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Book of Hours, Use of Rome, In Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Southern Netherlands (probably Bruges), c.1460]. £6,000-8,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Correspondence and documents by or addressed to the first four Viscounts Molesworth and members of their families, letters and manuscripts, 1690-1783. £10,000-15,000
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    Forum, Jan. 29: Shakespeare (William). The Dramatic Works, 9 vol., John and Josiah Boydell, 1802. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Joyce (James). Ulysses, first edition, one of 750 copies on handmade paper, Paris, Shakespeare and Company, 1922 £8,000-12,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Powell (Anthony). [A Dance to the Music of Time], 12 vol., first editions, each with a signed presentation inscription from the author to Osbert Lancaster, 1951-75. £6,000-8,000
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
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    Forum, Jan. 29: Chaucer (Geoffrey). Troilus and Criseyde, one of 225 copies on handmade paper, wood-engravings by Eric Gill, Waltham St.Lawrence, 1927. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Borges (Jorge Luis). Luna de Enfrente, first edition, one of 300 copies, presentation copy signed by the author to Leopoldo Marechal, Buenos Aires, Editorial Proa, 1925. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Nolli (Giovanni Battista). Nuova Pianta di Roma, Rome, 1748. £6,000-8,000
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    Forum, Jan. 29: Roberts (David). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia, 3 vol., first edition, 1842-49. £15,000-20,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Blacker (William). Catechism of Fly Making, Angling and Dyeing, Published by the author, 1843. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Jan. 29: Herschel (Sir John F. W.) Collection of 69 offprints, extracts and separate publications by Herschel, bound for his son, William James Herschel, 3 vol., [1813-50]. £15,000-20,000
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    27 January 2026
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    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
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    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.

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