Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2006 Issue
Mexico and Spanish Americana from Libreria de Antano
Executed Mexican President Miguel Miramon, photo courtesy of Library of Congress.
Item 16 is a 150-year-old portrait of a Mexican president, though not necessarily a beloved one. At the age of 15, Miguel Miramon was held prisoner during the Mexican-American War. Afterwards, he would quickly rise in the military. While a charismatic figure, Miramon was no man of the people. He was a staunch conservative, and vehemently opposed the progressive reforms of the reformation movement of the late 1850s. In 1860, he became president, but would be forced from power by the liberals under Benito Juarez. Miramon fled to Europe, but he would return as military commander in 1866 after the French installed Maxmillian as emperor of Mexico. However, once the French withdrew support, Maximillian and Miramon's days were numbered. Both were captured by Juarez's forces and executed together in June 1867. However, Miramon can live on in your home if you purchase this circa 1858 portrait. $3,500.
Item 27 is a notable book about the Mexican Revolution, Notes on Mexico made in the autumn of 1822 accompanied by an historical sketch of the revolution... This 1824 first edition was credited to "A Citizen of the United States," but the author was South Carolina Congressman Joel R. Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico. He was first sent to the newly independent country as Special Envoy in 1822. He served there until recalled in 1830, the result of his meddling in internal affairs (though his intentions were generally good). However, his service gave this otherwise forgotten man a bit of immortality. Poinsett sent home samples of a flower that grew in the nation's southern region which is today knows as the "poinsettia." In 1833, he married Mary Pringle, but there is no indication the reconstituted potato chip was named for her. Poinsett supported President Jackson against fellow South Carolinian Senator John C. Calhoun during the Nullification crisis. This would earn him appointment as Secretary of War under President Martin Van Buren. Poinsett retired to his plantation in South Carolina in 1841, where he lived the remaining decade of his life. $900.
Who would have known that Tarzan could speak Spanish, but he was a man of amazing talents. Item 32 is a collection of eleven of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan books, mostly Spanish language first editions. Published between 1922 and 1937. $1,500. Item 33 is a Spanish first of Carlo Collodi's Italian classic, Pinocchio, or Aventuras de Pinocho. $4,500. For a classic of more recent vintage, there is Cien Anos de Soledad, (in English, "One Hundred Years of Solitude") by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Item 39 is a 1967 first edition of this most important Latin American novel. $5,000.
You may reach Libreria de Antano by email at books@millic.com.ar or by phone at 5411 48227178.
