FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE COLEGIO MAYOR DE CUENCA AT THE UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA
ALFONSO X, King of Spain (1221 - 1284)
Las Siete Partidas del sabio Rey don Alonso el Nono, nuevamente Glosadas,
por el Licenciado Gregorio López, del Consejo Real de Indias de su
Magestad. Con su Repertorio muy copioso, assí del Testo como de la
Glosa.
Salamanca, Domingo de Portonariis Ursino, 1576.
Third edition, complete, after the first of 1555 and second of 1565, of
Las Siete Partidas of Alfonso X the Wise with the commentaries
of Gregorio López. Four folio volumes (overall 15-1/4 x 11-1/4 in.,
38.8 x 28.5 cm). Eighteenth century Spanish mottled calf, gilt-tooled spines
in seven compartments with black and red morocco labels for titles and volume
numbers (small gilt initials M.A.P.1 at bottom of spines), all
edges trimmed and stained yellow, endpapers brushed with cream tint. Elaborate
large woodcut coat of arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and (as Charles
I) King of Spain, on the title of each part; numerous three- through 12-line
woodcut historiated initials, large woodcut device at end of setena
partida. The first title is printed in black and red. Alfonso's text,
in Spanish set in double-column roman, is framed on three and four sides
by López's gloss in Latin in smaller roman and italic with occasional
sidebars. Collates vol. 1, 271 ff.: [1], 152 (primera partida),
[1], 116 (segunda partida), [1]; vol. 2, 261 ff.: [1], 186 (tercera
partida), 73 (quarta partida), [1]; vol. 3, 332 ff.: [1],
112 (quinta partida), 116 (sesta
partida), 102 (setena partida), [1]; vol. 4, 304 ff.: [1],
62 (reportorio en romance), 8 (index titulorum), 232 (index
materiarum), [1]. The title of the tercera partida bears the
1555 imprint of Andreas de Portonariis (i.e., this title is from the first
edition, although a manuscript superscription attempts to change the date
to 1565, the date of the second edition); the final page of the index
materiarum in the final volume bears the date 1577 (although the title
of the index has the date 1576). Condition overall very good for volumes
of this age, the hinges sound and the book blocks tight, covers with some
scuffs, scrapes and rubbing, some splitting of pastedowns, pages variously
browned, some holes, tears and stains, occasional underlining and marginal
notes in a contemporary hand, manuscript ex libris inscription
"De la Libreria del Colegio Mor de Cuenca" on each opening title
(scratched over on first title), manuscript inscription "D. Melchor
de [J/T?][e/o?]ue[l/s?]" (possibly "de Jovel" or "de
Teves"2) on opening title of first three volumes, former
owner's small paper labels removed from each front pastedown. The fill under
each of the eight pastedowns appears to be a contemporary handbill with
the headline "…ASADO Y POR VENTA DEL PUEBLO POR [L]A MENNAIS…(?)."
An excellent, highly important set.
The Siete Partidas of Alfonso X, a foundation of medieval Spanish
civilization, is counted "by far the most important legislative monument
of its age" (Ticknor, I, 46). Alfonso believed that "the science
of law is the fount of justice and the world benefits more from it than
from any other science." He also championed knowledge in the arts --
including grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, and astrology.
Alfonso and his scholars began Las Siete Partidas in 1256; it was
finished in the middle of the next decade. The first edition was issued
in Seville in 1491.
In 1555 Gregorio López de Tovar (1496-1560) issued his first edition with his commentary, which thereafter became the standard, reissued to the present day. Palau (7091) describes it: "… comentario de Gregorio López, qui en revisó y corregió escrupulosamente los manuscritos y textos anteriores, en los que el descuido de copistas e impresores había llegado a introducir variantes de importancia y a falsear el espiritú del legislador. De modo que esta edición fue declarada como texto único auténtico y legal en la práctica del foro." López, a humanist, jurist and lawyer of the Royal Chancelry of Granada, was president of the Consejo de Indias, the administrative organ for the [West] Indies, i.e., the Spanish colonies of the Americas.
Provenance: from the Library of the Colegio Mayor de Cuenca at the Universidad
de Salamanca, Spain's oldest university. The Colegio Mayor de Cuenca, established
in 1500 by Diego Ramírez de Villaescusa (1459-1537) while he was
bishop of Cuenca, was the third founded of the six Colegios Mayores of Spain,
and second of the four at Salamanca. See Carabias Torres, Ana Maria,
El Colegio Mayor de Cuenca en el Siglo XVI, Estudio institucional,
Salamanca, Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1983. Upon the suppression
of the Colegios Mayores in 1798, their libraries were absorbed by royal
fiat, the books being eventually transferred to the Seminario de Nobles
in Madrid. The Colegio de Cuenca itself, a marvel of architecture, suffered
destruction in the Napoleonic conflicts of the next decade.
_________________________
1. Possibly M[urray] A[nthony] P[otter], professor and head of Spanish studies
at Harvard University circa 1900. The gilt initials appear to have been
added subsequently to the gilt tooling of the bindings.
2. "De Jovel" might indicate Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Castilian
jurist, encyclopaedist and state councilor under Carlos III and Carlos IV
in the late 18th century. "De Teves" might indicate Don Melchor de Teves,
Alcalde of the Court in Galicia at the end of the 16th century.
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