Books at Brown

BOOKS AT BROWN VOL. III, N0.3 MARCH, 1941 PUBLISHED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY Latin American Books at Brown OFFICERS HONORARY CHAIRMEN: Henry B. Van Hoesen Librarian of Brown University CHAIRMAN: Carleton D. Morse, Boston V ICE-CHAIRMEN W. Easton Louttit, Jr., Providence Albert E. Lownes, Providence Louis I. Newman, New York Frederick S. Peck, Barrington Clarence H . Philbrick, Providence SECRETARY & TREASURER: George 1. Miner John Hay Library, Providence, R. 1. ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF 1940-41 John B. Archer, Providence J. J. Bodell, Providence Clarence S. Brigham, Worcester Francis H . Chafee, Providence James C. Collins, Providence Robert Cushman, Boston Walter A. Edwards, Providence Royal B. Farnum, Providence John A. French, Washington Clarence 1. Hay, New York Walter Hoving, New York Charles Evans Hughes, Washington Clinton P. Knight, Jr., Providence George T. Marsh, Providence Frank Mauran, Jr., Providence Edwin B. Mayer, Chicago Jesse H . Metcalf, Providence William Davis Miller, Wakefield John S. Murdock, Providence Paul C. Nicholson, Providence Albert H . Poland, Providence William G. Roelker, Providence Arthur H . Ruggles, Providence Clarence E. Sherman, Providence Charles F. Stearns, Providence Homer N. Sweet, Boston John T. Winterich, New York W. Chesley Worthington, Providence EDITOR, BOOKS AT BROWN: Albert E. Lownes BOOKS AT BROWN is glad to devote this issue to Latin Americana. A new discipline in the University's curriculum gives us a timely-oppor tunity to point with pride to some of Brown's choicest treasures and to call attention to one conspicuous weakness . LATIN AMERICAN BOOKS AT BROWN One of the pleasant surprises that awaits the newcomer to the Brown campus is the unexpected strength, both actual and poten tial, of its library resources in various fields of cultural and scien tific investigation. This wealth of material seems at first blush almost out of proportion to the size and physical equipment of the institution. Further acquaintance with Brown University brings the gratifying discovery that the basic source materials of some disciplines are not only equal to those of academic neighbors but, in some instances, even exceed them. The preeminence of Brown's mathematical library, for example, is widely acknowledged while the extraordinary richness of the Harris Collection and of the Lincoln Collection easily/lace Brown in the top rank in their fields. In yet another broa area of study are the resources of that campus so remarkable as to class it as one of the potentially out standing centers of research in this country and even in the western hemisphere. The reference is, of course, to the truly exceptional collections of printed Americana up through the year I800 in the John Carter Brown Library, and the John Hay Library's general strength in American history and literature - taking the term American in its broadest sense to include the southern as well as the northern continent - together with special collections of poetry (the Harris Collection) and of books on Central and South America (the George Earl Church Collection). All told, the pic ture of Brown's resources for Latin American studies, particularly the cultural aspects of the history and life of Hispanic America is impressive and genuinely promising. It would seem, therefore, eminently wise to build on the undeniable strength that Brown University already has and, by increasing these resources in this special field, place this institution, as is being done so impressively in Mathematics, in the forefront of North American centers of research. Let us examine briefly the materials at hand. The John Carter Brown Library First and foremost of these collections is,the one housed in the John Carter Brown Library whose unique distinction, particularly in colonial books printed before 1801, is recognized by scholars throughout the entire western hemisphere. Within the period indicated there are nearly 5000 titles of works of direct and specific Latin American interest; if more general histories, travels and col lections of English and French political pamphlets, all bearing in varying degrees upon things Hispanic American, are included, the total number of books in the general field rises to about IO,OOO. Limiting the discussion, however, to a consideration of the approximately 5000 titles directly Latin American in content, there are 2.843 in the Spanish language and about 2.000 in other languages. The works of the first group issuing from the colonial presses of Hispanic America are, as a rule, more important as source materials on the cultural history of that period so that a break down of the figure given is of interest. Books printed in Spain Books printed in Mexico City and Puebla de los Angeles Books printed in Peru Books printed elsewhere in Central and South America 43 It is difficult, of course, to establish a correct ratio of these fig ures to the whole output of the Mexican and Peruvian presses, the first and chief ones in colonial Spanish America, as discoveries of new items still continue. Some useful calculations may be made, however, on the basis of bibliographies compiled by a remarkable Chilean scholar, Jose Toribio Medina, and these indicate that the John Carter Brown Library possesses 18% of all Peruvian imprints up to 1801 and about IO% of the Mexican. Judged quantitatively, these figures may not seem impressive, but it should be remembered that the distinction that the John Carter Brown Library enjoys among scholars everywhere comes from the fact that the acquisi tions of Latin American imprints have been highly selective: The value of these percentages is further enhanced when it is recalled that the bulk of the production of colonial presses in the southern parts of the western hemisphere, as was true in early New Eng land, was predominantly sermons, devotional exercises for special occasions, or similar matter of lesser historical importance. The limited financial resources of the Library have necessarily obliged its successive directors to select really important works and con tent themselves with a representative group of the others. This they have done with notable success. The opportunity to enlarge greatly these collections, both quantitatively and qualitatively, was made possible this past year by a grant in June, 1940 of $35,000 over a three year period made by the Rockefeller Foundation for microfilming related material in the great libraries of the world - the Medina Library in the Biblioteca Nacional of Chile, the Andrade Collection in Mexico City, the British Museum, the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, and elsewhere. Mr. Albert Harkness was appointed to undertake the field work of photographing books in the Latin American libraries and has already begun his duties in Santiago de Chile. While from the professional point of view of the librarian microfilm copies of volumes are much less desirable than the books themselves, the scholar accepts with gratitude such opportunities to consult works which are otherwise beyond his reach. Moreover, the possibility of assembling in a single collection a substantial portion of the printed source materials relating to the whole of colonial Latin America no longer exists. Unique copies of many essential books and manuscripts are owned by national and insti tutionallibraries and are no longer obtainable at any price, while the few items remaining in private hands are apt to be prohibi tively expensive. Hence these difficulties are largely overcome by microfilm copies and when the present project is completed, Brown University will possess, both in actual books and in photographic copies, the most complete collection of colonial imprints available in anyone institution in the world. A few more specific statements regarding the present repre sentation of Latin American Books in the John Carter Brown Library are of possible interest. Of the 200 titles printed in Mexico City in the sixteenth century the Library now has 70. When Henry R. Wagner prepared his census of sixteenth century Mexican imprints in 192-4, the John Carter Brown led the group of forty institutions, public and private, American and European, which he canvassed for his survey of existing copies. The Library has also the supposedly unique copy of the first Peruvian imprint, that is, the first issue of the press in South America, the Pragmatica de los diez.. dias del ano, of Lima, 1584. It has copies of the second, third and fourth imprints, and of the thirty-one titles issuing from the press in its first twenty years, it has nineteen. Books in or on the native languages of Mexico and South America have been one of the Library's strongest interests. [ 5 ] One example of its completeness in that field will suffice. In his Bibliografia de las lenguas Quechua y Aymara, Medina lists 49 titles printed before 1801 of which the Library has 32 and several of them are present in probably unique copies. In addition to this collection there are among the Peruvian materials a large number of pieces dealing with silver, beginning with the earliest known work, the Libro de Plata Redvz..ida, Lima, 1607, in what appears to be a unique copy, and ending with a series of sixteen eighteenth century administrative acts concerning the metal with which Peru changed the monetary economy of Europe. Included in the Peruvian imprints are some thirty or more relaciones, or news sheets of various periods and an equal number of relaciones de servicios, valuable for their biographical data. Since printing began much later in other South American countries it is not to be expected that imprints of their presses are as numerous in the John Carter Brown Library. The first Chilean piece, for example, is dated 1776 and only fifteen items are recorded up to 1801. Most of these are in the Medina Library in Santiago de Chile where they will be presently microfilmed for the Brown col lections.

Load more