Nobleza de Andaluzia.

ANDALUSIAN NOBILITY, EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED

Woodcuts of arms throughout,  inscriptions printed within borders of printer’s arabesque ornaments, device of Diaz on final leaf. 

Folio (310 x 200 mm.) ff. [10], 348. Twentieth-century binding (16th-century pastiche) by Brugalla of Barcelona, spine gilt, edges untrimmed with traces of red colouring. 

Seville, F. Diaz, 

First edition, dedicated to Philip II of Spain. This splendid book on the arms and genealogy of the noble families of Andalucia (forming part of a larger projected work) is a fine example of Spanish book production of the period and the final book from the press of Fernando Diaz, active in Seville from c.1567.

Argote de Molina (d.1596) was born around 1551; having pursued a military career, in 1565 Philip II appointed him ‘alférez mayor’ (‘lieutenant’) and he subsequently served under Don John of Austria in wars against the Ottomans. In 1578 Philip created Argote the representative, for Seville in the ‘santa hermandad’ (a quasi-militia and a brotherhood created towards the end of the Middle Ages), a post which brought him financial benefits which he augmented by commercial activities. These monies enabled him to be a great collector of books, manuscripts, and other works of art, which were kept in his house in Seville.

The present chronicle was the result of extensive research in provincial and other archives; his other works include Historia del gran Tamurlan (Seville: Andrea Pescioni, 1582; texts by Pedro Mexia and Clavijo) and Libro de la monteria, a work on hunting attributed to King Alfonso the Wise. 

The earliest copies of the Nobleza de Andaluzia in the UK seem to be that once owned by Edward Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648), which is stamped with his arms (Eton College Library), and that in the Bodleian belonging to John Selden (1584-1654). The copy at the BNF, Paris (RES FOL -OL-2 (ALPHA)) belonged to Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553-1617).  The binder of this copy, Emili Brugalla i Turmo (1901-87) was a distinguished Catalan bookbinder from Barcelona. 

Provenance: 1. Signature on title page in early hand of Fr. Joao de Pareija. 2. Late eighteenth-century marginal notes written in ink in a small neat hand, some of them cropped at outer margin (that on p. 347 refers to Don Manuel Ventura de Figueroa (1708-83)). 

Washed and restored with some traces of discolouration, f. 6 of prelims (errata) with small tear repaired with loss of text. 

Palau, 16170..

Stock Code: 247064