Compendio de las tres gracias de la santa cruzada, subsidio, y escusado, que su Santidad concede a ... Don Felipe III... para gastos de la guerra contra infideles, y la pratica dellas, [etc]

Folio 2 parts [20], 338; 146, [20]pp. Modern paper boards. Madrid: Imprenta real,

A handsome, crisp copy of the first edition of this immensely detailed account of how the Spanish imperial administration acted in the spiritual sphere .

The Bul[l]a de la santa Cruzada granted by the Pope was a bull granting indulgences to those who fight against the infidel or contribute to the costs of the struggle ( the 'tesoro de la Iglesia militante'). It was first granted to the Spanish monarch in 1509, and was thereafter renewed and its scope enlarged by successive popes. The work gives details of the origins, development and organisation of this, how it was to be preached, how the indulgences were to be offered, the spiritual and financial administration of all connected with the Bulla, together with details of where and how the various editions of the bull were to be produced throughout the Spanish dominions, and to which citieds and towns various 'cedulas' etc. were to be sent, and how worded. There are in part 1 long lists of administrative centres in all of Spanish America, the Filippines etc.

The section dealing with the printing of the Bullas is particularly interesting: in Spain they were to be printed in Toledo in the Dominicans monastery of S.Peter the Martyr, and at Valladolid in the monastery of Our Lady de Prado, where Rodrigo Calderon was to be in charge; for the Indies at Seville at the Hieronymite monastery of S.Lorenço, although the actual printing was to be carried out at the Monasterio de Buenavista; for Sicily the press was that at the Jesuit College in Palermo, and the costs were to be born by the Society of Jesus. Details of responsibilities for obtaining type and paper are given- for the printing at Valladolid, Genoa paper is specified 'or some other of equal quality and whiteness'.

An account if given (in a royal instruction dated 15 June 1584) of the regulations governing S.Peter's, which clearly apply also to Valladolid: printing was strictly under the control of the monasteries, the prior,and ultimately the Dominican authorities, and precise details are given for the nature of the rooms for printing ang storage, the nature of the locks and keys and the control and surveillance of them, the actual printers and those who assist them (it is clear that the printers come from outside the cloister, and they are forbidden to carry swords or arms (314.22)); when type becomes worn and needs to be replaced, this has tio be done inside the monastery and at a controlled cost, and the matrices and punches are to be kept in the archives of the monastery; the bulls are to be printed well on good paper and ink, and a careful record is to be kept of their production and distribution. Similar (but shorter) regulations are also given for the Emprenta de Sicilia, where, for example (no. 4, cf.no. 12 of the Toledo instrucitons) details are given for very careful control and registration of delivery and release of paper to the printers.

The title-page has an engraving which incorporates cartographic, heraldic, scripturaland historical motifs, at the mid centre being the cross and the message given to the emperor Constantine 'In hoc signo vinces'.

Perez de Lara was, as he tells us in the preface, a Spanish lawyer. He worked in the royal courts at Lima,and published in 1608 in Madrid De anniversariis et capellanis, a work on canon law (reprinted 4 times) and an interesting work on the legal status of the very young and the old , Valladolid, 1629 (once reprinted)

This work was reprinted by itself in Lyons (P.Chevalier, 1672;BNF & ONB) and three times - in 1733 (Devillle & Chalmette) and 1757 (de Tournes), and 1768 in Madrid (A.Perez de Soto) - as part of Opera omnia).

Palau 221236;Medina (BHA) 561; Alden 610/83. Other than the 5 copies listed by Alden, we have located copies at Barcelona (2) & Madrid BN (1).

Stock Code: 202448