Cornelio Adrian César: Impresor en la Nueva España, 1597-1633
(Tacámbaro), México: Martín Pescador, 1992. Limited edition. Hardcover. Fine. Item #21578 .
Large folio: 12 by 17 inches. 104pp. Finely printed letterpress by Juan Pascoe with the Washington hand press on Castilla Gvarro paper. One of 100 copies for sale, from a total edition of 135 copies. This copy is numbered 87. Signed by the printer on the last page.
Finely bound by the Thorn Bindery in quarter warm brown morocco, double marbled paper boards by Pam Smith in shades of tan and brown, white leather lettering pieces on the spine and upper board tooled in blind, and medium brown Cave handmade paper as pastedowns.
The text by Alexandre Stols is taken from the Boletín de la Bibliteca Nacional, 1957. Pp. 45-104 are facsimiles of César's printing, generally examples of his title pages. Pp. 12 through 43 contain detailed explanatory notes of the facsimiles.
An impressive work, finely printed and finely bound.
Cornelio Adrián César was a Dutch printer, born in Haarlem in 1574. At the age of 8 he was apprenticed to a printing house in Haarlem. Later, he enlisted as an artillery constable and sailed for New Spain. On his arrival he made the acquaintance of Pedro Ocharte's widow and was welcomed into the printing business. After serving a prison sentence imposed by the Holy Inquisition, which declared him a heretic, he found work in other presses and during his long life printed an impressive amount of work of the highest quality and made great contributions to the bibliography of the printing press in the Americas.
Price: $2,500.00