As the librarian for Latin American collections in the Doe Library, I find it rewarding to collaborate with my counterpart librarians in Bancroft Library. It is important for such collaborations to thrive so that our collections can continue to prosper and meet the needs of our users in future years. To this end, I was able to contribute some funding towards a purchase of a rare Mexican book that is entitled, “ Primera parte del sermonario, dominical, y sanctoral, en lengua mexicana : contiene las Dominicas, que ay desde la Septuagesima, hasta la vltima de Penthecostes, platica para los que comulgan el iueues sancto, y Sermon de Passion, pasqua de Resurreccion, y del Espiritusanto, con tres sermosnes [sic] del sanctissimo sacrame[n]to / compuesto por el P. maestro Fr. Iuan de Miiangos, de la Oaden [sic] del glorioso Padre, y Doctor dela Iglesia. S. Augustin.“. The book was published in 1624 in Mexico. The rare books are usually very expensive and pooling of resources is often helpful when it comes to purchasing such items. The book’s printer is Alcázar, Juan Blanco de, 1620-1657, and it will be made available to users in Bancroft Library.
The image below is of a book with the same title that is held by the JCB Library and it is from the Internet Archive. I was fortunate to take some pictures of Bancroft Library’s copy due to new wonderful changes in the new permissions policy at UC Berkeley. Thanks to Rachael, Michael and our colleagues in the Scholarly Communications office. Please click here to access some select photos of the item.
The book is in Nauhatl language. And its description is as follows: [18], 564, [92] pages : portrait (woodcut) ; 20 cm (4to)
Note On title page, date of publication precedes bookseller statement. Collection of sermons for the church year, in Nahuatl.
A second part, promised in the introduction, was never completed; see Santiago Vela, G. Ensayo de una biblioteca ibero-americana de la Orden de San Agustin, volume 5, page 495.
Signatures: [[par.]]⁴ 2[par.]⁴ 3[par.]1 A-4N⁴.
Title vignette (portrait of St. Augustin, surrounded by a Latin verse beginning “Hoc opus Aurelio patri …”); image of a saint on title page verso; head- and tail-pieces; historiated initials.
Printed marginal notes.
“Tabla de los sirmones que contiene este libro”: page [565]; “Tabla de los lugares asi de la Sagrada escriptura [in Latin]”: pages [566-590]; “Tabla remissiva a otros Euangelios, assi de Dominicas, como de Santos [in Latin and Spanish]”: pages [591-639]; “Phrases, y modos de hablar elegantes y metaphoricos, de los Yndios mexicanos … [in Nahuatl]”: pages [639-652].
And the UC Berkeley Library’s copy can be seen here.
For fair use purposes, as the book is in public domain, I am embedding the screenshot of the JCB’s copy that is posted through the Internet Archive.
