A handsome, later pocket edition of the Fables of Aesop, illustrated throughout with appealingly naive woodcuts; printed by the widow of Plácido Barco López, one of a number of prolific women printers in nineteenth-century Madrid. This copy is from the collection of ‘forgotten Hispanist’ Frederick Cosens (1819-1889), whose significant collections of Spanish books, manuscripts and fine art were sold in sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s after his death; those at Sotheby’s ran 11-24 November, 1890.
Following Aesop’s Life and fables are those by other writers: Remigius, Avianus and Alonso de Pogio. This collection, first printed - that we can see - unillustrated in 1657, ran to many editions from multiple printers well into the nineteenth century. Comparison with other C19th editions indicates that they were illustrated with remarkably similar woodcuts, though slight variations of style, composition and crudeness indicate the use of different sets of blocks.
After Lopez’ death in 1803, his widow inherited his press and workshop - which had been, before, him, the property of Manuel Martín, the renowned typographer - and printed there for the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Along with her peers, the other women in the Madrid trade at the time - including the widow of Ibarra - she was a significant contributor to the book trade in this period, with approximately 230 known printings to her name, before 1823 (Muses, p.265). Alongside jobbing printing work, she printed sermons, catechisms, prayer books, a new, four-volume edition of Don Quixote (1808), La Galatea by Miguel de Cervantes (1814), Antonio de Nebrija, and an edition of the controversial Espejo de Cristal fino, retaining privileges for its composition (p.200). Little is known of her separate to her work - including her name - but her career appears to have been typical of that of a widow of a printer in the period; namely, continuing the family business, and retaining the father’s or husband’s name for continuity (Muses, p.196).
Provenance: 1. Early nineteenth-century booksellers’ label of Hortal y Compania, booksellers, Cadiz to front pastedown. Inked inscription facing dated 1821 suggests it was bought there. 2. Inscription of William Goulstone (possibly 1796-1873), Bristol, 1858. 3. Armorial bookplate to front pastedown of Frederick William Cosens (1819-1889) with motto ‘Sub Robore Virtus’. Cosens “began his working life aged 17 when he joined the sherry firm of Pinto Pérez in London as an invoice clerk. It was the start of a highly successful business career [which] allowed him to build up substantial collections of fine art, printed books and manuscripts. At his death, these were auctioned at five sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.” An avid Hispanist and collector of Dickens, his collection included Spanish chapbooks, which are now at Cambridge University Library.
OCLC: Harvard. The Met in New York also lists one in their collection.
Ref: ‘Mujeres impresoras: siglos XIV-XIX’, Biblioteca Nacional de España (2012). Gravier, M.G., & Lopez, A.C. (eds.), Muses de la impremta: la dona i les arts del llibre, segles XVI XIX (Barcelona: Museu Diocesà, 2009-10), see especially p.265. G. West, ‘Frederick Cosens, a forgotten Hispanist’, BL European Studies blog [open access].
