Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Sales catalogue: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.
14/136 page 6
![[3] BELTRAN DE SANTA ROSA MARIA (FR. PEDRO): ARTE DE EL IDIOMA MAYA, 1746. ARTE DE EL IDIOMA MAYA, REDUCIDO A SUCCINTAS REGLAS Y SEMILEXICON YUCATECO. First Edition. With the two rare folding plates. Small 4to. Beautifully bound by David in full blue levant morocco, gilt lines on sides, gilt panelled back, inside dentelles, crimson morocco doublures and silk fly-leaves, g. e. MEXICO, VIUDA DE JOSEPH BERNARDO DE HOGAL, 1746. (See Illustration opposite.) £475 Leclerc (2280): “Un ouvrage de toute rareté.” Medina (Imprenta en Mexico, 3750), cites the copy at the British Museum as the only one known to him, but another copy is in the Library of Congress (Rare Book Room PM 6963. B4). Vifiaza (quoting Cirezza) 315. Sabin 4608. A truly magnificent copy of an exceedingly rare first edition, of great bibliographical interest for the history and language of the American natives. Medina points out that Vifiaza, following Cirezza’s statement, declares that the first edition was published in 1742, but that that Statement was manifestly incorrect, since the book was only written in 1742, and the date of the licence was 1744. No other edition is known between the “1742” edition cited by Vifiaza—the title of which is identical with this one—and his second edition printed by Hogal in 1746.” The Maya language was that which was formerly spoken by the natives of Yucatan, a territory which, according to Torquemada, comprised more than three hundred leagues, and was ruled by a native monarch. The capital was Mayapan, and the civilization of that empire was only comparable with that of the Aztecs. It should be noted that the Maya was distin& from the Mayo language; the latter being the dialect of the Caribbees. Padre Beltran de Santa Rosa Maria was a native of Merida de Yucatan, where he entered the Franciscan Order in his youth. He compiled this grammar in 1742, as Stated on the title, whilSt engaged upon teaching the Maya language at the Benedictine Monastery in his native town, where the great ruins of the ancient home of the pontiffs of Ahchum-Caan have been discovered in recent times. Padre Beltran was the Superior at his monastery and Visitador of his Order. He died at Merida in the latter part of the eighteenth century, leaving various other works in the Maya language.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31643802_0014.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
No text description is available for this image
No text description is available for this image
No text description is available for this image