Modern Books and Manuscripts » Spanish lang.

Ezra Pound reading Galdós

houghtonmodern — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:34:44 +0000

We’ve just received a new addition to our collection of association copies, an 1897 edition of Benito Pérez Galdós’s realist novel, Doña Perfecta, owned and annotated by American intellectual Ezra Pound (1885-1972).

Pound probably acquired the work in 1905, and annotated the text with numerous notes and translations. In a letter written to Iris Barry, circa 1916, Pound wrote, “Spain has one good modern novelist, Galdós.”

*2009-181. Purchased with the P.D. Howe fund. Houghton Library, Harvard University. Image may not be reproduced without permission.

Historias para niños mexicanos

houghtonmodern — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:05:52 +0000

At the turn of the twentieth century, Spanish publishers the Maucci brothers commissioned Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) to illustrate a new series of children’s stories on the history of Mexico, the Biblioteca del niño mexicano. Each story was published with a colorful, and often rather gruesome, wrapper illustration depicting the contents within, and several black-and-white illustrations within the text. One of the first attempts to bring history to Mexican children, the stories were sixteen pages each, and were bound together, at about the same time, in thematic groups of about twelve.

Houghton Library, with funding from Widener Library’s program on Latin America, Spain and Portugal, has recently acquired a set of 85 of these stories, bound in seven volumes. Three of Posada’s covers can be seen here:

More of Posada’s covers for the series can be seen here, from a collection at the University of Hawaii Library.

*2008-2071. Purchased with the Andrew Preston Peabody Fund. Images may not be reproduced without permission. To request an image of this item, or any items displayed on this blog, please contact the Houghton Library Public Services department, houghref at fas.harvard.edu.

Casa Editorial Cenit

houghtonmodern — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:46:13 +0000

Casa Editorial Cenit was a leading independent radical publishing house that operated in Madrid from 1928-1936, a turbulent period in Spanish history. It was founded in an effort to educate the impoverished, disenfranchised masses, and bring democratic values to a new republic.

Cenit published works in thematic groups, such as Crítica Social, La Novela de la Guerra, La Novela Proletaria, Teatro Político, and Panorama Literario Español e Hispano-Americano. Cenit published translations of works by authors such as Sherwood Anderson, Hermann Hesse, Karl Marx, and Leon Trotsky, as well as original works by Spanish authors. Close attention was paid to the typography, format, and cover design of the books as well, to create a complete, artistic reading experience.

We recently acquired a collection of 68 Cenit publications, four of which are pictured below. All four covers were designed by Julio Puyol. Clockwise from left:

*2007C-47. C.F. Ramuz, Cumbres Espanto. 1930.
*2007C-26. Hermann Hesse, Demian. 1930.
*2007C-12. Ferreira de Castro, Emigrantes. 1930.
*2007C-13. Lion Fenchtwanger, La Duquesa Fea. 1931.

Cenit’s logo, printed in colors corresponding to the cover design on the back of each book, can be seen here:

*2007C-1 — *2007C-68. Purchased with the Bennett Hubbard Nash Fund, the Harmand Teplow Class of 1920 Fund, and the Andrew Preston Peabody Fund. Images may not be reproduced without permission.

A Rare Testimony

houghtonmodern — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:06:16 +0000

We recently added this first edition of Alfonso Reyes’s El Testimonio de Juan Peña to our collections of Latin American writers and artists:

A Mexican writer, philosopher, and diplomat, Reyes served as Mexican Ambassador to Brazil from 1930-36, publishing this work in Rio de Janeiro in 1930. The story is semi-autobiographical, and explores ideas of cultural nationalism through the experiences of a young man.

Reyes remains an important figure in Latin American literature. His 1912 short story “La Ceña” is considered a forerunner of surrealism and of Latin American magical realism. Jorge Luis Borges referred to him as “the best prose writer in the Spanish language of any period.”

Our copy, unopened, and in wrappers, was inscribed by Reyes to Cuban/French poet and book collector Armand Godoy (1880-1964):

“Para Armando Godoy, siempre muy querido, recordado y admirado. Alfonso Reyes, Rio 1931.”

*LMC9.R3305.930t. Purchased with the Bennett Hubbard Nash Fund. Images may not be reproduced without permission.