Recent Acquisitions – Illustrate

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Mariano Gonz�lez de Avila y Uribe. Poema c�mica-historial. El indio mas venturoso y milagro de milagros. La aparicion de Nuestra Se�ora de Guadalupe. Mexico: Imprenta del ciudadano Alejandro Vald�s, 1828.

A drama in verse based on the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Mexican Indian Juan Diego, Mariano Gonz�lez de Avila y Uribe’s Poema c�mica-historial includes dialogue by the Virgin Mary, Juan Diego, Fr. Juan de Zum�rraga, Fr. Toribio Motolinia, a page, angels, and other characters. This early independence-era printing of the play includes six unsigned woodcuts which highlight key moments in the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s first appearances and recognition in Mexico.

Catholic accounts relate that on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego had a vision of a young woman on the Hill of Tepeyac who, speaking in the indigenous Nahuatl language, asked that a church in her honor be built on the site. Recognizing the apparition as the Virgin Mary, Juan Diego informed Bishop Juan de Zum�rraga, who in response requested additional evidence of the Virgin’s sighting in New Spain. Following the Virgin’s instructions, Juan Diego then gathered Castilian roses from Tepeyac to be carried in his tilma, or peasant cloak, back to the Bishop. As seen in this woodcut, when Juan Diego presented the roses to Zum�rraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared imprinted on the tilma.

Le chemin de la Sainte Croix, ou exercice de piet� sur lex XIV. Stations du Calvaire, depuisle pretoire de Pilate jusqu’au sepulcre du Seigneur. Brussels: J. Lambert Marchant, 1732.

An early 18^th-century anonymous collection of meditations devoted to each Station of the Cross, Le chemin de la Sainte Croix is illustrated with fourteen etchings, one for each major incident described in Christ’s final journey from Pilate’s house to His entombment. Organized chronologically, each chapter is devoted to a single Station and includes in addition to the illustration a brief introduction, a prayer, and a hymn. The work begins with a preface to the reader and preparations for the devotional exercises; the final chapter also includes additional prayers. On display is the sixth station which depicts Veronica wiping the face of Jesus, with the image of Christ’s face miraculously impressed upon her veil.

Le tableau de la croix represent� dans les ceremonies de la Ste. Messe ensemble le tresor de la devotion aux de la devotion aux souffrances de N.S. Jesus-Christ, le tout enrichi de belles figures. Paris: F. Mazot, 1651-1653.

Le tableau de la croix, a completely engraved book intended as an accompaniment to the Mass, includes three separate sequences. The largest illustrated series consists of 35 two-page openings or 70 plates devoted to the Mass. Each individual opening includes prayers in Latin and French inscribed between two saints facing the action of the service, often a priest assisted by acolytes officiating before an altar, with a corresponding episode from the Passion of Christ in the top of the image. On exhibition, Christ’s crucifixion is seen above a view of the priest reciting the Pater Noster while the facing plate includes the text of prayers between Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The volume also includes two smaller series with text and imagery devoted to the litany of saints and other psalms and prayers.

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