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6051B

Decorated Initials

Decorated Initials

6051B
Artist
Workshops of Pedro Ocharte, Antonio Ricardo (Ciudad de México and Lima), and Francisco del Canto (but only as printers?)
Title
Decorated Initials (White Roman letters with black striations over black floral decorations over white backgrounds).
Date
1578-1614
Medium
Woodcut or woodcut printing. 45mm x 45mm (Rodríguez Domínguez 2022, 140). Printed in the following works: Alonso de Molina Doctrina Christiana, en lengua mexicana[.] Ciudad de México: Pedro Ocharte, 1578 [Letters I, N (shown here), T, X (shown here), Y (shown here)] — Doctrina Cristiana y Catecismo […] Compuesto por Auctoridad del Concilio Prouincial, que se celebro en la Ciudad de los Reyes el año 1583. Lima: Antonio Ricardo, 1584 [Letter E (shown here), L] – Ioan de Belveder, Libro General de las Reducciones de Plata y Oro[.] Lima: Antonio Ricardo, 1597 [Letter T (shown here)] – Fray Luis de Oré, Symbolo Catholico Indiano[.] Lima: Antonio Ricardo, 1598 [L, P, Q, T]Constituciones […] de la Universidad, y Studio General de la Ciudad de los Reyes[.] Lima: Antonio Ricardo, 1602 [Letter I (shown here)] — Diego D'Avalos y Figueroa, Defensa de Damas. Lima: Antonio Ricardo, 1603 [Letters Q, R (both shown here)] — Francisco Iuan Garreguilla, Libro de Plata Reduzida[.] Lima, Francisco del Canto, 1607 [Letter L (shown here)] — Jeronimo Valera, Comentarii […] in […] Aristotelis ac […] Duns Scoti logicam. Lima: Francisco del Canto, 1610 [Letter F (shown here), P, T] — Diego Flores, Preciosa Margarita de la […] Virgen María[.] Lima: Francisco del Canto, 1611 [Letters A, P (both shown here), T] — Bartholome Lobo Guerrero, Constituciones Synodales[.] Lima: Francisco del Canto, 1614 [Letters A, P, Q, T].
Location
Antiguas imprentas de Pedro Ocharte, Antonio Ricardo (Ciudad de México), Antonio Ricardo (Ciudad de Lima), and Francisco del Canto.
Photo Source
John Carter Brown Library / Open Library || Mori 2013a || Mori 2013b. Reproduced at scale vis-à-vis the images of the impressions in 6051A, but not reproduced in actual size.
Correspondence Credit
Rodríguez-Buckingham 1977, 117-118 noted that Letter L appeared in Luis Mexia Ponce de León, Laconismus[.] Sevilla: Apud Ioanem Gotherrium Typographum, in via Genuensi, 1569.
Note
Line-by-line similarities between the images of 6051A and 6051B suggest that all of these letters were printed from one and the same set of types. Said types were printed in Seville by Martín de Montesdoca between 1553 and 1558. In 1559 Montesdoca decided to end his publishing career, and sold some of his typographic wares to Juan Gutiérrez, a fellow printer in Seville. The types in question must have been part of this sale, as Gutiérrez printed them between 1559 and 1570. Antonio Ricardo was an Italian typographer who worked in Venice, Lyon, Valladolid, and Medina del Campo. In 1570, Ricardo left Europe and traveled to Mexico to become one of the first publishers of the New World. It follows that Ricardo could have acquired our types in Seville —the required point of departure for the Indies— and brought them along in his transatlantic journey. Ricardo could then print these types, first in Mexico City with his associate, Pedro Ocharte, and then in Lima, where he relocated in 1580. Ricardo printed these types through his death in 1606. Then the types must have passed on to his successor, Francisco del Canto, who printed them in Lima through his demise ca. 1620.
Item
6051B
Correspondences
Archive: 6051A/6051B
Archive: 6051A/6051B
Archive: 6051A/6051B
Archive: 6051A/6051B
Archive: 6051A/6051B
6051A/6051B