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276
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(MEXICO—1556.) Veracruz, Alonso de la.
Speculum conjugiorem.
Chart of
consanguity on page 307, woodcut initials. 686 pages plus final blank. 4to, later vellum; title
page in facsimile only, worming and water damage throughout with some loss of text, par-
ticularly to first few leaves, tastefully stabilized, small portion of leaves I-2 and 3 restored in
facsimile, endpapers recycled from an 18th-century book; marcos de fuego on top and
bottom edges.
[México: Juan Pablos, 1556]
[6,000/9,000]
FIRST EDITION
of the first book on marriage written and published in the New World. It was
printed by Juan Pablos, México’s first printer, using type which had only recently been cut and
cast by his assistant Antonio de Espinosa—the first italic type in America.
Veracruz (1507-1584) was a leading Augustinian missionary and educator. “His best single
contribution to the missions of Mexico . . . is the Speculum Coniugiorum, a book on moral
theology, and especially the canon laws of matrimony, with the particular and very valuable pur-
pose of providing a guide for solving the complicated cases concerning the newly converted
Indians . . . The second part . . . discusses the nature and validity of marriage among the
infidels of the New World and the nature of polygamy . . . The third part is composed of twenty
articles on divorce”—Ennis, Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz (1957), pages 67-72. García
Icazbalceta 1886, 27; Medina, México 31; Palau 359149; Sabin 98919; Woodbridge,
Printing in Colonial Spanish America, pages 12-13 (re Espinosa).