Lot 66
  • 66

Lopez, Gregorio

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Description

Libro de Medisina por orden alfavetico, compuesto por el Venerable siervo de Dios Gregorio Lopez. Mexico, late 17th century



Manuscript, 8vo (8 ½ x 5 7/8 inches; 218 x 150 mm). 108 leaves, written in six hands, in brown ink, after leaf 10 an autograph letter, signed by Mariano Sanroenan? to Don Domingo Rafael, Mexico, 30-31 November no year, 2 pp.; first leaf browned, some worm holes on first leaf and a few bottom margins, a few fore-edges bumped or frayed. Modern red cloth, gold-stamped title on spine.

Literature

Francisco Guerra, El Tesoro de Medicinas (1982), introduction; Idem, Historia de la Materia Medica Hispano-Americana (1973), nos. 211-216; Idem, "The paradox of The Treasury of Medicines by Gregorio Lopez," in Clio Medica 4 (1966), 273-288

Condition

Libro de Medisina por orden alfavetico, compuesto por el Venerable siervo de Dios Gregorio Lopez. Mexico, late 17th century Manuscript, 8vo (8 ½ x 5 7/8 inches; 218 x 150 mm). 108 leaves, written in six hands, in brown ink, after leaf 10 an autograph letter, signed by Mariano Sanroenan? to Don Domingo Rafael, Mexico, 30-31 November no year, 2 pp.; first leaf browned, some worm holes on first leaf and a few bottom margins, a few fore-edges bumped or frayed. Modern red cloth, gold-stamped title on spine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The most influential work of popular therapeutics in Hispanic America, commonly attributed to Gregorio Lopez (1542-1596), a Spanish hermit who lived most of his life in Mexico, but now seen as a compilation from Mexican and European sources, put together by the editors of the first edition. First published in Mexico in 1672, it appeared again in 1674, and then in Madrid in 1708. These editions, not commonly available, were transcribed and widely kept in homes as compilations of popular remedies with a variety of arrangements and contents added to by the family owners. Over one hundred such compilations were seen by Guerra.

The present manuscript contains notes citing "Salcedo" and "Brizuela" and so must be based on the 1674 edition which contained notes by the doctors Mathias de Salzedo Mariaca and Joseph Dias Brizuela. The alphabetical order of the entries exhibits two ranges of A-Z, and starts again at the end, suggesting a possible misbinding. The letter bound in by Mariano Sanroenan[?] refers to the Colegio de San Ignacio, but makes no reference to the manuscript.

Lopez did evidently write an herbal of native plant remedies, which Guerra has identified in the autograph manuscript, and in a transcription prepared for the canonization process at the Vatican in the 18th century, but it was generally unknown until its publication by Guerra in 1982.