Papeles de Nueva Espana: Coleccionados por Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, Segunda Serie, Tomo III Suplemnto 1: Informaciones Secretas del Arzobispado de Mexico 1569

42 pages. Octavo (8 1/4" x 6") bound in original publisher's wrappers. From the library of Professor George M Foster. Edited by L Vargas Rea. Limited to 100 copies of which this is number 80.

Modern scholarship continues to be deeply indebted to the labors of Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, less for any extended completed studies or synthesis than for a lifetime of collecting historical materials of the greatest importance to continuing investigation. His activities in Europe during the 23 years he spent searching out, copying and preparing for publication a vast store of prime documentary materials for the pre-Conquest and colonial history of Mexico have been abundantly documented. Paso y Troncoso saw his prime mission as twofold. First, he proposed to gather and publish as complete a corpus of Sahagun documents as possible. His interest in the great Franciscan had stemmed from the days when Paso y Troncoso as a young man had helped Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta prepare the latter's Bibliografia mexicana del siglo XVI. Second, he expected to copy documentary source materials related to colonial Mexico, an elaborate group of varied papers which he generically called "Papeles de Nueva Espana." In a letter from Madrid, Paso y Troncoso outlined to the Secretary of Public Instruction his views and plans for the "Papeles de Nueva Espana". He mentioned that for various reasons the material had he had compiled for publication under that general title should be divided into series, each according to the class of data it contained. Each series would begin with a volume 1, and subsequent volumes would include similar documents, rather than being only a single series with diverse materials. Various circumstances frustrated Paso y Troncoso's dream of putting numerous volumes of several series each of the PNE into print. After his death several later hands have dipped into the mass of material Paso y Troncoso compiled for PNE and have utilized his transcripts or copies for publication. The unpublished portions of Series 2, volume 2 "Geography and Statistics," have appeared under the imprint of Luis Vargas Rea. The whole of the Vargas Rea publications were numbered limited edition prints usually not exceeding 150 and often not more than 100 copies. Thus making the entire printing of Paso y Troncoso vary scarce.

George McClelland Foster, Jr born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on October 9, 1913, died on May 18, 2006, at his home in the hills above the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a professor from 1953 to his retirement in 1979, when he became professor emeritus. His contributions to anthropological theory and practice still challenge us; in more than 300 publications, his writings encompass a wide diversity of topics, including acculturation, long-term fieldwork, peasant economies, pottery making, public health, social structure, symbolic systems, technological change, theories of illness and wellness, humoral medicine in Latin America, and worldview. The quantity, quality, and long-term value of his scholarly work led to his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1976. Virtually all of his major publications have been reprinted and/or translated. Provenance from the executor of Foster's library laid in.

Condition:

Foster's stamp on front wrapper. Some age toning to edges, corners bumped else a better than very good copy.