Tassa y ordenança hecha por provision Real en el insigne Consistorio desta ciudad de Salamanca, de corambre, y calçado, y obras de cuero, y odreria.

Salamanca, Por Andrea de Portonaris, 1552.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Folio (30 x 19.6 cm.), later wrappers of laid paper (eighteenth-century?). Large woodcut arms of Spain on title page. Two five-line criblé initials. Roman type, 41 lines. Very small paper defects in lower margin of 3 leaves and very light dampstains in the margins of the final 3 leaves, but nearly pristine. In fine condition. (10 ll.) *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of this fascinating glimpse into the nitty-gritty details of the manufacture and sale of leather goods, one of Spain’s leading industries, during an economic crisis under D. Carlos I (Emperor Charles V). In a decree of 9 October 1552 (reprinted on ll. A2r-A3v), D. Carlos ordered prices to be fixed for shoes and other leather goods. The decree was published as La prematica para el remedio de la grand carestia que havia en el calçado, variations of which were printed in October and November of that year at Madrid and Alcalá de Henares.Recognizing that prices varied widely throughout Spain, D. Carlos ordered the local ayuntamientos to set the prices of leather goods for their regions. Here the officials at Salamanca announce prices for over a hundred types and sizes of shoes for men, women, and children, ranging from slippers to boots, in materials from the crudest cowhides to the finest cordovan leather. A shoe of cordovan leather "a la morisca" of 5 puntos can be sold for a maximum of 29 maravedis, while one of 13 puntos can be sold for 69 maravedis. Prices for leather bottles of various sizes (cueros para vino) range from 51 to 119 maravedis (ff. A9v-10r). A supplementary decree on the final leaf clarifies issues regarding herretes (leather cords?). The names of members of the local government are mentioned, as well as Salamanca manufacturers and sellers of leather goods, with the locations of their shops.Price regulations such as these were an attempt to resolve severe shortages of basic commodities in Spain. The influx of gold from the Americas that began in the 1520s eventually led to massive inflation in the Spanish economy. Spanish goods were priced out of European markets, and shortages in clothing, shoes, and other basic goods became common throughout Spain. Mistakenly believing that the shortages were occurring because too many goods were shipped abroad, D. Carlos slapped on export restrictions. In May 1552 he prohibited the export of wool, silk, and leather goods from Spain, except to the Spanish colonies in America. Within a few years the export restrictions led to an economic depression, and merchants and the cortes were pleading with the crown to revoke them; but the restrictions remained in place for more than a decade.This is a relatively early imprint by Andrea de Portonaris, active in Salamanca from 1547 to 1568 and most famous for the definitive edition of Las Siete Partidas by Gregorio López, 1555. Descended from a family of printers in Italy who had established a branch in Lyon, he married a woman who was the widow and the daughter of Salamanca printers. Andrea published over 180 editions of books, making him Salamanca's most prolific sixteenth-century printer, and was the first in Salamanca to switch to redonda types from gothic. From his press came most of the works by the University of Salamanca's professors, including Domingo de Soto, Diego de Covarrubias, Melchor Cano, and Francisco Sánchez "el Brocense." He also published Italian Renaissance works by Pietro Bembo and Angelo Poliziano, the first editions of Luis de Granada, and works in Greek, for which he cast his own type.Sixteenth-century Spanish works have become steadily more rare on the market. The British Library's 16th-century STC lists only 9 works printed by Portonaris through 1551.*** Palau 328101: noting that a copy sold in 1934 for 100 pts. Gil Ayuso, Noticia bibliográfica de textos y disposiciones legales de los Reinos de Castilla 159: citing only a copy at Lib. de García Rico y Cª. Ruiz Fidalgo, Imprenta en Salamanca (1501-1600) 374: citing Gil Ayuso, and with only the location given there; on Portonaris, see I, 65-73. Cuesta Gutierrez, Imprenta en Salamanca pp. 36-37. Not in Adams. Not located in CCPBE or Rebiun. Not located in Jisc. Not located in KVK worldwide (51 databases searched). Not located in OCLC