#book brand

The Recoleta has at least sixteen volumes from various editions of the Suma de la theologia moral, by Corella and Cintruenigo (see more volumes here). This particular copy of part six of the 1734 edition has some interesting interventions.

First, the title page shows evidence of poor masking and registration when printing the red and black. Notice the doubled tilde of “Señora” under “Virgen Maria.”

Second, there are some math problems on the pastedown inside the back cover. I recognize the 1734 from the date of publication. Was this a user from 1862 trying to work out how many years it had been since the book was published?

Third, we have an undated note in Spanish that was used as a bookmark. We haven not yet tried to translate it, so any attempts would be welcome.

Fourth, the marca de fuego.

-John

Two examples of marcas de fuego, or book brands, from the Recoleta’s collection. This marking practice is more typically seen in Mexican monastic libraries, but was also common at the Recoleta. To remove the mark, one would have to guillotine the entire edge off the text block, potentially risking the text inside, making this an effective marking system. Most of our brands appear at the head of the text block, some on the tail, and a few on both edges. We don’t often find them on the fore edge.

-John