Los colloquios satíricos, con un colloquio pastoril y gracioso al cabo dellos hechos por Antonio de Torquemada.

 Madrid, en la villa de Mondonedo, en la casa de Agustin Paz, 1553.

Small 8o. XIXth c. blind stamped calf, gilt fillet, spine with compartments, gilt lettered.

Slipcase.

8 h. inc. title page with floral woodcut border, 236 ff (i. e. 237).

Gothic type.

FIRST EDITION, rare, of Torquemada’s first work. The Coloquios satíricos consists of six conversations among groups of friends on such contemporary concerns as the vices of gambling and gluttony, the merits of the rural life, absurdities of fashion and the incompetence of pharmacists and physicians.

The concluding section, the “Coloquio pastoril” is an unusual blend of dream sequence and pastoral love story. Toquemada’s novelistic technique is thought to have been derived in part from Boccaccio and his own dialogue structure is, in turn, viewed by some as a source for Cervantes’s Coloquio de los Perros. His Historia del invencible caballero don Olivante de Laura (An account of the invincible Knight Don Olivante de Laura) is a chivalric novel traditionally held in little esteem.

Antonio de Torquemada (León 1507- 1569), Spanish Renaissance writer, considered to be largely a precursor of the Golden Age and who enjoyed undeniable success among his contemporaries, both in Spain and in the rest of Europe, his works being translated into numerous languages. He linked his career to the service of various members of the Spanish aristocracy, initially Antonio Alonso Pimentel, Count and Duke of Benavente and godfather and guardian of King Philip II, to whom Torquemada dedicated his satirical colloquies.

“Los ejemplares son muy raros” – Salva.

Somehow browned.

Palau 334905; Salva 1452; Millares Carlo “Libros españoles y portugueses del siglo XVI”, Madrid 1977, no231; Ferreras “Los diálogos humanísticos del siglo XVI en lengua castellana”, Murcia 2008; no99. 2.