List of individual sueltas

Spanish “Golden Age” drama. [Collection of 12 “sueltas” (individual plays)]. Madrid, Valencia,
Barcelona, ca. 1730s. Various publishers. Quarto. Contemporary boards, leather spine, morocco
label and paper. Rubbed.
An interesting collection with several of the plays written by playwrights who had either been
born in the New World or who had traveled there. Many of these sueltas, although not original,
are the only available editions. Many are not listed in Cervantes Virtual or OCLC.
Provenance: The first seven pages are filled with handwritten notes, including names of owners
and dates from the late 18th through mid-19th century, in several different hands. One play is
annotated at the end.
List of individual sueltas
1.Herrera y Ribera, Rodrigo de (1592?-1657)
N.18. Pag I. Comedia Famosa. La Fe noha menester armas y venida del ingles a Cadiz / de
Don Rodrigo de Herrera. Valencia: en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga Calle de la
Cruz Nueva . . . , 1762. Collation: A-C4, D2. Marginal stains. This play was first published in
suelta form in the 1650s
Herrera (not to be confused with a Portuguese author of the same name) was a Spanish playwright
in the school of Lope de Vega. A pupil of the Jesuits in the Imperial College of Madrid and
Salamanca until 1578, he was equerry to the Duchess of Nájera, Inés María de Arellano. His
contemporaries saw him as an educated and virtuous man. Bleiberg (p. 819) notes that he was
praised by both Lope and Cervantes. His plays were quite popular during his lifetime, in Madrid
especially. His use of symbolic elements anticipates Calderon. He was popular at the time in
Madrid. Although he wrote a number of plays, some were never printed. Barrera y Lerrida lists
only four (183-4).
His best works include El primer templo de España [The first temple of Spain], La fe no ha
menester armas [Faith needs no weapons], Del cielo viene el buen rey [The sky is the good king],
and others.
Locations: OCLC: 1 dated 1762.
2. Herrera y Ribera, Rodrigo de (1592?-1657).
Num. 144. Comedia Famosa. De el cielo viene el buen rey. De Don Rodrigo de Herrera.
Barcelona: En la Imprenta de Carlos Sapera, 1770. Collation: A-C4.
“The sky is the good king” (1657) is set in the time of King Frederick of Sicily. Cervantes Virtual
lists the play as appearing in: Comedias nueuas escogidas de los meiores ingenios de Espana [sic]:
octaua parte . . . En Madrid: por Andres Garcia de la Iglesia: a costa de Iuan de S. Vicente . . . ,
1657.
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Other suelta editions located:
Seville: Leefdael 1730, 1743;
Seville: Imprenta Real, 1735.
See Palau y Dulcet (2), 114180; A study of this play is contained in Bergamín, J. Mangas y
Capriotes (Madrid: Plutarco, 1933).
3. Vélez de Guevara, Luis (1579-1644).
Num4. Pag. I. Comedia Famosa. Reynar despues de morir de Luis Velez de Gueuara
Barcelona, y may 31. de 1757. Reimpraimase de Morena. Barcelona. Carlos Sapera Y Jaymen
Ofset cuel librn.. Con licencia: Barcelona. Carlos Sapera Y Jayme Ofset, en la Libería (ca.1750).
Collation: A-D4, annotations last page, a few stains.
Originally published in Doze comedias las mas grandiosas que hasta aora han salido, de los
mejores, y màs insignes poetas : quarta parte..., [Lisboa?], [en la officina Craesbeekiana ...?, a
costa de Iuan Leite Pereira ...], [1652?], pp. 85-100.
This play, “Empire before death,” is described by Ticknor as “a tragedy full of melancholy, idyllike softeness, which well harmonizes with the fate of Inez de Castro, on whose sad story it is
founded” (II, 275).
“An outstanding dramatist of the Golden Age and a much praised poet, Vélez de Guevara is often
ranked with Moreto, Rojas Zorilla, and Ruiz de Alarcaon. He is notable because he departed from
the cloak-and-dagger type of comedy of manners and turned to national legend for his subject,
which he imbued with subtlety, lyricism, and a tragic aura. His several historical plays, in many
cases, like Lope’s defend the peasant’s honor against arbitrary actors of the aristocracy” (Andres
Franco article on Velez de Guevera in Hochman V, 98-9).
Other suelta editions:
Barcelona: P Escaurd, 1757;
Valencia, 1758;
Madrid: Sanz, 1755,1737, 1737.
4. Solís, Antonio de y Rivadeneyra (1610-1686).
La Gran Comedia El alcázar del secreto. Fiesta que se representò à sus Magestades en el
Buen-Retiro. De Don Antonio de Solis. N.p., n.d. (ca. 1730s). Collation: A-D4. First Leaf torn
top right, affecting a few words on title and first seven lines of text. Old stamp on title page
First published Parte Diez y nuevea de Comedia. Madrid: Pablo de Val, 1663.
Solís (1610-1686) wrote his first drama at age 17 while a student the University of Salamanca
Gitanilla de Madrid (based on the novella of Cervantes). Solís wrote plays for the court and for the
theatres (nine are extant) including El amor al uso based on a play by Thomas Corneille (one of
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the rare examples of French plays going to Spain instead of the other way around). His plays, some
showing the influence of Calderon, were uniformly marked by a “skillful complication of their
plots which were not always original and by a purity of style and harmony of versification which
were quite his own” (Ticknor II, 390-91).
Later in life, he turned away from drama and joined the clergy, where he became an important
historian of Mexico. His Historia de la conquista de Mexico (1684) is still highly valued.
Cervantes Virtual identifies the following publication dates for this play: 1663, 1675, 1681, 1700,
1750, 1765.
5. Villegas, Juan Bautista de (fl. 1621).
Num 294. El marido de su hermana, y mentirosa verdad. Comedia Famosa de Don Jvan de
Villegas. Sevilla: en la Imprenta real, Casa del Correo Viejo. Con licencia en Seville Imprenta
Real (ca. 1730s). Collation: A-C4 24p. Stains to title page.
First published in Quinta parte de comedias escogidas de los meiores ingenios de España . . . .
Madrid: por Pablo de Val: a costa de Iuan de S. Vicente . . . vendese en su casa de la calle de
Toledo, 1653, pp. 213-248.
Barrera indicates that a version of this play entitled La mentirosa verdad (ó El Marido du su
herman) was published in Zaragoza in Parte treinta de comedias famosas de varios autores, 1636.
No OCLC locations this edition.
Other suelta editions:
Seville: Antonio Sanz, 1741.
The author, a contemporary of Lope de Vega, wrote dramas beginning in 1621. Many of his early
works are difficult to identify because they were written under Lope’s name (Barrera, 495).
Plot: D. Enrique de Cardona, a Duke, has governed Barcelona for Countess Violante and reared
her with his own children, Carlos and Isabel. He now wants Violante to marry and assume the
government herself. She and Carlos love each other, but trouble starts when D. Ramón de Moncada
(Conde de Urgel) and D. Jaime de Aragón both send love notes to Isabel by Carlos’s servant,
Beltrán. When Carlos sees him with the notes, Beltrán says that they are for Violante. Carlos reads
Ramón’s note (which Violante later takes from him) and despairs, but gives Jaime’s to Isabel
unread. More confusion arises when she and Violante read it and see that it is for Isabel.
6. Villegas, Francisco de.
Num.8. Comedia Famosa. Lo que puede la crianza de Francisco de Villegas. Hallaràse esta
Comedia, y otras de diferentes Tiulos, en la Imprenta de Antonio Sanz, called de la Paz. calle de
la Paz Año, 1741. Collation: A-D4
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Publicación original: En Madrid: Parte veinte y cinco de Comedias nueuas, y escogidas de los
mejores ingenios de España . . ., En Madrid: por Domingo Garcia Morras: a costa de Domingo
Palacio Villegas . . ., 1666, h. 178-196v.
Not in OCLC.
This seems to be the first suelta edition. There is a Salamanca suelta located.
7. Belmonte Bermúdez, Luis de (1587-1650).
*N.51. Fol. I. Comedia famosa. El Diablo predicador y mayor contrario amigo. De un ingenio
de esta corte. Imprenta de Antiono Sanz. Año de 1748. Hallaràse esta Comedia, y otras de
differentes Titulos en Madrid. Collation: A-D4, E2.
Luis Belmonte Bermúdez (Sevilla,? 1587-Madrid, 1650?), poet, chronicler of the Indies, and
Spanish playwright of the Golden Age. While still very young, he went to Mexico and then Peru
the following year. He then devoted himself to literature. He served as secretary and chronicler of
the expeditions of General Pedro Fernandez de Quirós. After another stay in Mexico, he returned
to Spain in 1616 and settled in Seville. In 1620, he returned to Madrid and first, participated in and
then turned to the theater.
He is the author of two epic poems: The dawn of Christ and The Hispálica; the latter around the
conquest of Seville. We have a half dozen plays. The most celebrated is this play El Diablo
predicador y mayor contrario amigo. His contemporaries saw it as a celebration of the
Franciscan order and the practice of charity, but then understood the anticlerical nature of the
drama (Ticknor, 300-303; Barrera y Leirado, 28-29).
One of his plays, La Celestina (the Second Celestina), which was completed by another author,
was probably first produced in Mexico (Schmidhuber, 77).
Other suelta editions:
Sevilla: Leefandel, 1725 (with author Malaspina);
Salamanca: Sanz, 1738;
Madrid: Sanz, 1748;
Antonio: Sanz, 1748, 1790.
OCLC: Zero in North America.
8. Salazar y Torres, Agustín de (1642-1675).
No.160. Comedia famosa. Tambien se Ama en el abysmo. Fiestas de la zarzuela, A los Años
de la Reyna Nuestra Señora Doña Maria Ana de Austria. De Don Augustin de Salazar.
Hallarâse esta Comedia, y otras de diferentes Titulos, en Salamanca en la imprenta de la Santa
Cruz. Calle de la Rua. (ca. 1750s). Collation: A-D4.
According to Barreras y Leirado, Salazar y Torres was born in Almazán (Soria), then received a
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Jesuit edition in Mexico and studied at the University of Mexico (358-361). He was a very popular
playwright and author in New Spain. He was known for his declamation skills and his critical
comments on Gongora, who influenced him in his literary career. Salazar y Torres wrote several
comedias and was published in the Comedias Escogidas de los Mejores Autores. He died at age
33.
Other suelta editions:
1754.
9. Hoz y Mota, Juan de la (1622?-1714?).
Pag 1. Comedia famosa. El Castigo de la Miseria. Su Autor Don Juan de Hoz. En Madrid, con
las Licencias necessaria Està fielmente Impressa, y corresponde con su original. Lic. D. Manuel
Graceia Alesson. Y la tassaron los Señores del Conseljo a y. mrs. cada pliego, & C. A costa de
Doña Theresa de Guzman, en su Lonja de Comedias, (ca. 1750). Collation: A-E4, ornaments on
title page.
Juan Claudio de la Hoz y Mota, Spanish dramatist, was born in Madrid. He became a knight of
Santiago in 1653 and Regidor of Burgos in 1657, where he lived until at least 1689. In 1665, he
was nominated to an important post at the Treasury, and in his later years, he acted as official
censor of the Madrid theatres. He wrote mainly religious and historical comedies, many of them
of considerable interest. In collaboration with Pedro Francisco, he wrote comedies and reworked
pieces by Luis Vélez de Guevara and Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla. “Hoz is not remarkable for
originality of conception, but his recasts of plays by earlier writers are distinguished by an
adroitness which accounts for the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries. El Montañés
Juan Pascual and El castigo de la miseria give a just idea of his adaptable talent” (EB, 82).
His Castigo de la miseria is one of the best specimens of character-drawing on the Spanish stage,
and may, in many respects, bear a comparison with Aulularia of Plautus and Avare of Moliere
(Ticknor II, 387).
Other suelta editions:
Valencia: Sanz, 1749, 1760.
A title of a play with this name is listed in Cervantes Virtual by María de Zayas y Sotomayor,
(1590-ca. 1660).
10. Añorbe y Correcer, Thomas (1686-1741).
+ Comedia Nueva. La Virtud vence al destino. Compuesta por D. Thmas de Añorbe y Correcer,
Capellan del Real Monasterio de la Encarnacion de Marrid. Año de MDCCXXXV (1735).
Impressa em Valladolid, en la Imprenta de Alonso del Riego, donde se hallarà, y otras de diferentes
Titulos, Com tambien, Libros, Coplas, Estampas, Historias, y Entremeses; todo à buen precio.
Vive en la libertia. Collation: A-D, 4. With Entremes del Mudo (B2-D4).
La Virtud vence al destino was published in Madrid in 1735. This may be an original edition.
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This play attacks popular astrology with a belief in planetary influences.
Thomas Añorbe y Corregel (1686-1741) was a priest, Spanish playwright, and poet. Chaplain of
the Royal Convent of the Incarnation, he spent his busy life in charity missions and combined this
activity with the cultivation of poetry and plays. He may be considered an essential link in the late
Baroque theater, similar in some ways to playwrights such as José de Cañizares and Antonio
Zamora.
11 . Santiago de Pita (1694?-1755).
N. 4. Pag I. Comedia Famosa. El Principe jardinero y fingido cloridano. De don Santiago de
Pita. Se hallará en Madrid en la imprenta y Liberia de Andrés de Sotos: calle de Bordadores, frent
de San Ginés, (ca. 1730). Collation: A-D4, ornaments.
Santiago Antonio Pita y Borroto was born in Havana around 1694. His parents Don Isidoro Pita
Narallo Figueroa and Constance Recio Sotolongo Borroto and Olivares both belonged to the oldest
and most prominent families of the city. In 1743, he was elected second regular mayor of Havana.
His comedy, El Principe jardinero y fingido cloridano, the only literary work that is known, is,
according to the scholar José Juan Arrom, an important piece in the panorama of Cuban and inland
letters of his time, which had successful performances in Spain and America
(http://www.encaribe.org/es/article/santiago-pita/1201).
Another suelta edition:
Madrid: Leefdael, 1730.
12. Moreto, Agustín (1618-1669); Matos Fragoso, Juan de (1608-1689).
Num. 248. Trasvesuras son Valor. Comedia famosa de tres ingenios. Con licencia: En Sevilla,
por la Francisco de Leefdael, en la Casa de el Correo Viejo,(ca. 1730). Collation: A-D4, ornaments.
This play was first published in 1657 in Comedia nuevas Escogidas VIII, no. 3.
Matas Fragoso was Portuguese, but lived in Madrid and also at one time in Italy. He was popular
in his time, but was only published in one collected volume in Madrid in 1657, “so that [his plays]
are now to be sought chiefly in separate pamphlets, and in collections made for other purposes
[such as Comedias Escogidas]. . . . [His plays are often] written with a great variety of measures,
which are managed with skill and are full of sweetness” (Ticknor II, 389). His life and a list of his
works are in Barrera y Leirado (239-242).
Agustín Moreto y Cavana (1618-1669), was a Spanish Catholic priest, dramatist, and playwright.
By the middle of the century, he was already a recognized literary figure and a member of the
Academia Castellana. He published the first volume of his comedies (called the Primera Parte).
The most celebrated of his pieces is El Desdén con el Desdén, imitated by Molière, La Princesse
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d'Elide, on which Carlo Gozzi based La principessa filosofa, and Donna Diana.
References:
Barrera y Leirado, Cayetano Alberto de la. Catalogo Bibliografic y Biografico del teatro antiguo
Espanol (Madrid: Rivadeneyra, 1860);
Bleiberg, Germán, Maureen Ihrie, Janet Pérez. Dictionary of the Literature of the Iberian
Peninsula 1 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1993);
EB: The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General
Information (University Press, 1911);
Hochman, Stanley. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama (1984);
Schmidhuber, Guillermo. The Three Secular Plays of Sor Juana In s de la Cruz: A Critical Study
(2000);
Ticknor, George. History of Spanish Literature (NY: Ungar, 1965; originally published 1849);
Whitney, James Lyman. Catalogue Spanish Library and of the Portuguese Books…Boston
Publish Library/Together with the Collection of the Spanish and Portuguese Literature (1879).
Useful links:
Richard W. Tyler Comedia Plot Summaries
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~elking/Richard-W-Tyler-files.html;
Cervantes Virtual
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/.
$2,500.00
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