González Holguín, Fray Diego

VOCABULARIO DELA LENGUA GENERAL DE TODO EL PERU LLAMADA LENGUA QQUICHUA, O DEL INCA. [Bound with] GRAMATICA Y ARTE NUEVA DELA LENGUA GENERAL DE TODO EL PERÚ LLAMADA LENGUA QQUICHUA, O LENGUA DEL INCA.

Ciudad de los Reyes [Lima]: Francisco del Canto, 1607; 1608. First Editions. Octavo (h. 8 in. x w. 6 in.), 375, 332, [4], [8], [144 numbered leaves]. In Good plus condition. Bound in contemporary full vellum, lightly soiled, warped and chipping to bottom corner of front cover and to back cover along spine. Residual leather ties partially intact. Vellum boards separating from textblock. Ink titling to spine, early ownership inscription on final pages of the first and second parts of the Vocabulario: “Antonio Bascope y Herbas”. Vocabulario is lacking title page, and leaf A (pp. 1-2) is detached but present. Significant chipping along fore edges of leaves A-A3 (pp. 1-4), partially impacting text on p. 1. Several instances of light damp staining, with light, uneven age-toning. Roman and italic types, double columns (in the Vocabulario), woodcut initials.

Early ownership inscription on final pages of the first and second parts of the Vocabulario: “Antonio Bascope y Herbas” (in a late 17th - early 18th century clerical hand), very likely referring to a member of the Bascope family, long associated with ecclesiastical and educational service in Upper Peru (modern Bolivia). The inscription indicates early use in a Quechua-speaking missionary context, providing valuable historical continuity between the Lima Jesuit press and later regional missionary work.

Shelved Showcase.

1405669

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

Price: $30,000

NOTES

Sabin 32493; Sabin 32495

First editions of the two foundational printed works on the Quechua (Quichua) language, among the earliest substantial books printed in the Americas and the first major linguistic works of the Andean world.

Fray Diego González Holguín (1552–post-1608), a Jesuit born in Extremadura and active as a missionary in Peru, codified the lengua general del Inca for ecclesiastical instruction and evangelization.

The Gramatica of 1607 provides a remarkably sophisticated analysis of phonetics, morphology, and syntax, while the Vocabulario of 1608 systematizes the Quechua lexicon for bilingual use by clergy. Together they constitute the linguistic foundation of all subsequent Andean grammars and dictionaries.

Both works were printed by Francisco del Canto, the pioneering Lima printer whose shop produced the earliest surviving secular and religious works in South America. Complete copies of either work are exceedingly rare.