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Clavigero: The Fate of a Manuscript*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Charles E. Ronan S. J.
Charles E. Ronan S. J.*
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
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Extract

It Has Been Commonly stated for almost two centuries now that the reason why the celebrated Mexican Jesuit, Francisco Javier Clavigero, was unable to publish the Spanish original of his Storia antica del Messico (Ancient History of Mexico) in Madrid stemmed from the savage attack made on the Italian edition by a highly nationalistic Spanish Jesuit, Ramón Diosdado Caballero, who considered it highly insulting and injurious to Spain and who urged the Spanish Government not to allow its publication until the author publicly retracted his damaging statements. That his bitter criticism prevented immediate publication there is no doubt, but on the basis of newly gathered evidence in Spanish and Roman archives, it is by no means clear that it was the ultimate cause for its not appearing.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , October 1970 , pp. 113 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1970

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to acknowledge with deep gratitude a grant-in-aid from the American Philosophical Society which enabled him to pursue research on this topic in Spanish and Italian archives.

References

1 The full title of the history is Storia Antica del Messico Cavata Da’ Migliori Storici Spagnuoli, E Da’ Manoscritti, E Dalle Pitture Antiche Degl’ Indiani: Divisa In Dieci Libri, E Corredata Di Carte Geografice, E Di Varie Figure: E Dissertazioni Sulla Terra, Animali, sugli, e sugli abitatori del Messico (4 vols.; Cesena: Per Gregorio Biasini, 1780-1781)Google Scholar. It will be cited hereafter as Storia antica.

2 Ramón Diosdado Caballero (1740-1820) was born in Palma (Majorca) and entered the Jesuit Order in 1752. After its suppression in 1773, he lived on in Rome until his death. A tireless writer, he is best known for his anonymously published Bibliothecae Scriptorum Societatis Jesu Supplementa (2 vols.; Rome: apud Franciscum Bourlie, 1814-1816)Google Scholar. As a reward for his patriotic literary endeavors on Spain’s behalf, the government awarded him three pensions. Vigorously denying the charge of being anti-Mexican, he assured a friend in a letter of March 19, 1788, that he always looked on the Mexican Jesuit province “with veneration because of the sizeable number it had of outstanding men in Religion . . . .” Pointing out that he never meant to offend them when refuting Clavigero, he cited his “Observaciones americanas,” which will be discussed later, as proof that he always spoke of the Mexicans with esteem and that he was incapable of speaking otherwise about them or anyone else from the Indies. Cf. Ramón Diosdado Caballero to an unidentified friend, March 19, 1788, Bibliotheca Nazionale, Rome, Mss. Gesuitici 1332 (3461); also Miguel Batllori, S.J. “Jesuítas Mallorquínes en Italia 1767–1814,” Palma de Mallorca, 1942. Conferencia leída el 27 de Enero de 1942 en el Curso de Cultura Balear de la Universidad Luliana.

3 Ramón Diosdado Caballero to José de Gálvez, Rome, August 5, 1784, Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla (cited hereinafter as AGI), Indiferente General 398 (no pagination).

4 Clavigero, Storia antica, I, 2.

5 Clavigero to Rector and Senate of the University of Mexico, February 29, 1784, cited in Clavigero, Historia antigua de Mexico, ed. Mariano Cuevas, S. J. (4 vols.; Mexico: Editorial Porrúa, 1945), I, 8–9 Google Scholar.

6 Clavigero to Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro, December 20, 1783. Manuscripta Vaticana Latina, Vatican Library, codex 9802, vol. 203. There is no evidence whatsoever that Clavigero ever tried, prior to 1783, to bring out a Spanish edition. Unless otherwise indicated, the remaining information in this paragraph is from this source.

7 Manuel Lardizabal y Uribe (1739-1820) Mexican jurist, was born on the hacienda de San Juan de Molino (Tlaxcala). After studying at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, he went to Spain with his brother Miguel where he obtained his lawyer’s degree at the University of Valladolid. A criminologist, he wrote Discurso sobre las penas, contrahido a las leyes criminales de España, para facilitar su reforma (Madrid: J. Ibarra, 1782)Google Scholar. Although the evidence is not conclusive, it is quite possible that Clavigero knew him as a student at the Colegio de San Ildefonso. Further information about Lardizabal can be found in Francisco Blasco y Fernández de Moreda, Lardizabal, , el primer penalista de América española (México: Imprenta Universitaria, 1957)Google Scholar. The above-mentioned Miguel Lardizabal (1744-1816) was a correspondent of Thomas Jefferson and his agent for the purchasing of Spanish Americana. Cf. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, comp. and annot. by Millicent Sowerby, E. (5 vols.; Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1952-1959), I, 115 Google Scholar; also The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by et al, Julian Boyd. (17 vols.; Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950-), X 515, 634, XI, 52–53, 384, 553–554 Google Scholar.

8 de Solís, Antonio, Historia de la conquista de Mexico, población y progreso de la América Septentrional, conocida por el nombre de Nueva España (2 vols.; Madrid: A. de Sancha, 1783-1784)Google Scholar. Like many others, Sancha erred in referring to the forth-coming edition as a translation from the Italian. As indicated, it was the Spanish original that he forwarded to Madrid. Worthy of note is the fact that the Spanish geographer, Tomás López, who prepared the maps of Mexico for the above mentioned edition of Solís’ history, mentions that in the process he examined those that Clavigero published in his Storia antica. Cf. Vindel, Francisco, Mapas de América en los Libros Españoles de los siglos XVI al XVIII, 1507–1789 (Madrid: Talleres tipográficos de Góngora, 1955), pp. xliv, 287 Google Scholar.

9 Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro (1735-1809), born in Horcajo (near Cuenca), entered the Jesuit Order in 1749. After the suppression of that body, he lived in Cesena, Italy until 1784 when, excepting for the years 1798 to 1801 which he spent in his native town in Spain, he moved to Rome where he remained until his death. From 1801 to 1809, he was librarian of the papal Quirinal Palace. Between 1778 and 1792, he produced his encyclopedic work, Idea dell’ Universo che contiene la storia della vita dell’ uomo, elementi cosmografici, viaggio estatico al mondo planetario, e storia della terra (22 vols.; Cesena: Per Gregorio Biasini, 1778-1792)Google Scholar. The most important section of the study, and the one which claimed most public attention, were volumes XVII to XXI which deal with the history, origin, formation and harmony of languages. Translating the entire opus into Spanish between 1789 and 1805, the author published it in Madrid. The material dealing with languages came out under the title Catàlogo de las lenguas de las naciones conocidas, y numeración, división, y clases de estas según la diversidad de sus idiomas y dialectos (6 vols.; Madrid: Imprenta de la Administración del Real Arbitrio de Beneficencia, 1800-1805)Google Scholar. Because of the philological research contained in these volumes, the Spanish scholar, Menéndez, Marcelino y Pelayo attributes the siring of modern comparative philology to Hervás [La Ciencia española, (3 vols.; Madrid: Imprenta de A. Perez Dubruľl, 1887], I, 28 Google Scholar. Noteworthy is the fact that he relied heavily on his Jesuit colleagues in exile, especially the ex-missionaries, for information on various foreign languages. Clavigero he hailed as the authority without peer on Nahuatl and other Indian languages of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Cf. del Portillo, Eduardo S. J., “Lorenzo Hervás. Su vida y sus escritos (1735-1809),” Razón y Fe (Madrid), vols. 25–33, 1909-1912 Google Scholar. These volumes contain a series of scholarly articles on Hervás too long to list; also Batllori, Miguel S.J., “El archivo linguistico de Hervás en Roma y su reflejo en Wilhelm von Humboldt,” Archivům Historicum Societatis Jesu (Rome), vol. 20, 1951, 59–116 Google Scholar; Clark, Charles Upson, “Jesuit Letters to Hervas on American Languages and customs,” Journal de la Société des Américanistes (Paris), vol. 29, 1937, 97–145 Google Scholar.

10 Clavigero was undoubtedly referring to his “Historia ecclesiástica y geogràfica del reino de Mexico ”which he never completed. He makes several references to it in the Storia antica, e. g. II, 14. On another occasion, to refute those who charged him with being anti-Spanish, he also referred to this forthcoming work as proof to the contrary. Cf. Clavigero to Hervás, December 7, 1782, Bologna, Manuscripta Vaticana Latina, Vatican Library, codex 9802, fol. 235rv.

11 Carta original de don Antonio de Sancha al Sr. Francisco Cerda, pidiéndole su parecer sobre la Historia de México de Clavigero (sin fecha, sin lugar), Archivo Histórico Nacional (cited hereinafter as AHN), Cartas de Indias, num. 468. Regarding the Madrid publisher, Sancha, see Cotarello, Emilo y Morí, , Un gran editor español del siglo XVIII: Biografia de D. Antonio de Sancha, (Madrid: Cámaras oficiales del libro de Madrid y Barcelona, 1924)Google Scholar.

12 Ibid. Regarding the Enciclopedia metódica, the story is that in the early 1780s, Sancha received permission of his government to publish a Spanish translation of the Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières, edited by the Paris publisher, Charles Joseph Panckoucke. This latter work was supposed to be “an even more extensive collection of human knowledge and one that would incidentally avoid the the dangerous spirit of its predecessor [Diderot’s Encyclopédie].” After several years delay caused by the Inquisition, Sancha published only the first two volumes in 1788, but Clavigero’s section on Mexico’s natural history was never included. Cf. Herr, Richard, The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958), pp. 291–223 Google Scholar. Sarrailh, Jean, L’Espagne éclairée de la seconde moitié de XVIIIe siècle, (Paris, 1954), pp. 301, 332Google Scholar. There is a Spanish translation of the latter under the title La España ilustrada de la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII, trans, by Antonio Alatorre (México: Fondo de Cultura Econòmica, 1957)Google Scholar.

13 “Dn. Antonio Sancha impresor en esta Corte: sobre que se le conceda licencia para imprimir la traducción qe. se ha hecho del Toscano de la obra titulada Historia antigua de México,” AHN, Madrid, Sección consejos suprimidos, Consejo de Castilla, ano 1784, leg. 5548, num. 10, fol. 254v.

14 “Continuación de las censuras. Años del 1784 y 1785. Censura de la Historia antigua de México de Clavigero, Madrid y Novre, 4 de 1784, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, leg. 7, no. 17; ”also Duro, Cesareo Fernández, “Catálogo sucinto de censuras de obras manuscritas, pedidas por el Consejo a la Real Academia de la Historia antes de acordar las licencias de impresión,” Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, vol. 35, November, 1899, 369–434 Google Scholar. Hereinafter this article will be cited as “Catalogo sucinto.” Pedro Francisco Lujan Silva y Góngora (1727-1794) was one of the interesting channels through which the Enlightenment entered Spain. Anonymous author of Década epistolar sobre el estado de las letras en Francia. Su fecha en Paris, año de 1780 (Madrid: A. de Sancha, 1781)Google Scholar. He wished to give his countrymen some knowledge of French literary activity so that they could improve their own literature. In 1784, he began the publication, under the anagram of Eduardo Malo de Luque, of an expurgated edition, which he had freely translated, of the Abbe Raynal’s Historie philosophique et politique des éstablissemens et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes (Amsterdam, n.p., 1770)Google Scholar. It bore the title of Historia política de los establecimientos ultramarinos de las naciones europeas (5 vols.; Madrid: A. de Sancha, 1784-1790)Google Scholar. A member of the Royal Academy of History, he was its director from 1792 to 1794 and was a corresponding member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

15 El Consejo de Las Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 46v—48v.

16 Diosdado to Gálvez, Rome, August 5, 1784, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 1–3.

17 Ramón Diosdado Caballero to Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro, August 9, 1782, Manuscripta Vaticana Latina, Vatican Library, codex 9802, fol. 172v.

18 Batllori, Miguel S. J., El Abate Viscardo. Historia y mito de la intervención de los Jesuítas en la independencia de Hispanoamérica (Caracas: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia. Comisión de Historia. Comité de Orígenes de la Emancipación, publicación no. 10, 1953)Google Scholar.

19 As will be seen, this work (cited hereinafter as “Observaciones “) was never published. Submitted to censorship, it was severly criticized for its prolixity, style, lack of balance, repetitiousness, and excessive harshness. Despite the author’s impassioned defense, his refutation never reached the public. Small loss, if any.

20 Diosdado to Gálvez, August 5, 1784, AGI, Indiferente General 398 (no pagination). Diosdado’s nom de plume, Filibero Parripalma, has a very patriotic ring. Filibero is a hellenization meaning “lover of Spain.” Parripalma is a combination of the names of two towns: Parri was the Majorcan town of Diosdado’s ancestors; Palma, the town of his birth. See Constancio Ruíz, Eguía S. J., “Dos sabios jesuítas mallorquínes,” (tirada aparte de Miscelánea filológica dedicada a don Antonio M. Alcover), Palma de Majorca, 1931, pp. 21–50 Google Scholar.

21 José de Gálvez to Ramón Diosdado Caballero, September 15, 1784, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 23–24. Juan Nuiz, S.J. (1740-1783), a Catalan Jesuit, wrote what was the most significant Italian apologetic for the Spanish regime in America entitled Riflessioni imparziale sopra l’umanità degli Spagnuoli nelľ contro i pretesi filosofi e polìtici, per servire di lume alle storie de’ Signori Raynal e Robertson (Vencie: F. Pezzana, 1780)Google Scholar. It was later translated into Spanish and published in Madrid in 1782. A second Spanish edition came out the following year. See Hanke, Lewis, ’Dos Palabras on Antonio de Ulloa and the Noticias Secretas,” The Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 16, November, 1936, 479–514 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Expte. (Expediente) sre. (sobre) la impresión de la Historia de Mexico del Abate dn. Frco. Xavier Clavigero y sre. las observaciones contra ella de dn. Ramón Diosdado Caballero, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 4.

23 José de Gálvez al Consejo de Indias, September 21, 1784, AGI. Indiferente General 398, fols. 3–4.

24 El Consejo de Indias pleno de tres salas, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 46v-48v. Although not absolutely clear, it appears that the two lawyers were the already-cited Manuel Lardizabal and José de Cistue, a member of the Council of the Indies who had been a lawyer of the audiencia of Guatemala where he had spent some time. See Palencia, Angel González, Eruditos y Libreros del siglo XVIII (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Antonio de Nebrija, 1948), p. 186 Google Scholar.

25 José de Gálvez to the Duke of Grimaldi, Nov. 16, 1784, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 4.

26 José de Gálvez to Ramón Diosdado Caballero, May 6, 1785, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 8. The present writer has not been able to find any mention in the Diosdado-Gálvez correspondence of a fourth volume before this time. It was, quite obviously, discussed in a prior letter, and Diosdado will speak of it again in a subsequent one.

27 Carta original de D. Ramón Diosdado Caballero al Exmo. Sr. D. José de Gálvez remitiéndole la tercera parte de sus “Observaciones Americanas,” y dando idea de la carta. Rome, April 7, 1785, AHN, Madrid, Sección Indias, num. 494. Despite all he says, however, about his inability to write a fourth volume, he did write one judging from a manuscript owned by the library of the Palacio Nacional (Madrid) entitled “Consideraciones Americanas. Excelencia de la América Española sobre las Extrangeras, decidida con hechos.” He also wrote “Medios para estrechar la unión entre los españoles americanos y europeos” also owned by the same library. Both of these which he sent to Madrid for publication, were given a negative vote by Gaspar de Jovellanos who censored them on behalf of the Royal Academy of History. See Duro, , “Catalogo sucinto,” Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, vol. 35, November, 1899, 423 Google Scholar. The aforesaid manuscripts are listed in Bordona, Jesús Domínguez, Manuscriptos de América, Catálogo de la Biblioteca del Palacio, vol. IX (Madrid: Tallares de Blass, 1935), nos. 7 and 225 Google Scholar.

28 Miguel de San Martín Cueto to José de Gálvez, November 12, 1785, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 4–3 lv.

29 Ibid.

30 Miguel de San Martín Cueto to José de Gálvez, December 11, 1785, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 14.

31 “Cargos hechos por el Sor. D. Juan Bautista Muñoz contra el Abate Filibero de Parripalma o sea el Abate Dn. Ramón Diosdado Caballero a la obra que en tres tomos manuscritos escribió titulándola Observaciones Americanas y Suplemento Crítico a la Historia de México publicada en Idioma Italiano por el Abate D. Francisco Xavier Clavigero y de la qe tomaron armas el Conde Carli, Robertson, y otros extrangeros para denigrar a los Españoles en sus Conquistadas de las Américas y satisfacción que el Abate Diosdado procuró dar párrafo por párrafo a los cargos que se le hacían.” (Ni lugar, ni fecha). Rich Collection, no. 17, Manuscript Division, New York City Public Library. That Muñoz wrote this critque under date of January 5, 1786 is clear from El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 52.

32 Manuel de Nestares to Council of the Indies, January 18, 1786, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 15.

33 El Consejo de Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 53–54.

33 Gazzetta Universale (Florence, Italy), num. 28, Sab. 7, 1787, pp. 222–223 Google Scholar. Agustín Castro (1728-1790) was a Mexicn Jesuit and a very close friend of Clavigero. Upon the latter’s death in April, 1787, he wrote a highly laudatory obituary which was published in the above-mentioned newspaper. Therein he states that the Mexican historian was cognizant of the fact that “some intrigue ”was holding up the publication of his work but that he “was undisturbed by it.” For further information on Castro, see Pimentel, Miguel Valle, Agustín Pablo de Castro (1728-1790) Vida y Semblanza (Mexico: Universidad Iberoamericana, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, 1962)Google Scholar. Also Maneiro, Juan Luis, De Vitis Aliquot Mexicanorum aliorumque qui sive virtute, sive litteris Mexici imprimis floruerunt (3 vols.; Bologna: ex typografia Laelii a Vulpe, 1791-1792), III, 154–209 Google Scholar.

35 El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres salas, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 54–58v.

36 Antonio de Ventura de Taranco a José de Gálvez, Madrid, March 17, 1787, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 2–3.

37 Juan Bautista Muñoz a José de Gálvez, June 11, 1787, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 6–11. Muñoz was completely in error on some points regarding Clavigero. The latter certainly knew more about Mexico than the road from the capital to Veracruz, was well acquainted with the natives among whom he worked in Mexico City and Puebla, and was much better acquainted with Indian manuscripts and writings than the Cosmographer gives him credit. See Burrus, Ernest J. S. J., “Clavigero and the Lost Siguenza y Góngora Manuscripts,” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl (Mexico City), vol. 1, 1959, 59–90 Google Scholar.

38 El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 58–65. The above-mentioned Cartas Americanas by Count Carli, Giovanni Reinaldo (1720-1795) were originally written in Italian under the title Delle Lettere Americane (2 vols.; Florence: Cosmopoli, 1780)Google Scholar. Well received, they were a refutation, in part, of the Dutch savant Corneille de Pauw’s Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains, ou Mémoires intéressants pour servir a l’histoire de l’espèce humaine (3 vols.; Berlin: G.J. Decker, 1768-1769)Google Scholar. Worthy of mention is the fact that Clavigero and Carli crossed swords over the Lettere. The story is as follows: as Clavigero was preparing the second volume of his Storia antica for the press sometime in late 1780, he came upon the anonymously published Lettere, and, although praising them for their general excellence, took issue with the author on a number of points pertaining to Mexico and published his observations as an appendix to his second volume. To his great amazement, however, a reply to the appendix, in the form of an open letter, appeared in the March 25, 1781 issue of the Gazzetta di Cremona, written by Isidoro Bianchi, a friend of the Count’s who had been highly incensed by the Jesuit’s criticism. Defending the former’s position and revealing the true authorship of the Lettere, Bianchi gently chided Clavigero, stating that he was sure that the latter would never have criticized so eminent a work had he known its source. Answering Bianchi the following month in the same newspaper, Clavigero retracted nothing but endeavored to assuage the Count’s feelings. To show his good will, he dedicated the fourth voulme of his history, containing the Dissertations, to the nobleman. So pleased and pacified was he by the Mexican’s magnaminity that the revised edition of his work (Le lettere americane. Nuova, ed. correta ed ampliata colla aggiunta della parte III, ora per la prima volta impressa (Cremona: L. Manini, 1781-1783)Google Scholar, which was dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, carried extensive revisionary notes drawn from the Storia antica. A French translation by de Villebrune, Lefebvre, Lettres Americaines (2 vols.; Paris: chez Buisson, 1788)Google Scholar was based on the Cremona edition and carries the same revisionary notes along with others added by the translator.

39 Ibid., fols. 56v-66v; also Antonio Porlier a Francisco Moñino, June 5, 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fol. 20.

40 El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 70–71v.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid., fols. 72v-74.

43 Anos de ‘89 a 1800. Expedte sre. la impresión de la obra del Abate Clavigero, qe trata de la historia de México. Al Sor. Alonso, en 14 de Novre de 1800, con motivo de nueva consta, (consulta), Madrid, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 88–89v.

44 José de Cistue al Abate Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro, 10 de Diciembre de 1799, cited in de Uriarte, Eugenio S. J., Catàlogo razonado de obras anónimas y seudónimas de autores de la Compañía de Jesús pertenecientes a la antigua asistencia española con un ápendice de otras de los mismos, dignas de especial estudio bibliográfico (28 Sept. 1540–16 Ag. 1773) (5 vols.; Madrid: Establecimiento tipográfico “Sucesores de Rivadeneyra,’ ’904), IV, 578 Google Scholar.

45 Ibid., V, 579.

46 El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres sales, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 48v-50v.

47 Ibid.

48 The story of the transference of Veytia’s manuscripts to Spain is told briefly by Harrison, George P., “The Archivo General de México,” The Nation, May 30, 1901, vol. 72, no. 1784, 430–431 Google Scholar.

49 El Consejo de Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 80–81.

50 Juan Bautista Muñoz to José de Gálvez, June 11, 1787, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 11–42.

51 El Consejo de las Indias pleno de tres salas, Madrid, 21 de Octubre de 1789, AGI, Patronato 296, fols. 80–82v.’

52 Clavigero’s 1780 letter to the Universtiy of Mexico, which was appended to the beginning of volume one, was a dedicatory letter to the Faculty announcing the dedication of his history to them. The 1784 letter, sent separately to the Rector of the University, again announces the dedication of the work to the University, gives a brief account of its contents, relates how well it was received in Europe’s learned circles, explains how “the war and other incidents” prevented his forwarding it to them earlier, and concludes with the information that he is sending fifty copies, two destined for the two principal directors of the University, two for ‘the public library of those schools, and the rest for the professorate and other members of that Illustrious Senate . . . .”

53 José Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega y Guerra, Memorias, ed. by Leal, Antonio Castro, Colección de escritores mexicanos, nos. 37–38 (México: Editorial Porrua, 1946), II, 115–116 Google Scholar. Mier’s memory failed him on several scores: (1) Diosdado was never a guest at Clavigero’s table. They never met or corresponded. Diosdado himself testifies to this. See “Exposicion de Don Ramón Diosdado Caballero al Exmo. Sr Marqués de Sonora sobre sus “Observaciones americanas.” Un pliego en fol. Roma, 20 de Agosto de 1786, AHN, Madrid, Sección Indias, num. 499; (2) Muñoz never stated that Diosdado was “inferior in every respect.” He definitely qualified his statement; (3) the manuscript that Clavigero sent to Madrid for publication was not a translation but the Spanish original; (4) there is no evidence whatsoever that Clavigero “to please the Spaniards . . . added some notes against Casas, a weakness for the sake of winning approval for his work . . .”

54 Moxó, Benito María y Francolí, , Cartas mejicanas escritas el año de 1805 (2nd ed.; Genoa: ex tipografía de L.Pellas, 1839), p. 3 Google Scholar. A Catalan, Moxó y Francolí was made Archbishop of Charcas, in present-day Bolivia, in 1805. He also erred in referring to Clavigero’s forthcoming edition as a translation. See Ugarte, Ruben Vargas S. J., Don Benito María de Moxó y Francolí, arzobispo de Charcas, (Buenos Aires: Publicaciones del Instituto de Investigaciones históricas, no. LVI, 1931)Google Scholar.

55 Alzate, José Antonio y Ramírez, , Gacetas de literatura de México (4 vols.; Puebla: Reimpresas en la oficina del hospital de S. Pedro a cargo del ciudadano M. Buen Abad, 1831), I, 159 Google Scholar. The revisionary notes that are extant cover only the first two books of Volume One. How many he planned to write is impossible to say. They can be found at the Museo del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (México), Archivo Histórico, Antigua Colección del Museo, “Clavigero,” vol. 176 (ant. 138), 1–40 Google Scholar. Note Alzate’s error in calling Diosdado, who never set foot in the New World, an American.

56 Gazzetta Universale, P. 222.