Bidspirit auction | Ossau y Tovar, Ioseph Pellicer

Ossau y Tovar, Ioseph Pellicer de - POBLACION, Y LENGUA PRIMITIVA DE ESPAÑA, RECOPILADA DEL APARATO A SV MONARCHIA ANTIGVA EN LOS TRES TIEMPOS, EL ADELON, EL MITHICO, Y EL HISTORICO, &c. Valencia. Benito Macé. 1672. (8) LII fls. 20,4 cm x 15 cm. Bd. - First edition, rare and highly significant for the study of Spanish history and language. A controversial work in which Pellicer challenges the myth of Tubal as the founder of Spain, rejects the legends of primitive history, and advocates a critical approach. He asserts that Spanish was one of the languages of Babel, having evolved under classical and oriental influences, and displays remarkable intuition in distinguishing between Classical and Vulgar Latin. José Pellicer de Ossau Salas y Tovar (1602–1679) was a historian, philologist, and poet, best known for his commentaries on the poetry of Luis de Góngora. He served as Cronista Mayor (Chief Chronicler) of Castile and later of Aragon. As a poet, he adhered to the culteranista school, and in politics, he was one of the principal propagandists of Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares. Crisp impression on bright, resonant paper. Of extreme rarity on the market. Good general condition. Contemporary vellum binding with ties. Text block generally very clean and white, with only a faint trace of damp in the outer margin from fol. XIX onwards, and two small contemporary ownership signatures on fol. XLI. Palau 216827.