VENEGAS DE BUSTO, Alejo (c.1497-1592). Primera parte de las diferencias de libros q[ue] ay en el universo. Toledo: Juan Ayala, 28 Feb 1540.

VENEGAS DE BUSTO, Alejo (c.1497-1592). Primera parte de las diferencias de libros q[ue] ay en el universo. Toledo: Juan Ayala, 28 Feb 1540.

First edition of a very rare work of Spanish fantastical bibliography, with early references to America. A curious entry in the genre of books-on-books, this work presents a Borgesian bibliography of the universe, comprising four books: the archetypal book of God, which is unreadable to humans; the book of nature, “the first university of creatures;” the book of reason; and the book of scripture. This work, intended as the first in an ambitious series never completed, examines humanity’s place in the world through the “reading” of the book of nature—with the aid of reason and scripture. Venegas was a learned teacher who worked as a censor for the Inquisition, giving him access to huge numbers of newly published books. His book provides “a vernacular vision of Aristotelian natural philosophy” (Portuondo). Venegas describes also the cartography of Alonso de Santa Cruz in his chapter "on the geographical divisions of the world, including America, the discovery of the Western hemisphere being unreservedly attributed to Vespucci" (Harrisse). According to RBH and ABPC, the last complete copy to appear on the market was in 1988. Alden 540/27; Sabin 98501. See María M. Portuondo, The Spanish Disquiet (2019).

Quarto (240 x 145mm). Woodcut arms on title of Don Ivan Tavera, Archbishop of Toledo; 3 woodcut astronomical diagrams; woodcut initials (title with discreet repairs to lower and outside margins, toned, occasional dampstaining). 19th-century blue morocco by S. David, edges gilt. Provenance: early marginalia, some cropped.