News & Updates
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Bibliography
DateFebruary 6, 2021CategoryBibliography updateThe aim of the Bibliography within RESOURCES is to include all references pertinent to the larger subject of the website. These comprise the disciplines of literature and history of books and printing as they relate to comedias sueltas. Barbara Fuchs and Rhonda Sharrah of UCLA helped us enormously in gathering and preparing entries.
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Cervantes Virtual
DateFebruary 6, 2021CategoryBibliography updateThe Catalogue of Comedias Sueltas in The New York Public Library, published by Bergman and Szmuk in 1980/81 (listed in Bibliography) has been fully digitized and is available on Cervantes Virtual:
Comedias Sueltas in The New York Public Library: Volume 1
Comedias Sueltas in The New York Public Library: Volume 2 -
A Fascinating Find at Biblioteca Nacional de España!
DateFebruary 2, 2021CategoryScholars at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Salamanca and Universidad de Valladolid have discovered a hitherto unknown pirated edition of Lope de Vega’s El castigo sin venganza. What makes this one-of-a-kind so interesting is the ending, a first draft that was discarded by Lope de Vega in his manuscript of the work.
Click the link below for more information on this amazing find!
(In Spanish) Hallada una edición ilegal con un texto temprano de El castigo sin venganza
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Boston Athenaeum
DateOctober 10, 2020CategoryCollection updateDiscovering that the Boston Athenaeum library has a collection, among which is a factitious Moreto volume of previously uncatalogued sueltas, was a pleasant surprise. Special Collections head John Buchtel asked Will Evans, Chief Technical Services Librarian, to lead us on this project. Under COVID conditions, Will has made several trips to the library to photograph sueltas for our database. This is another case where we can be sure that the record accurately describes the object and there can be no confusing different editions.
One suelta in particular grabbed our attention: Primero es la honra by Agustín Moreto; although several editions of this play exists, this is the only example of a Francisco Diego de Torres imprint we have seen. -
Duke University
DateApril 14, 2020CategoryCollection updateDuke University library history sheds no light on the acquisition of the modest collection of comedias sueltas. These 100+ plays were most likely acquired over some decades and by various means and catalogued by different generations of librarians. It is likely that the bound volumes were originally bound by the previous owners, booksellers, or perhaps library.
Mack Zalin of our team was employed at Duke at the time and he personally photographed the sueltas, converted and remediated the records for uploading to our database. Nothing beats having an inside man! -
John Carter Brown Library & Brown University
DateMarch 11, 2020CategoryCollection updateThe John Carter Brown Library collects across all genres that relate to the early Americas, and the comedias sueltas from the JCB’s collection include New World subject matter and/or were reprinted or sold in Lima during the colonial period. They have a small collection of 25 late 18th – and early 19th -century comedias sueltas including some of the best authors of the Spanish Golden Age literary period (Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, and Pérez de Montalbán). We know that Ruiz de Alarcón was from Mexico; the other playwrights have written comedias with the Americas as a theme.
Brown University Special Collections has a slightly higher number of items with no discernible focus. While the JCB titles have all been digitized, COVID interrupted the digitization process a third of the way through.
Support and cooperation from cataloguer Allison Rich have been one of the remarkable bonuses of this project. Allison not only proofed the JCB and Brown records but volunteered to proofread the Bibliography (see under RESOURCES) to make sure we followed the MLA form of entry. She has a deep understanding and love for cataloguing rare books—most of which are far more complicated than comedias sueltas. -
Georgetown
DateJanuary 28, 2020CategoryCollection updateJohn Buchtel, formerly of Georgetown University found for us the single they own. To date we have identified approximately 40 libraries that have 1-3 sueltas in their collection and sometimes these are quite interesting. We are counting these as well; we would like our census to be complete.
We hope that proving that every single suelta they own is added to the database, making the aggregate ever larger, will encourage you to search your institution’s OPAC in search of these imprints. -
Bowdoin College
DateJanuary 27, 2020CategoryCollection updateBowdoin College library’s Special Collections & Archives has assembled a small and representative collection of comedias sueltas to provide student contact with the some of the major Spanish playwrights from the early modern period: Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina. The suelta as a format provides rich material context for theatrical performance as well as a play’s reception beyond the stage. The collection also provides an opportunity to engage with the lively print history and circulation of these documents and is used regularly in the Department’s active instructional program. With the thorough cataloguing of Calderón’s La vida es sueño, it was discovered that the manuscript notations and the poor condition of the suelta was a result of it having served as a compositor’s copy for setting type for a new edition.
Margaret Boyle, Spanish department faculty, Early Modernist, and active in AHCT, was our connection to Special Collections and to librarians Meagan Doyle, Kat Stefko, and Marieke Van Der Steenhoven. If only we could have this perfect a synergy more often! -
The Folger Shakespeare Library
DateMay 21, 2017CategoryCollection updateThe Folger has a small collection of 24 comedias sueltas represented by early editions of the two greatest Golden Age playwrights: Calderón (21 titles) and Lope de Vega (3 titles). Librarians at the Folger Library are perfectly cognizant of the literary connection between Spanish Golden Age drama and Shakespeare’s plays. However, they chose several decades ago not to compete with large collections such as the one at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library and University of North Carolina Library.
It was not difficult for Caroline Duroselle-Melish to gather, and for Beth DeBold to photograph the 24 titles. It was our team’s first experience doing original cataloguing from images, relying on Folger’s catalog records for pagination, collation, and call number. Yes, they are unusual—very local—call numbers. -
Queens College
DateApril 17, 2017CategoryCollection updateQueens College was established in 1937, a much younger institution than most having collections of comedias sueltas. In 2020/2021 holdings and services of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal library will expand with the addition of the Charles J. Tanenbaum Archives and Special Collections which will include typically older, rarer materials. To celebrate the opening of Special Collections, QC purchased a small collection of comedias sueltas. Although not a rare books cataloguer, Ronnie Gómez has stepped up to the plate and has done a wonderful job of cataloguing them.