Plaza uniuersal de todas ciencias y artes / parte traducida de toscano y parte compuesta por el doctor Christoval Suarez de Figueroa.
1615
Items
Details
Title
Plaza uniuersal de todas ciencias y artes / parte traducida de toscano y parte compuesta por el doctor Christoval Suarez de Figueroa.
Uniform title
Plaza universal de todas ciencias y artes
Created/published
En Madrid : Por Luis Sanchez, 1615.
Description
[8], 368 leaves ; 21 cm (4to)
Associated name
Suâarez de Figueroa, Christâoval, author.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Cited/described in
Rogent, E. Biblio. de les impressions lullianes, 178
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271771 (quarto)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Elizabeth L. Cabot Acquisitions Fund. Ordered from Patrick Olson Rare Books, D9348, 2019-09-17, Catalog 4 September 2019 "People of color in Early Modern Europe", item #3. From dealer's description: "First edition of this popular guide to and history of everything, organized primarily by profession. The work is largely a translation of Tomaso Garzoni’s Piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo (1585), though Suárez de Figueroa certainly contributed his share of original content. One of his more remarkable additions appears in the chapter on servants, pages, and slaves. Compared to the ethnicities that traditionally served as Europe’s slaves, like Muslim Turks and Berbers, “Blacks are of a better nature, easier to manage and teach, very useful,” he writes (translated). “They show themselves more loyal to and loving of their owners; while stubborn, they have been seen to commit great excessos [feats?]. They want to be treated with tenderness, but without excusing them from punishment when they deserve it” (fol. 307v). This particular opinion, absent from Garzoni’s original, represents a significant change in prejudicial European views of both race and religion. To be sure, Garzoni did have a chapter on slaves and servants. Slavery had been present in Europe since time immemorial after all. But a new dynamic was introduced when the Portuguese began bringing African slaves to the continent in the 1440s, many of whom were Christianized and thus viewed more favorably than their Muslim peers. “Suárez de Figueroa’s impression of blacks as obedient and passive participates in a larger early modern Spanish metanarrative that constructs a binary opposition between black Africans, on the one hand, and Moors and moriscos (as well as gypsies and Jews) on the other, thus positioning blacks as ‘non-threatening ally’ and Muslims as ‘threatening enemy’” (Jones). True to form, the chapter otherwise cites the usual classical and biblical sources in defense of slavery. As a guide to all sciences and arts, of course, the authors discuss far more than slavery. Its 111 chapters address astrologers, singers, courtesans, poets and writers, carpenters, students, teachers and professors, printers and booksellers (Gutenberg correctly identified as Europe’s first printer), mathematicians, painters, the poor. We find chapters on the known world, America and Africa included. The index is extensive, and here expanded further still by a former owner. Rare in the first edition, no copies traced in North America. PROVENANCE: A few early marginal notes and dozens of handwritten additions to the index. Monogram at foot of spine."
Folger accession
271771