Spanish Jesuits Collection

The Spanish Jesuits Collection consists of 1 linear foot of manuscripts and correspondence by and about Spanish Jesuits from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. The material is arranged in ten folders in 2 boxes. The Spanish Jesuits Collection contains a special series, The Jose de Francisco de Isla Series, which consists of bound manuscripts and correspondence by and about Isla. Most of the material centers around Isla's Historia del Famoso Predicador Fray Gerundio de Campazas, a satire about bad preaching. The volume was published in 1758 and caused such an enormous uproar that it was banned by the Church in 1760. All of the manuscripts in the first three volumes of the series concern Gerundio, consisting of attacks and defenses of the work, mainly by clerics using pen names such as 'Carmelita Descalzo' (the Barefoot Carmelite), 'Padre Marco,' and 'Barbas Largas' (Long Beard). Many of these essays were published in Obras escogidas del P. Jose Francisco de Isla, but manuscripts in the collection often differ from those which have been published. All of the material in this series were purchased by Georgetown from Sotheby's, 28 June, 1976, lot 3942. The remainder of the collection consists of three bound sets of manuscripts and some correspondence by and about Spanish Jesuits, mostly around the time of their expulsion from Spain and the banning of their order. The first two bound manuscripts are anti-Jesuit and probably translations into Spanish from Latin. The third bound manuscript is a letter from the Procurador General of the Jesuits of the Indies to the King of Spain refuting charges of Jesuit mismanagement of funds in their operations in Mexico. There is also an interesting set of letters concerning the publication of Gerundio between P. Jose Martinez, S.J. and D. Augustin Sanchez Cabello, the Spanish Ambassador to Portugal. All the items in the second series were purchased by Georgetown from Sotheby's, 28 June, 1976, lot 3947. All the items in the Collection bear catalog numbers from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Some of the manuscripts were purchased by Phillipps from Henry George Bohn, Richard Heber and Thomas Thorpe.

Extent: 1 linear foot Number of Boxes: 2 Date Span: c. 1750 - c. 1850