This modest pamphlet is a catalog of dramatic works for sale by the noted Salamanca printer and bookseller Francisco de Tóxar. It has been in the collection of the Hispanic Society Museum & Library since 1956, when it was donated by the estate of the founder Archer M. Huntington. Thanks to John O’Neill, Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, we are able to share this item and situate it within the broader context of Comedias Sueltas USA’s corpus of plays printed as ephemera.
The eight-page pamphlet contains comedias, monólogos, and sainetes, available for purchase at Francisco de Tóxar’s print shop, where he operated from 1786 to 1807. From the very first page, the catalog’s commercial purpose is evident. A note preceding the list of titles on the first page advertises comedias sold wholesale at six reales per dozen. Additional pricing on pages 6–7 sets the cost at four reales per dozen for piezas and monólogos, and three reales per dozen for sainetes. Altogether, 103 titles are listed, of which 102 are printed and one (La Zayda) was added by hand at some point in time.
In comparable printers’ catalogs of ephemeral works from this period, authors are frequently omitted from the title listings. Tóxar’s catalog follows this approach for the most part, except for the final text on the last page which mentions Lope de Vega and his 14 Romances á la Pasion. Perhaps concluding with a mention of this renowned author was a way to draw the potential buyer’s attention.
A cross-check of the 103 titles listed in the catalog against the thousands of records in the database provides insight into editions we hope to locate. 75 titles were matched with records of plays bearing Francisco de Tóxar’s colophon. The remaining 28 titles, not found in the database, may still be located in one of the U.S. collections to be surveyed or in collections abroad. Naturally, it is impossible to know with certainty all that was produced in Tóxar’s printshop or what was sold based on this single pamphlet, as some titles may have been printed afterward, while others may have been omitted. A search of the database identified four Salamanca-printed titles bearing Francisco de Tóxar’s name in the colophon that do not appear in the pamphlet.
- Encantos de Medea
- Gitana de Menfis, Santa María egipciaca
- Tres galanes corridos
- Licenciado Vidriera
Without a publication date indicated in the catalog and with many of Tóxar’s sueltas undated, the pamphlet is estimated to have been printed no earlier than 1797, for the reason that one of the matched titles bears this date (La vieja hipócrita).
The Comedias Sueltas USA website and database surveys and analyzes published theatrical materials of the late 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries from a history of printing perspective. Highlighting this pamphlet underscores the popularity of these ephemeral printed works within a single printer’s business and positions them within the broader context of printing history. Printers and booksellers were eager to produce and sell ephemera of all kinds, with comedias being at the high end of the low end of the printing trade. It provided ready merchandise that helped support their business and offset the cost of their more expensive publications.
With this brief analysis of Tóxar’s printed catalog along with a previously studied 1829 Juan Francisco Piferrer catalog, we aim to look into the commercial aspects of the distribution of a printer’s goods specifically as it relates to comedias sueltas. It would be exciting to discover more of these catalogs as they reveal so much about one specific market of the early printing trade. We hope to feature other printer’s catalogs as they come to our attention as an extension of our project.