De Las Antigva Lengva, Poblaciones, Y Comarcas de las Españas.
Bilbao, M. Mares 1587.
4to (191 x 128 mm.). [iv], 70, 36, [1] leaves. Woodcut arms of the main title.
Gilt-ruled red morocco (c. 1780), flat spine, title lettered vertically in a dotted-rule frame, all edges gilt, blue silk marker.
ONLY ANTIQUARIAN EDITION, ARGUABLY THE FOUNDATION OF BASQUE STUDIES.
This short account of ancient, medieval and contemporary Spain is in two parts. The first treats its peoples, history, customs, culture, clothing and languages with particular focus on the author’s native Basque region. His precise delineation of its late 16th-century linguistic boundaries is invaluable. HE WAS THE FIRST TO ADOPT AN ETYMOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF BASQUE, and his insistence that it was native to the peninsula proved prescient. “Poza's knowledge of the classification and distribution of languages in Europe was superior to that of contemporary scholars such as Gesner, Mesiger or Scaliger” (Estornes Lasa, tr.).
THE FIRST PRINTED GAZETTEER OF SPAIN — the first toponymic investigation of the Iberian peninsula — makes up the second part. Entries give the ancient and modern names for some five hundred cities, towns, villages and prominent topographical features along with their locations. Again, the focus is on the Basque country.
Poza (Poça) trained in law at Salamanca and studied mathematics, astronomy and cosmography in Flanders. For decades he provided legal council to the Señorío de Vizcaya, for whom he won an important case defending the rights of the Biscayan nobility against the crown prosecutor. He long held a seat on the Bilbao city council and was professor of navigation at the Nautical School at San Sebastián, which prompted the publication of his Hydrographia in 1585. A fine copy.
¶Allende Salazar, Biblioteca bascófilo 386; Sorarrain, Catálogo de obras euskaras 46; Vinson, Essai d’une bibliographie de la langue basque 5; Salvá y Mallén, Catálogo de la biblioteca 3130; Heredia, Catalogue (1894) 3083 “Rare and sought after” (tr.; Salvá copy, now Hispanic Society); Estornes Lasa, “Poza Yarza, Andrés de” in Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online.
Price: $9,800.00