Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 3
FERDINAND II. 1452-1516; AND ISABELLA I OF SPAIN. 1451-1504. Letter Signed ("Yo el Rey") from Ferdinand II advising Captain Don Juan de Silva
6 March 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$7,575 inc. premium
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FERDINAND II. 1452-1516; AND ISABELLA I OF SPAIN. 1451-1504.
Letter Signed ("Yo el Rey") from Ferdinand II advising Captain Don Juan de Silva that his camerlengo Moysen Ferrer should be followed regarding the "lady in Burgos" [his daughter Juana], 1 p, docketed to the verso, 252 x 214 mm, n.p., December 13th, 1508, folded, window-matted and bound;
WITH: Letter Signed ("Yo la Reina") from Isabel I to the city council of Alcala asserting her authority in a matter regarding the Duke of the Infantado [Diego Hurtado de Mendoza de la Vega y Luna], 1 p, 219 x 197 mm, n.p., January 28, 1503, folded, window-matted and bound;
IN: Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Boston: American Stationers' Company, 1838. 3 volumes. 8vo. Extra-illustrated with approximately 120 additional engraved portraits, views, maps and plans, as well as two original signed manuscripts described above, selected by Olivia Phelps Stokes. Bound "by a woman" in full morocco, covers decoratively stamped in black, with historical Spanish arms to upper covers, and arms of the United States to lower, bordered with linked pomegranate design, spines titled in gilt, with pomegranate device, silk endpapers with alternating red and yellow design of Granada, with castle (Castile) and Lion (Leon) designs, light rubbing to joints.
Provenance: Olivia E. Phelps Stokes (1847-1927); Board of Women Managers of the State of New York for the Columbian Exposition 1893 (bookplate); The Wednesday Afternoon Club (bookplate).
ORIGINAL SIGNED DOCUMENTS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, bound in an extra-illustrated 3-volume copy of Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella put together by Olivia Phelps Stokes for the 1893 World's Fair. Stokes was both editor and designer for these volumes, which according to the April 1893 issue of the Home-Maker were "bound by a woman," and went on to be displayed in the 1893 exposition.
The Ferdinand letter is particularly interesting in this context as it deals directly with his oversight of his daughter Juana (the "lady in Burgos"). With the death of Isabella in 1504, Juana had become the presumptive queen of Castile, and in 1506 her husband Philip King Jure uxoris. When Philip died later that year, Juana refused to leave his corpse, travelling with him to his burial in Granada, which fueled rumors that she was "mad." Employing those rumors, Ferdinand installed himself in her place against her will in August of 1507. Confined to Burgos, and eventually imprisoned in Tordeseillas, she retained her title in name only, until in 1517 with the death of Ferdinand, her son Charles I became King of Castile and Leon, and of Aragon. With tremendous thanks for cataloguing assistance to Professor Doctor Roger L. Martinez-Davila, University of Colorado (https://rogerlouismartinez.com).
WITH: Letter Signed ("Yo la Reina") from Isabel I to the city council of Alcala asserting her authority in a matter regarding the Duke of the Infantado [Diego Hurtado de Mendoza de la Vega y Luna], 1 p, 219 x 197 mm, n.p., January 28, 1503, folded, window-matted and bound;
IN: Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Boston: American Stationers' Company, 1838. 3 volumes. 8vo. Extra-illustrated with approximately 120 additional engraved portraits, views, maps and plans, as well as two original signed manuscripts described above, selected by Olivia Phelps Stokes. Bound "by a woman" in full morocco, covers decoratively stamped in black, with historical Spanish arms to upper covers, and arms of the United States to lower, bordered with linked pomegranate design, spines titled in gilt, with pomegranate device, silk endpapers with alternating red and yellow design of Granada, with castle (Castile) and Lion (Leon) designs, light rubbing to joints.
Provenance: Olivia E. Phelps Stokes (1847-1927); Board of Women Managers of the State of New York for the Columbian Exposition 1893 (bookplate); The Wednesday Afternoon Club (bookplate).
ORIGINAL SIGNED DOCUMENTS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, bound in an extra-illustrated 3-volume copy of Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella put together by Olivia Phelps Stokes for the 1893 World's Fair. Stokes was both editor and designer for these volumes, which according to the April 1893 issue of the Home-Maker were "bound by a woman," and went on to be displayed in the 1893 exposition.
The Ferdinand letter is particularly interesting in this context as it deals directly with his oversight of his daughter Juana (the "lady in Burgos"). With the death of Isabella in 1504, Juana had become the presumptive queen of Castile, and in 1506 her husband Philip King Jure uxoris. When Philip died later that year, Juana refused to leave his corpse, travelling with him to his burial in Granada, which fueled rumors that she was "mad." Employing those rumors, Ferdinand installed himself in her place against her will in August of 1507. Confined to Burgos, and eventually imprisoned in Tordeseillas, she retained her title in name only, until in 1517 with the death of Ferdinand, her son Charles I became King of Castile and Leon, and of Aragon. With tremendous thanks for cataloguing assistance to Professor Doctor Roger L. Martinez-Davila, University of Colorado (https://rogerlouismartinez.com).