THE CASTILIAN. By Don Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio, author of "Gomez Arias". (2 volumes).

Trueba y Cosio, Joaquin Telesforo de (1799-1835).

Published by New York: J.&J. Harper, 1829., 1829

About this Item

- Octavo, 8-1/8 inches high by 4-3/4 inches wide. Two volumes uniformly bound in the original light brown boards backed with reddish cloth spines with yellow title labels on the spines. The covers are rubbed and soiled with wear to the corners and head of the spines. The spines are faded and the cloth is splitting along the top of the front and rear joints of the first volume and somewhat less so along the top of the front and rear joints of the second volume. [6] & 232 deckle-edged pages; and 241 deckle-edged pages respectively, including the 6-page publishers catalog which precedes the text in the first volume. The pages are toned with scattered foxing throughout, particularly to the endpapers and pastedowns. An early owner's name is penned on the front endpaper of each volume. A portion of the second volume's rear blank leaf is torn. Good. First American edition. RARE.The Spanish author, novelist and dramatist Joaquin Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio (1799-1835) was born in the town of Arredondo in the Cantabrian region of Spain. His father sent Joaquin Telesforo and his brothers (one of whom was the draftsman and watercolorist Clara de Trueba y Cosio) to be educated in England. Joaquin Telesforo continued his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris where he gained an interest in pursuing a literary vocation. He started writing while still at the Sorbonne and, prior to his return to Spain, dedicated a sonnet to the Spanish General Rafael del Riego who was leading a liberal mutiny demanding that Spain reinstate its Constitution. Influenced by the works of Joseph Addison and Vittorio Alfieri, he wrote "The Death of Cato" and then "Elvira" after returning to Spain. Pursuing a diplomatic career, he was first posted to the Spanish embassy in Paris and subsequently to England. Back in Spain, the liberal voice expressed in his novels and plays was not always well received by the monarchy and he chose to emigrate to England in 1824. His earlier English education served him well as he went on to write historical novels in the English language, including the substantial "Gomez Arias or the Moors of the Alpujarras". This novel about the life of the libertine Don Juan who is forced by the monarchy to marry the woman he mocked and condemned him to death was compared by critics to the works of Walter Scott. He followed this with publication of the "Life of Hernan Cortes" in 1826 and then "The Castilian" in 1829, a novel describing the Knight Don Ferran de Castro's adventures during the violent reign of Pedro I of Castile. In 1834, following the death of Ferdinand VII, regent Maria Cristina granted an amnesty which allowed the expatriated Liberals to return to Spain. Joaquin Telesforo returned to take up a seat as Secretary for the Estate of Procurators and Attorney for Santander representing the Progressive party and collaborated on the Madrid newspaper "El Eco del Comercio". His health, however, was frail and a year later he returned to live in Paris with his mother where he died soon thereafter.

Seller Inventory # 94961

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE CASTILIAN. By Don Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio, author of "Gomez Arias". (2 volumes).
• Publisher: New York: J.&J. Harper, 1829.
• Publication Date: 1829
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature