An Unknown Valencian Post-Incunabulum and the Emergence of a Literary Work: the Libre de la concepció de la verge Maria or Spill de la puritat by Francesc Moreno

Abstract

This article presents the first evidence of the existence of a Valencian post-incunabulum and a literary work on the Immaculate Conception, both previously unknown to scholars. The texts are preserved on a 1963 microfilm copy of the edition belonging to the private library of Catalan bibliophile Pedro Portabella. Despite the fact that only, a photographic reproduction—not the physical original—, has been preserved the microfilm is enough for a material and internal description of the post-incunabulum, as well as a complete recovery of the literary text. A material study of the post-incunabulum focuses on the cover, with its two engravings which allow us to relate the text to an earlier print edition and to reconstruct the engraving’s origins. A specific analysis is provided of the Immaculate Conception engraving on the cover, which, until now, was only known from editions from over a decade later and from other printing workshops. The historical figure of the author is reconstructed, whose output was limited to a single text in Spanish; the newly discovered editions expands this output with two other texts in Catalan, dating back twenty-five years. Francesc Moreno is identified as a teacher of arts and theology at the University of Valencia (ancient Estudi General), and this work is singled out as a precursor to the interest in commitment to the Immaculate Conception at the University of Valencia which were fostered by Rector Salaya. In sum, this article brings to light a previously unknown piece of the history of printed books and literature in Valencia, allowing shore up the interpretation pieces of said history.