Marcas de Fuego
Anyone who has handled early colonial Mexican books should be familiar with the Marcas de Fuego, or firebrands, used by religious orders to designate ownership. These brands, which were burned into the pages of books, can vary from simple monograms to elaborate designs based on shields, saints, or other symbols. Today, they provide vital information about the ownership history of rare books as historical artifacts.
According to the Catálogo Colectivo de Marcas de Fuego, the history of the Marcas de Fuego has not been fully established. It is thought that they originated in Spain during the sixteenth century, but their use in Nueva España was significantly more widespread. In the Americas, their use extended from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century, and centered mostly on religious institutions, though private collectors occasionally used the marcas de fuego as well. They are often seen as ownership marks that can be used in the study of provenance.
The Catálogo Colectivo de Marcas de Fuego is a website dedicated to the history of the marcas de fuego and a catalogue for use in identifying them. The images are organized by religious order, and feature a detailed description, including typology, observation, and affiliation.
Almost all surviving copies of the Advertencias have at least one brand, usually on the edge of the book; many have multiple overlaid brands, perhaps indicating the circulation of the exemplar.
The exemplar of the Advertencias at the Biblioteca Franciscana in Cholula, Mexico, for example, features a marca de fuego identified by the Catálogo as associated with the Convento de las Llagas de San Francisco de Puebla, or possibly the Convento Grande de San Francisco de Mexico (BJML-12075). The brand is identified as figurativa (figurative), and shows, according to the catalogue description, an oval "en cuyo campo aparece la figura de un monje sosteniendo una cruz con la mano izquierda. Alrededor ... hay una leyenda que dice: CONVENTVSS FRANCICI [crismón] SICILLVM."
In contrast, the first copy of the Advertencias at the Biblioteca Burgoa in Oaxaca, Mexico, features two overlapping brands; it's unclear from the image whether they are both burned, or whether one may have been marked in ink. The larger mark is identified in the catalogue as a figurative mark from the Convento de San Ildefonso (or of San Francisco) de Oaxaca, though it has previously been associated with the Convento de San Cosme in Mexico City (BF-12040). The mark, the catalogue explains, shows the "conformidades" emblem - two hands with stigmata meeting over a cross - which symbolizes the spiritual and physical union of Saint Francis of Assisi with Jesus Christ. The image is also shown on the title page of the Advertencias.
The second brand is a particularly interesting modification of the book. The brand, an epigraphic image that shows the Y,N,S, and T, pertains to the [Y]nstituto del estado de Oaxaca (the "y" here is an antiquated spelling; see marca BFB-17001). These brands were made by the Institute at Oaxaca in the mid-nineteenth century to mark every book which came into their possession after the Mexican nationalization of church property. They signify a unique moment in the internal circulation of Mexican patrimony.
A third example comes from the copy of the Advertencias held at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. This image is clearly epigraphic, made up of the intertwining letters "A", "C", "F", "R", "U", "I", "J", "S", with an "O" crowning the top (BFXC-16039). It is currently unidentified, though the interior of the book has marginal notes that suggest several possible owners, including an early note attributing the book to ""B[achille]r. Juan Antonio Moreno de Abalos" and dated August, 1797.
A third example comes from the copy of the Advertencias held at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. This image is clearly epigraphic, made up of the intertwining letters "A", "C", "F", "R", "U", "I", "J", "S", with an "O" crowning the top (BFXC-16039). It is currently unidentified, though the interior of the book has marginal notes that suggest several possible owners, including an early note attributing the book to ""B[achille]r. Juan Antonio Moreno de Abalos" and dated August, 1797.
This brief sampling of marcas de fuego associated with various copies of the Advertencias shows that the book was distributed across Mexico during the seventeenth century and incorporated into primarily Franciscan libraries. Further work could be done to catalogue these images and their affiliations and to work towards mapping the early distribution of this work.