Regla, y establecimientos nueuos de la Orden, y Caualleria del Glorioso Apostol Santiago (1655)

This book’s title translates to Rule, and new establishments of the Order, and Cavalry of the Glorious Apostle Santiago.

The Order of Santiago was a Christian and military organization founded in Spain in the 12th century to battle Arab forces. By the 17th century, it served more as a fraternal organization.

This book is significant because it contains two engravings and several mistakes and modifications.

Engravings

These illustrations are engravings. To make an engraving, an artist uses a tool to physically carve designs into a metal plate. Then, these depressions are filled with ink for printing. Another similar method is known as etching, in which an artist uses acid to dissolve premade patterns on a plate. Both offer an artist more flexibility and detail in design than woodcuts. This is the only book in the C. W. Miller collection to contain etchings. Hover over the images above to learn more about them.

Mistakes and Modifications

This book shows signs of usage after publication. The book, therefore, represents a living, dynamic artifact with relevance beyond its initial creation. Some points of interest are shown below.

The title page of the book has been damaged and two names—Don Carlos de Arellano, Juan Gomes—are written in ink on it.
The margins on some of the book’s pages are smaller than others, showing evidence of rebinding. Books from this time were made with wide margins to allow for pages to be cut and rebound without damaging the text inside.
There are also several misprinted page numbers that have been corrected within the book. Mistakes like these were common because pages were printed individually. Printers later had the difficult job of making sure the pages were assembled in order.

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