Abstract

ROMERO RAMIREZ, Martha Elena. A XVI Century Travel Diary as an Introduction to the Practices of Rescue and Recovery of Water Damaged Books. Intervención (Méx. DF) [online]. 2021, vol.12, n.24, pp.14-53.  Epub Sep 26, 2022. ISSN 2007-249X.  https://doi.org/10.30763/intervencion.250.v2n24.29.2021.

This piece covers the actions taken for the care of waterlogged books in two diffe rent historical contexts. The first, found in the travel diary of friar Bartolomé De las Casas, when in the XVI century he left Salamanca (Spain) for Ciudad Real, in Chia pas (New Spain), as written by friar Tomás de la Torre. It describes in detail the trip and the rescue and recovery of the books that were shipwrecked with the Dominicans in the Bahía de Términos. The second context includes the rescue and recovery work carried out in Florence in 1966, after they suffered a great flood. The objectives and the rescue actions carried out in these two events are analyzed and compared, as well how their actions were determined by the types of bindings of the recovered books. The question of determining the historical value of De la Torre’s manuscript as the first document currently known that records the steps followed for the rescue and recovery of flooded books in Mexico is established.

Keywords : XVI century binding; rescue and salvage; waterlogged books; archeology of books; shipwrecks.