Title
La Celestina [Comedy of Calisto and Melibea]
De Rojas, Fernando (Puebla de Montalván, Toledo, ca. 1465 - Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, 1541)
Generic classification
BookObject
BookDate
1499Century
15th c.Cultural context / style
Renaissance literatureMaterial
PaperTechnique
PrintingIconography / Theme
TragicomediaProvenance
Burgos (Burgos, Spain)Current location
The Hispanic Society of America (New York, United States)Inventory Number in Current Collection
Inc75Object history
Archer M. Huntington wished to acquire this volume and tried to obtain it from Bernard Quaritch in London, but his attempts were unsuccessful; it would be Richard Bennet who would obtain it. Later, Bennet's collection was acquired by John Pierpont Morgan, who considered that this volume would be better kept at the Hispanic Society . Thus it ended up in Huntington's hands with a dedication: "with cordial regards", J. Pierpont Morgan (Lenaghan, P. et, al.).
Description
This volume was edited in Burgos by Fadrique Biel de Basilea in 1499 and is one of the most valued in the Hispanic Society's collection. In its library of "rare books", the institution preserves fifty-two editions or translations prior to 1632. In 1792, Calixto y Melibea was banned by the Inquisition because of its erotic and violent themes (Lenaghan, P. et. al.).
The story of La Celestina is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a law student at the University of Salamanca and currently has numerous theories about its genesis and the partial sources that are known, mainly the Ms. of the Library of the Royal Palace of Madrid, speak of different endings for the protagonists. Be that as it may, the first edition of the book has sixteen acts and several preliminary texts and later five more acts and a new character, Centurio, were added, completing the work under the title: Tragicomedy of Calixto and Melibea .
The text follows the humanist models of the time, articulated in the form of a dialogue with a didactic purpose; there are numerous quotations of authority (Castro de Guisasola, F.) and it takes place in a university environment.
This is one of the most relevant Spanish literary volumes that has been translated into numerous languages, including Latin. The Hispanic Society preserves the only copy of its first edition and the beauty of its pages, as well as its illustrations, is outstanding.
Locations
1499
province
Burgos, Burgos (Spain)
1836First half of the XIXth c.
1836First half of the XIXth c. - 1845
private collection
Alexandre Martineau de Soleinne, Paris (France) *
1845First half of the XIXth c. - 1848
private collection
Isidore Justin Sèverin Taylor, Paris (France) *
1890 XIXth c.
private collection
Archille Seillière, Paris (France) *
1890 - 1895
dealer/antiquarian
Bernard Quaritch, London (United Kingdom) *
1895 XIXth c. - ca. 1903Early XXth c.
private collection
Richard Bennet, Chicago (United States) *
ca. 1903 - 1909
private collection
John Pierpont Morgan, New York (United States) *
ca. 1909 - present
Bibliography
- CASTRO GUISASOLA, Florentino (1973): Observaciones sobre las fuentes literarias de La Celestina., Madrid.
- ESCOBAR, Ángel (2010): "La lengua del Carmen Campidoctoris", nº 10.
Record manager
Gracia María Gil MartínCitation:
Gracia María Gil Martín, "La Celestina [Comedy of Calisto and Melibea]" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/242
Fernando de Rojas, la Celestina, Burgos, 1499
La Celestina
Cover of “La Celestina” in its version of “Tragicomedy of Calixto and Melibea”. Valencia, 1514. National Library of Spain.
Facade of the la Celestina Museum
Museum of La Celestina, in La Puebla de Montalván, Toledo.