Scarce Madrid court almanac for 1797 bound with the Estado Militar and the rare Guia de Litigantes, illustrated with a hand-coloured map of Iberia and an engraved portrait of King Carlos III after Goya.
Hand-Coloured Iberian Map · Portrait of Carlos III After Goya
Bibliographic Details
Condition
Good internally but in a fair binding. The front board is detached but present. The boards and spine are rubbed and worn, with some loss to the detail of the blind-stamped decoration.
Title page slightly dusty with a small closed tear to the inner margin, without loss. Paper lightly age-toned throughout, somewhat more noticeably between pages 37–60 of the first part. Otherwise clean and complete.
Description
The Kalendario Manual y Guía de Forasteros en Madrid was one of the principal official almanacs of the Spanish court, issued annually from the early eighteenth century. These volumes served as both practical guides and official directories, listing members of the royal household, state officials, and important institutions of the Spanish monarchy.
The present example is particularly interesting for being bound together with two companion works: the Estado Militar de España, detailing the organisation and hierarchy of the Spanish military establishment, and the Guía de Litigantes y Pretendientes, a guide intended for those seeking offices, favours, or advancement within the administrative structures of the Spanish crown.
Together these three parts offer a fascinating snapshot of the political, military, and bureaucratic world of late eighteenth-century Spain.
Notes
The final section, Guía de Litigantes y Pretendientes, is notably scarce and does not appear in all surviving copies of the almanac, making the present three-part example particularly desirable.
The engraved map of the Iberian Peninsula and the portrait of King Carlos III after Francisco Goya, engraved by Manuel Salvador Carmona, add considerable visual appeal to this compact but historically rich court publication.