BENITO MONFORT, 1716 1785: A TENTATIVELIST OF HOLDINGS IN THE REFERENCE

DIVISION OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY

H. G. WHITEHEAD

BENITO M O N F O R T is the last of the three best-known printers in eighteenth-centurySpain to be considered in this series of articles.^ He is generally thought to be the mostgifted of a group of printers centred in Valencia and in a wider context he is regarded bysome as not much inferior to Ibarra himself.

Monfort, or, to give him his full name, Benito Monfort y Besades, was born in Valenciain 1716, the son of Jose Monfort, a weaver, and Margarita Besades. He learned theprinting trade in the shop of Antonio Bordazar, where his contemporary, and founder ofanother well-known Valencian printing firm, Jose de Orga, was manager.

In 1757, he set up on his own, calling himself'Impresor del Seminario de la Compaiiiade Jesus'. His press was 'junto al Hospital de los Pobres Estudiantes', in the Calle delTemple, now Salva, not far from the University. In April 1759, he petitioned the TownCouncil to be allowed to describe himself as 'Impresor de la Ciudad', this situation havingbecome vacant on the death of Bordazar's widow. On this occasion, however, the petitionwas unsuccessful, and the title went to Bordazar's son-in-law, Jose Tomas Santos. Finally,in 1773, on the death of Santos, Monfort gained his long-coveted title of'Impresor de laCiudad'.

Monfort's first marriage was to Rosa Asensi, and there were three sons: Manuel(1736-1806), Benito (d. 1788), and Ramon (d. 1806.?). The first-born was to become anengraver of some renown, rising to become Director of Engraving at the Real Academia deBellas Artes de San Carlos. Later, in 1761, he was granted membership of the MadridAcademia de San Fernando, and thereafter was frequently in Madrid. This probablyexplains why, after his father's death, he had little direct, day-to-day influence on therunning of the press. He is now probably best remembered for the thirty-three engravingshe did for the Ibarra edition of Don Quijote, issued in 1771, and also for his artisticdirection of the production of the Ibarra Sallust in the following year.

The second son Benito took complete charge of the press, mainly because of his elderbrother's frequent absences, only for the brief period 1785 8. Details of the third brotherare almost non-existent, though it is known that he controlled the press for a period. Likehis eldest brother, he was an engraver.

In January 1761, Benito Monfort, the father, contracted a second marriage, withLuisa Gomez, by whom he had five children, none of whom appears to have survived

51

beyond the age of twenty, and none of whom had anything to do with the runningof the press. Monfort died on 12 March 1785, a few months before his contemporary,Ibarra.

The great care which Monfort exercised in his craft is shown almost from his earliestproductions. One calls to mind the 1764 edition of Carlos Ros, Dtccionario valenciano-castellano, with its nicely designed title-page and charming engraved initials; the 1765edition of Vives, Lntroduccion a la sabiduria, with its engraved title-page, and the out-standing 1770 edition of Luis de Leon's classic De los nombres de Cristo (in which theepistle dedicatory, to D. Francisco Javier de Borbon, Infant of Spain, was written by theprinter himself). This edition has been described by Palau as the finest ever produced ofthe work.-̂

It was perhaps inevitable that during the course of his printing career, Monfort shouldhave been appointed official printer to many dignitaries and corporate bodies. Besidesbeing official printer to the Jesuits, the City and University of Valencia, otherappointments came from the Tribunal de Montesa, the Escuelas Pias, the Bishop ofTeruel, the Capitania General, the Real Audiencia, and the Real Academia de BellasArtes.

Amongst the outstanding works printed in this first period of the press were the Crdnicade don Juan II (fig. i) and the Crdnica de los Reyes Catolicos (fig. 2), which appeared in 1779and 1780 respectively.

The Crdnica de don Juan II is described by Updike^ as a 'readable folio', with goodpresswork on excellent paper. But he criticised the title-page, perhaps unfairly, as aVretched mixture of shaded, decorated and plain roman capitals'. I say unfairly, becausethe same criticism could no doubt be levelled by the purist at the edition of Luis de Leonalready described, and yet both editions have been highly praised as examples ofMonfort's work. ^

The 1780 Crdnica de los Reyes Catolicos, by contrast, has a much simpler title-page andeven better design and layout. There are copper plates, evidently Spanish in origin, andthe book, as a whole, has a typically Spanish 'old-style' appearance.

Menendez y Pelayo, whilst criticising the textual accuracy of both these chronicles, hadnothing but praise for their typography and printing, in his opinion some of the finest everseen in Spain.^

Perhaps Monfort's best production, certainly the one most cited as an example of hiswork, is Perez Bayer: De numis hebraeo-samaritanis (figs. 3, 4) published as a large paperquarto in 1781. The author was a revered figure in eighteenth-century scholarship and thisgreat work on Hebrew coins has been well handled by his printer. The type used was the'texto' shown in Bordazar's Plantijicacidn,^ ^nd illustrated in Updike (vol. 2, pi. 222); thelatter also observes how beautifully the Latin displays these types, which are 'of severeclassical form and lighter in effect than most types used in Spain at that time. They have,especially lines set in capitals, a noble "inscriptional" quality and all that Monfort had todo to make a masterpiece was to stick to them!' The preliminaries have headpieces andengraved initials of great charm, but Updike thought them out of place in a work of such

52

C R a K I C ADEL SENOll IIEY BON JU

SbC.l NIK) DU l.sTh NOMUKl-.

EN CASTILLA Y EN LEON,

FERN AN PEREZ 1) E CUHM. • C.ON LAS c a M K . A t lONl S \ ' Sl.MIU ANZAS

JM-: iA>,s . S E S , O K I ; S R K V I:.S

DON ENRIQUE III. Y DON JUANV D i; (J I R U S

l'RiLADOS \' CABALLl.ROS DL: AQUhX

DEL MIS MO AUTOR.

CORRKtilTJA , ENMENDADA , Y AlMCtOXADA

POR EL DOTOR LORESZO CALINDEZY AUMENTADA EN ESTA ULTIMA EDJCION

ALCUKAS K

EN VALENCIA:

1- N L A I M l ' K L N l A D 1. Ii 1: N I ' t O Al O N 1-(.) K 1

Fig. I. Perez de Guzman, Crdnica del Senor Rey Don Juan Segundo (Valencia, 1779), title-page.

c n o N1 c Al U I O S M N O I l l S R r \ ' l S C . A T O l . U . C V S

DON l•ilR?>^\NI)() Y DO.XA ISABiiLVL C.V S T i i. i. A 'i \)E A R A C. 0 , \ ,

!•; s c R I T \

/\i/v' >7' CIIO?>L<TJ JU:ii\./\DO DEL PVLCAU

C O T l.X A PA

CON AXTIGUOS iMANlISCRITCS

V AT Mr. K TAD A

1)1 \ . \ R I A S IL I ' S T l l A C I O N t S Y E N M I L N ' D A S .

VALENCIA:

N 1 \ I M I ' K i N T A 1)1- i l i : \ M T O M U N

A N O jM D C C L K \ \ .

Fig. 2. Pulgar. Crdnica de los Senores Reyes Catdlicos (Valencia, 1780), title-page. 1575/80

FRANC. rERi:z i i B A V I : R I I

A R C IJ I IJ I A C U .\ i \ A L E \ TIM

SVAi. I l l S P . 1 M ' A . \ T \ M

C A U O L I I I I . U !• c; I S I I L l U K \ ' M

1 .\ S T I T \ T (J R I S P i n M . V R 11

D 1: N V M 1 S

HEBRAEO SAMARITANIS

VALKNTIAE EDETANOR\ ,M

E\ Ol'FlCINA BENi';i)lCTI MOXFORT

M DCC LVX.M.

Fig. J. Perez Bayer, De numis hebraeo-samaritanis (Valencia, 1781), title-page. 673^.12

DE NVJMIS

1IE13RAEO-SAMARITANISBISSERTJTIO ISACOOICA

AD TRACTATVAI

Dc Phocnicum ct Graccorum in Hisp.mia

| \UCLUU.

CAPVT PRIMVM.S in Om'Ji'ntc li

itiLi. Siiipt-'irs dc uumls H':b)-L-'.cn-SJ!ii;.rr/n:!!is.

OJ'.; is. /Vunvji'um f-IctrLlco-Svinhir/TC.n •i-'ii:

non tii'it cum i-inmuin cic Phoeni-

Gr.iccoruiii in H'h.p.ini.i n-jmls agc-

vl , UL- iis Lti.im quo-. S.uiurlr.'.nuj

, cum .ib HubrAcis pcr-

;cri:vc :iiir p«McLin; quip-y

pe quum ul nilhi un'iL\: pi-opoiituni fmssct, ut qii-ic longoA et

Fig. 4. Perez Bayer, De numis hebraeo-samaritanis (Valencia, 1781), p. i. 673.i.i2

dignified scholarship. It is possible to discount this relatively minor criticism, whilstaccepting the American typographer's judgement that the work was years ahead of its timein the establishment of a harmony between the printer's typography and the author'sformidable scholarship.

The work which occupied Monfort most during his final years was his edition ofMariana's Historia de Espana (fig. 5). As had been agreed around 1781, the work was to beannotated by Domingo Morico, who died suddenly early in 1782, after a large part of thefirst volume had already been printed. Monfort then approached Vicente Blasco andVicente Noguera with a request to continue the annotations to the edition. However, ondiscovering that Morico's work was far from complete and indeed, mainly taken fromFrench sources, they proposed to Monfort that the part already printed should bescrapped and a new start made with fresh annotations. Monfort agreed, in spite of thefinancial embarrassment, and the first volume appeared in 1783.

This fine work, which Monfort did not hve to see completed, merited the praise ofCharles III: the prologue to volume 2, issued in 1785, contains a quotation from a letter,written on 24 April 1783 by the Count of Floridablanca to the editors, at the King'scommand, to express His Majesty's special satisfaction at the beauty of the edition. ('ElRey, a quien he presentado el primer tomo de la Historia de Espana que escribio el PadreJuan de Mariana, ha visto con particular complacencia la hermosura de su edicionexecutada por el habil impresor D. Benito Monfort. . . ')

In the same prologue, the death of the printer, on 21 March 1785, was announced, withthe information that the edition would be completed under the direction of Monfort's sonBenito, 'no menos habil y zeloso que su padre'. The remaining volumes were issued asfollows: tomo 3 in 1787, tomo 4 in 1788, tomo 5 in 1789, tomo 6 in 1790, tomo 7 in 1791,tomo 8 in 1795, and tomo 9 in 1796.

The book was published by subscription, the King himself apparently intervening tohelp overcome certain legal difficulties concerning the new edition. Once again, Updikecriticised the preliminary matter but says of the text itself: 'in a good, modelled, lateeighteenth-century old style . . . well arranged and very handsome. The paper and ink areexcellent, the imposition most elegant and as a whole it is a successful piece of printing'.

A curious feature of Monfort's printing career is noted by Lasala: unlike his twocontemporaries Ibarra and Sancha, the Monfort press did not produce any edition of theSpanish Golden Age classics, such as works by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, etc.This is perhaps all the more surprising when one recalls the artistic excellence of hisproductions.

It was to Manuel Monfort that the press was entrusted by the terms of the will of BenitoMonfort, but as at the time of his father's death, Manuel was Director of the School ofEngraving of the Academia de San Carlos in Valencia, and was fully committed, the day-to-day direction of the press was handed over to his brother Benito.

There is also a quite striking difference, and again, this is alluded to by Lasala, betweenthe Ibarra and the Monfort presses in the way the succession was handled. In the case ofthe former, the heirs were quick to note the change in their imprints: these appeared in

57

HISTORIAGENERAL DE ESPANA

OLE KSCKIBIO

EL P. JUAN DE MARIANAILUSTRADA HN ESTA NUEVA IMPRESION

DE TABLAS CROJfOLOGICAS

NOTAS Y OBSKRVACIONES CRITICAS

LA VLDA BEL AUTOR.

TOMO PRIMERO.

CON SUPERIOR. PERMISO

EN VALENCIA Y OFICINA DE BENITO MONFORTA S O MDCCLXXXIH.

Mariana, Historia general de Espana (Valencia, 1783), title-page. 181.g.2

a variety of forms: 'Viuda de Ibarra, Hijos y Compania', 'Viuda de Ibarra', *Viuda e Hijade Ibarra', and even 'Nietos de Ibarra'. By contrast, on Monfort's death, his wife, sons,and grandson seemed content to leave the imprint as it always had been: 'Imprenta deBenito Monfort'. It continued thus until 1853, when the press was sold to the proprietor ofthe periodical El Valenciano. The name Monfort still appeared, no doubt for reasons ofprestige, until about 1859—the imprint appearing in the form: 'El Valenciano, antes deD. Benito Monfort', which, as Guastavino Gallent observes, 'contiene toda la tristeza delos epitafios'.

The following tentative list of holdings in the Reference Division of the British Libraryis based mainly on the list given in Ruiz Lasala's bibliography of Monfort, an impressivework listing 439 books printed up to 1785, the year of Monfort's death. Of this total, I haveidentified a mere forty-six as being in the Library.

1759LEGIPONT, O. Itinerario en que se contiene el

modo de hacer con utilidad los viages a cortesestranjeras. Por Benito Monfort, junto alHospital de los Estudiantes. 8°.

790.c.26.

1760

MAYANS Y SISCAR, G. Carta escrita al DotorDon Vicente Calatayud. 4*̂ .

1762

TERENCE. Las seis comedias de Terencio. Trad,por Pedro Simon Abril. 2 tom. 8°.

1764

Ros, C. Diccionario valenciano-castellano. Enla Imprenta de Benito Monfort, junto alHospital de los Estudtantes. 8°.

12943.aa.19.

1765VrvES, J. L. Introduccion a la sabiduria. Trad,

por D. de Astudillo. The title-page is en-graved. 12^.

1766

BuoNAMici, C. Count. Memorias de los sucesosde Veletri. Escritas en lengua latina y puestas

en la castellana por D Noguera y Ramon. PorBenito Monfort, Impressor del IlustrissimoCabtldo de su Metropolitana Iglesia. 8°.

1486.aaa.31.

1767

ViVESj.L.Dialogos.Trad.porelDr.ChristovalCovet, y Peris. Quarta edicion. Corregido eltexto, y mejorada traduccion. Latin andSpanish. 8°.

1768

BERNUS, A. Propositiones selectae ex SacraScriptura, ex theologia dogmatica, schola-stica, & morali, ex historia ecclesiastica, et exquatuordecim Libris P Alphonsi de CastroZamorensis, etc. Valentiae Edetanorum: InTypographia Benedicti Monfort. fol.

i488.dd.9.

CARLEVALIUS, T . Disputationum Juris variarumad interpretationem regiarum legum RegniCatelae. 2 tom. fol.

710.1.2,3.

1769

GALIANA, L . Rondalla de rondalles. Compostaper un curios apassionat a la Uengua Uemosina(i.e. L. Galiana). Per Benet Monfort, any1769. 8°.

12489.6.18.

59

SAN PEDRO, B . de. Arte del romance castellano.En la Imprenta de Benito Monfort, Impressordel Colegto Andresiano. 2 torn. 8".

Cabades Magi. Ex praelo Benedicti Monfort,Academiae Valentinae Typographi. 4".

1770LE6N, L . de. Augustinian. De los nombres de

Cristo. Nueva edicion enmendada. 4".i493.h.2.

1773

BREVE de nuestro muy santo padre ClementeXIV por el qual Su Santidad suprime,deroga, y estingue el instiruto y orden de losClerig;os Regulares, denominados de laCompafiia de Jesus. En la Imprenta de BenitoMonfort, Impresor de la Excelentisima Ciudad.fol.

i473.dd.4(22).

REAL Cedula de S.M. y Senores de su Consejo,encargando a los tribunales superiores,Ordinarios Eclesiasticos, y Justicias de estosReynos, cuiden respectivamente de laegecucion del Breve de Su Santidad, por elqual se anula, disuelve, y estingue per-petuamente la Orden de Regulares, llamadala Compania de Jesus. En la Imprenta deBenito Monfort, Impresor de la ExcelentisimaCiudad. fol.

REAL Ordenanza adicional a la de reemplazosde tres de noviembrc de mil setecientos isetecientos i setenta. fol.

i473.dd.4(2o).

1774

ARIAS MONTANO, B. Monumentos sagrados dela salud del hombre que en verso latino cantoen LXXII odas D Benito Arias Montano i enverso espanol el P Benito Feliu de San Pedro.8«.

ii45i.b.io.

CABADES MAGI, A. Sacra Doctrina in pctitionecathcd. quac locorum theologicorum ex-plicatione regitur asserenda a P F Augustino

1775ARIAS MONTANO, B. Rhetoricum Libri IIII. Ex

praelo Benedicti Monfort, Archiep. Valent.Typ. 8".

IGLESIAS DE LA CASA, J . A1 111"̂ ". Senor D".Felipe Beltran dignissimo Obispo deSalamanca, en su empleo de InquisidorGeneral de Espana, Cancion pindarica. 4°.

11451.C.30.

1776

HuRTADO DE MENDOZA, D . Guerra de Granada.Nueva impresion completa de lo que faltavaen las anteriores. 4°.

281.e.4.

REALES aranceles formados por resolucion deS M a consulta del Consejo. En la Oficina deBenito Monfort, impresor de la Real Audiencia.fol.

i473.dd.4(i8).

VIRGIL. La Eneyda. Trad, en verso castellanopor G Hernandez de Velasco. En la Oficina deBenito Monfort, Impresor del II.mo Sr.Arzobispo. 2 tom. 8°.

11385.cc.10.

1777

INSTITUCIONES economicas de la Sociedad deAmigos del Pais de la Ciudad, i Reino deValencia. Primera parte. No more published.

RELACION de los premios, que la Sociedad deAmigos del Pais de Valencia, y su Reyno,ofrece por primera vez. 4**.

1778

PERSECUCION contra la religion Christiana ymartirio que padecieron en la Provincia

60

de Fokien en la China cinco religiososDominicanos. 4*'.

PfeREZ BAYER, F . Franc. Perezii BayeriiArchidiaconi Valentini Dc numis hebraeo-

samaritanis. L.P. fol.

REGLAMENTO para el govierno del Monte-Pio deViudas, y pupilos de los abogados del ilustre [ANOTHER COPY.] L.P.colegio de la ciudad de Valencia, fol.

1473.dd.4(4). SAMANIEGO, F . M . Fabulas en verso castellano

[ANOTHER COPY.] para uso del Real Seminario Bascongado. 4.^.i473.dd.4(26a). 4017.h.28.

1779 1782

ORDENANZA de S.M. en que se previene, y CATECISMO del Santo Concilio de Trento paraestablece el recogimiento de vagos. Afio 1775. los parrocos. Trad, por A. Zorita. PublicadoReimpresa por Benito Monfort. fol. de orden del Rey. fol.

PEREZ DE GUZMAN, F . Cronica del Seiior ReyDon Juan Segundo. Corregida, enmendada,y adicionada por L Galindez de Carvajal,y aumentada en esta ultima edicion dealgunas notas manuscritas del mismo. fol.

REAL Cedula de S.M. y Senorcs del Consejo porla qual se manda guardar, y cumplir la Realresolucion de 16 de Agosto de 1776. fol.

1780

PuLGAR, H. del. Cronica de los Sefiores ReyesCatolicos Don Fernando y Dofia Isabel deCastilla y de Aragon. fol.

1575/80.

[ANOTHER COPY.] Imperfect; wanting the list ofsubscribers.

594.k.i2.

1781

CoNTiNUACiON de la noticia historica de la RealAcademia de las nobles artes establecida enValencia con el titulo de San Carlos; yrelacion de los premios, que distribuyo en lasJuntas publicas de 6 de noviembre de 1776,y 26 del mismo mes de 1780. fol.

MONFORT Y BESADES, B. Plan de una nuevaimprcsion de la Historia de Espana queescribio Juan dc Mariana, que ofrece porsubscripcion Benito Monfort. fol.

9 1 8 0 . h . I I .

ViVES, J. L. Joannis Ludovici Vivis ValentiniOpera omnia. Tomus i. ii, iii. fol.

3675.C.10.

1783

MARIANA, J. de. Historia general de Espaiia.Tomo primero. fol.

181.g.2.

ViVES, J. L. Joannis Ludovici Vivis ValentiniOpera omnia. Tomus iv. fol.

3675.C.10.

1784

CONTINUACION de la noticia historica dc la RealAcademia de las nobles artes establecida enValencia con el titulo de San Carlos; yrelacion de los premios que distribuyo en laJunta General de 2 de Sctiembre y en lapublica de i de noviembre de 1783. fol.

ViVES, J. L. Joannis Ludovici Vivis ValentiniOpera omnia. Tomus v. fol.

3675.C.10.

61

MARIANA, J. de. Historia general de Espana.Tomo segundo. Vols. j-g were printed afterMonforfs death, fol.

i8i.g.3.

SERRANO. T . Thomae Serrani De Civitatibus

antiquae Hispaniae feriendae monetae jureusis. 4**.

6o2.e.i6(4).ViVES, J. L. Joannis Ludovici Vivis Valentini

Opera omnia. Tomus vi. Vols. 7, 8 wereprinted after Monforfs death, fol.

3675.C.10.

1 The British Library Journal., vi, 2 (1980) and ix, 2(1983). On Benito Monfort see also: G. GuastavinoGallent, La Imprenta de don Benito Monfort,ijSj~i8s2 (Madrid, 1943); I. Ruiz Lasala, D.Benito Monfort y su oficina tipografica (Saragossa,

1974)-2 A. Palau y Dulcet, Manual del Librero hispano-

americano (Barcelona, 1948-77), tom. 7, no.135342: 'Bella y estimada edicion, la mejor queexiste de esta celebre obra.'

3 D. B. Updike, Printing Types (London, 2nd edn.,1937), vol. ii, p. 77, etc.

4 Menendez y Pelayo, Obras del Abate Marchena,tom. 2, p. 53: 'es lastima que la correccion del textono corresponda siempre a la belleza y pulcritud delos tipos y de la estampacion, que es de lo masperfecto que nunca se vio en Espaiia . . .' C^otedby J. E. Serrano y Morales, Resena historica enforma de diccionario de las imprentas que han existidoen Valencia (Valencia, 1898, 99), p. 338.

5 A. Bordazar de Artazu, Plantificacion de la im-prenta de el Rezo Sagrado (Valencia, 1732), B.L.,

T.i9*(53)-

62