Two Spanish verse chapbooks with devotional works by Gaspar Rodríguez

Abstract

In Perugias Biblioteca Comunale Augusta there is a collection of forty-four Spanish chapbooks, bound in a volume that has been listed under the shelfmark [I L 1402]. Two of them transcribe four hitherto unknown devotional works written in octosyllabic verses by Gaspar Rodríguez. In a poem with theopening line Un caso muy lastimero, Adams sin is contrasted with Christ's redemption, recasting in a pious sense some unknown Coplas de la Paparuana. A piece about the Virgin of the Rosary (Soy hermosa y acabada) inspired by the popular song Gila Giralda, documented in several accounts from the second half of the sixteenth century, some of them from Seville. The other two poems with the opening lines En estrecha confusión and Alto y sumo provisor treat the Lords Prayer and the rosary. We edited these four works and carried out a bibliographic study of the two chapbooks printed in 15621563. Although there is no indication of the printer, we attribute them to Joan Navarro, a printer established in Valencia, by analyzing some decorative elements and comparing them with the rest of the volume or with other printed booksheld in European libraries.