GOBIERNO SUPREMO DEL ESTADO DE COAHUILA Y TEJAS. EL GOBERNADOR DEL ESTADO DE COAHUILA Y TEJAS, A TODOS SUS HABITANTES, SABED: QUE EL CONGRESO DEL MISMO ESTADO HA DECRETADO LO SIGUIENTE. DECRETO NUM. 144 [caption title]

[Coahuila and Texas]: [Bangs, Samuel]

Verlag: [Samuel Bangs], Leona Vicario [Saltillo], 1830

[1]p., printed on a folded folio leaf, with integral blank leaf. In Spanish, notation in manuscript at bottom, "Alc. de Allende." Minor staining at top edge, light foxing. Very good. A rare surviving Mexican Texas legal decree on educational prizes and award books, emanating from the state legislature of Coahuila y Tejas, and printed by Samuel Bangs. This copy was issued to the mayor of Allende, Coahuila, located about forty miles south of the Rio Grande. It is signed in type by José María Viesca, the governor of Coahuila y Tejas at the time of its printing, and his secretary Santiago del Valle, with both of their manuscript rubrics following their printed names. The decree (the following English excerpts of which come from the English translation in Kimball) directs that "three silver medals, of 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes be ordered to be made, to be paid out of the municipal fund of the state, to be restored, and that the national ensign be engraved on the said medals, encircled with the following inscription: Reward of virtue and application - to serve on days of public school visits as a mark of distinction for the pupils most deserving in their respective schools. The medals shall be attached to blue bands, with a rosette at the extremity; upon the band of the first, the aforementioned motto shall be embroidered with gold, upon that of the second, with silver thread; and that of the third shall be plain." These "prizes and tokens of distinction" are to be held and awarded by the Ayuntamientos in consultation with the teachers of each public school "on days of examination." In addition to the achievement medals, the decree orders the printing of additional copies of Fleuris' Castillian grammars, orthography books, and catechisms "to be distributed as prizes among the pupils, who excel in virture and application." There was a long tradition of awarding books as educational prizes for exceptional students in Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere. The present example stands as historical proof of the importance of education in early national Mexico, and is an exceedingly-early document relating to public education in Texas. "Orders three grades of medals to best students, with gold, silver, and plain edges. Also a sufficient number of copies of 'la gramática, ortográfica castellana, and catecismo de Fleuri" - Spell. The present decree was printed by the most famous printer in Texas history. According to Texas bibliographer and bookseller John H. Jenkins, Samuel Bangs was also the "first printer in Texas, the first printer in three Mexican states, and the first printer west of the Louisiana Purchase." From about 1817 until his death in 1854, Bangs served as a printer for the Mina expedition, the Mexican government before the Texas Revolution (including the states of Tamaupilas and Coahuila y Tejas), various printing shops in the United States, and in various cities in the Republic of Texas, mainly Houston and Galveston. He has been the subject of two book-length biographical/bibliographic treatments: Lota M. Spell's PIONEER PRINTER and Jenkins' PRINTER IN THREE REPUBLICS. Bangs printed the present work during his time as official printer to the state legislature of Coahuila and Texas, which had lured him away from the government of Tamaulipas in 1828. Despite his rather prolific output, Bangs imprints are rarely encountered in today's market. Jenkins notes two institutional copies of this decree, at the Archivo General de Historia del Estado de Coahuila and the University of Texas at Austin. The only copy in OCLC appears in a serial record at Yale, though there may be other copies hiding in other serial records. In any case, a rare decree relating to the encouragement of education from the state legislature of Mexican Texas, printed by the most prominent printer in Texas history. KIMBALL, p.157. JENKINS, PRINTER IN THREE REPUBLICS 367. SPELL 287. OCLC 173724746. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM56016

Bibliografische Details

Titel: GOBIERNO SUPREMO DEL ESTADO DE COAHUILA Y ...
Verlag: [Samuel Bangs], Leona Vicario [Saltillo]
Erscheinungsdatum: 1830