The Lost Adonis of Antonio del Castillo de Larzával

One of the books recorded in Gallardo's Ensayo contains a poem, El Adonis, by Don Antonio del Castillo de Larzával (Gallardo 1968: II, cols. 310–11). Gallardo gave the format (quarto), transcribed the opening lines, and listed those who had contributed laudatory poems: they included Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Pedro Calderón, Antonio Mira de Amescua, Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Francisco López de Zárate, Jerónimo de Villaizán, Tirso de Molina and María de Zayas. He did not transcribe any of these poems. Along with most of his collections, the book vanished in 1836, and it seemed that all the poems were lost. Efforts to trace another copy were complicated by confusion with the Fragmentos del Adonis of Pedro Soto de Rojas (before 1628), which also survives in an early slim quarto (A–M⁴).

My interest in the volume involved the Calderón poem. Most of Calderón's 50-odd poems are occasional, written to mark an event or to help promote the work of another writer. Sometimes his occasional verses can be fine poetry, like the elegy for Inés Zapata, included in Terry's Anthology (Terry 1965–1968: II, 168–72); sometimes they are of merely biographical interest. Calderón's poems have been recorded and edited by bibliographers, but there was no record of a canción dedicated to Antonio del Castillo (Simón Díaz 1959; 1962; Wilson 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973). Castillo was mentioned by both Cossío and Cebrián, but they admitted that they were relying on Gallardo, and had not seen the booklet themselves (Cossío 1952: 366–68; Cebrián 1988: 211–13).

Eventually, I found a copy of the book. In her edition of Soto de Rojas, Aurora Egido had noted the discovery, by Gallego Morell, of a copy of the early print of his Fragmentos in the University Library of Santiago de Compostela (Soto de Rojas 1981: 66). Aware of the possibilities for confusion, I followed up this record with little hope, and was surprised to find that the library had both books.¹ A description of the Castillo volume follows:

EL ADONIS | COMPVESTO | POR | D. ANTONIO | DEL CASTILLO DE | LARZAVAL, NATVRAL | DE SALAMANCA. | Y DEDICADO | A LA | MVY ILVSTRE | SEÑORA DOÑA LAV- |RENCIA MELGAR Y | PACHECO. | En Salamanca en la Oficina de Iacinto Tarberniel, [sic] | Impresor de la Vniuersidad. Año 1632 [changed by hand, > 1633]. 4⁰, ¶⁴ ¶¶⁴ A–D⁴; 48 pages, last misnumbered 44. The front flyleaf contains a handwritten décima 'de fran^co de uelasco a d. antonio del castillo de larçaval'.

Ameet Tavernier (c. 1522–1570) was an Antwerp punch-cutter, type-founder and printer. His relatives, probably sons, included Gabriel, Artus and Ameet II. Artus emigrated to Spain, and is first recorded in Salamanca in 1589, where he worked as a printer, running his own press from at least 1603 until his death in 1609 or 1610, and usually spelling his surname Taberniel. Jacinto was probably his son: he is perhaps best known for his edition of Gonzalo Correas's Ortografia kastellana (1630), in which he also describes himself as 'inpresor de la Universidad' (Vervliet 1968: 28–30; Delgado 1996: II, 663–64). Some of the unusual types required by Correas were almost certainly cut by Jacinto, using skills handed down from his grandfather (Cruickshank 1976: 11–12). Other biographical details are harder to come by.

Bibliographies tell us nothing of Antonio del Castillo de Larzával. Nicolás Antonio had encountered him, but tells us only what we can discover from his booklet: 'D. Antonius del Castillo, Salmantinus nisi fallor, versibus formavit: El Adonis. Salmanticae 1632'. (Antonio 1783–88: I, 108). Since the title page calls Castillo a native of Salamanca, Antonio's lack of complete certainty about the birthplace, plus the omission of the book's format, may mean that his information was second-hand. More details are provided by the book itself: that the poet lived in Salamanca, that his age was 'apenas […] beynte y...