An Index to the Teatro Español Collection in the Biblioteca de Palacio (review)

316BCom, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Winter 1993) "admiratio"; "versiones posteriores"; "interpretación biológica/psicológica del seductor mítico", etc. ¿Qué más se puede pedir en una introducción de 36 páginas? Por otra parte, el texto es ideal para uso en aulas universitarias y escolares y va acompañado del indispensable número de notas explicativas, interpretativas y críticas. J.M. Ruano de la Haza University of Ottawa Karl C. Gregg. An Index to the Teatro Español Collection in the Biblioteca de Palacio. Charlottesville: Biblioteca Siglo de Oro, 1987. 155pp. Karl Gregg's Index to the Teatro Español Collection in the Biblioteca de Palacio makes a most significant contribution to the growing number of catalogues aimed at identifying Spanish drama collections both in U.S. and European libraries. As in his previous work, An Index to the Spanish Theatre Collection in the London Library published in 1984 by the same publisher, the Spanish drama scholar will find in Gregg's most recent work an excellent and useful research tool. Gregg describes the collection as follows: "The Teatro español collection in the Biblioteca de Palacio, Madrid, Spain, is contained in twenty -five identically bound factitious volumes of printed sueltas. All plays in the first nineteen volumes are in approximate alphabetical order by title . Volumes twenty through twenty-four contain additional plays, again in approximate alphabetical order by title. The last volume differs from the others in that it includes only plays by Tirso de Molina" (p.13). The teatro collection in the Biblioteca de Palacio consists of three hundred seventeenth- and eighteenth-century plays. The catalogue is followed by seven appendices: 1) volume contents, 2) desglosadas sources, 3) numbered editions, 4) date of printing, 5) place of printing, 6) printers, publishers , booksellers, 7) authors, and a bibliography of works cited. Each play is followed by a 'short' descriptive listing. Gregg states that he has opted for this format "rather than the more complete, traditional, bibliographical format for each item" (p.14). Measurement of page size is not given since most plays have been cropped. I am inclined to agree on this point based on my own experience with sueltas. Gregg further departs from the traditional practice by excluding what he calls "negative information ," namely "no place, no date, no publisher," etc. From here on Reviews317 Gregg basically follows traditional practice: 1) number of play, 2) title, epithet(s), and stated author(s), 3) Signatures and pagination, 4) place, printer, publisher, bookseller, 5) date, 6) reference to modern s, 7) first two and last two printed lines, 8) editorial comment, and 9) volume call number for the item in the Biblioteca de Palacio. Gregg states his methodology and adheres to it sytematically. The bibliography has been meticulously prepared. I would only call attention to a minor typographical error in attributing play number 208 to Tirso de Molina (Appendix I, page 136) when the correct play number should be 202. There is no question of the importance of cataloguing Spanish drama collections. Clearly the growing number of publications now in print should serve as a testimony to the need to continue in this scholarly endeavor . However, a quick glance at several existing catalogues will reveal that we have not yet agreed on a standard bibliographical format. It is perhaps in this area where more discussion should be generated among those of us who have undertaken the important task of cataloguing such collections. Gregg is no newcomer to this area of scholarship and his recent work will certainly constitute an invaluable resource for the comedia scholar. Victor Arizpe Texas A&M University Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. The Painter ofHis Dishonour. Edition and translation by A. K. G. Paterson. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips, 1991. Cloth, £30 ($49.95); paper, £9.95 ($22). Reviewing a modern translation of a famous work, one irresistibly succumbs to the "I-wouldn't-have" syndrome. In this new translation of Calderón's Elpintor de su deshonra, for example, I wouldn't have translated "Serafina" as "Seraphine," or rhymed "again" with "friend" (3, 5), or used "estrangement" for "celos" (1718-19). These examples, which always constitute my first reaction to a translation...