Liber Ediciones
Luis de Carvajal El Mozo (The Boy) –Latinist, poet, and Scripture scholar– had a life that, put lightly, could be described as turbulent: considered to be the first Jewish writer in America, he faced two inquisitorial trials before he was sentenced to death by fire in an auto-da-fé held in Mexico City. His uncle, Luis de Carvajal El Viejo (The Old Man), perished in prison in spite of being the first governor of the New Kingdom of León, and the majority of his family died at the hands of the Inquisition – except for two brothers who were able to return to the Oldworld.struggles against pirates, Chichimeca Indians, and persecutions in the Philippines are just some of the episodes that can be discovered in his memoirs, lost for years after being stolen from the National Archives of Mexico.
The fascinating and intense life of Luis de Carvajal, as well as his recovered manuscripts, have been put together in a luxury book that Liber Ediciones has just debuted. This is a high-quality piece for bibliophiles whose publishing process has been marked by master craftsmen of stamping, engraving, papermaking, binding, and printing, in addition to academics, researchers, and two artists who contribute with thirty original engravings; it is a true gem, like prior works by this publishing company from Pamplona that has brought us enticing titles like The Prince, Faust, Romeo and Juliet, Lysistrata, Botany by Lamarck, Cervantes, el soldado que nos enseñó a hablar, and Las Musas. Its next, highly anticipated project is the biography of Hernán Cortés.
It is quite admirable that, in times as frantic as the present, there are still publishing companies that aim to join the old tradition of the illustrated book, emulating a facet of art with a long historical tradition and revitalizing the book as a field of experimentation. Liber has opened up its works to contemporary illustrators like Vicente Arnás, Pedro Osés, and José Luis Fariñas so that their creativity can materialize through traditional processes.to make great literary classics and continue to innovate with new texts is just as important today as it was in years past, so that no book and no person is ever again lost to fire.