[Posada, Jose Guadalupe]

Panteon de Menudencias [caption title]

Mexico City: 1919. Large broadside, approximately 23.5 x 16 inches. Previously folded. Light wear and minor chipping at edges. A pair of conjugate wormholes, slightly affecting text. Somewhat browned, though not brittle. Good plus. Item #3104

A fantastic and scarce broadside "newspaper" published by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo just after World War I. The supposed periodical, El Panteon de Menudencias ("The Pantheon of Minutiae"), seems intended as an imitation of a low-brow gossip rag, and the text and small illustrations comprise vignettes and verse about famous Mexico City characters. The striking central image is variously attributed to Posada or to another of Arroyo's illustrators, but in any event it was certainly a re-use of the illustration after Posada's death. The large engraving depicts a six-legged insect with human hands, a worm's tail, and a calavera head, grasping a human skull and leg bone in its forelegs, and is amongst the most famous of the calaveras attributed to Posada. Although printed in the style of a broadside newspaper, with this issue being "Vol. 1, No. 8," no other issues beyond the present one are recorded; OCLC locates only five copies.

Price: $950.00