PBA Galleries

[1-5] 6-56 pp. (12mo) 20 x 11.5 cm (7¾x4½"), original beige printed wrappers, ornamental border and vignette. First Edition.

Signed at end in type, Varios Mexicanos, México, December, 1847. Describes Mexico at the depths of defeat and attempts to explain American successes. Mexico as a whole seemed to sit as a disinterested spectator instead of taking part in the struggle. 

Social and class affliction had left the country hopelessly divided, and in Mexico that led to a situation in which there was no national will in general to fight. The Catholic Church is heavily blamed for placing its own interests above those of the nation. Gives a good picture of the Republic of Mexico at the end of the war. It was reprinted in El Monitor Republicano, June 13-24, 1848.

It has been conjectured that this pamphlet was written by Mariano Otero (based on the copy in the Basave Collection of the Biblioteca de México that has Otero’s name written in it). This valuable but neglected pamphlet has been translated and edited by Dennis E. Berge under the title The Mexican Republic 1847 (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1975). Berge discusses the original document and examines the writers to whom the work has been attributed. The former owner, Pavón (1827-1900), was a writer, dramatist, and lawyer, who fought against the U.S. and the French.