Carta Sobre la Historia Primitiva de la Fiebre Amarilla

Merida de Yucatan: Imprenta Mercantil de Ignacio L. Mena y Ca, 1892. Good plus.. 26pp. Original printed wrappers, bound into 20th-century buckram, with numerous blank filler leaves at the rear. Scattered small chips and short, closed tears; one early tissue repair. Some dust soiling and toning; an occasional fox mark. Scarce response by the Bishop of the Yucatan to a Cuban doctor's short work on the history of yellow fever. The author, Crescencio Carillo y Ancona, was of Mayan descent and became a prolific author on historical, theological, and cultural topics concerning the Yucatan, as he also rose through the ranks of the Mexican Catholic Church to become Bishop of the region in 1887. The bishop's work relates some points concerning the appearances of yellow fever in the Yucatan during the Spanish colonial era, but also quite interestingly discusses the possible appearances of the disease and epidemics in the Mayan codices. The final two pages print a thank you letter from the Cuban, Dr. Carlos Finlay, to the bishop for his contributions, particularly concerning the Mayan history of the disease. OCLC locates only two copies of this work in U.S. institutions, at Harvard and the University of Rochester.