RECUERDOS

Madrid: First Edition, 1962. Hardcover. Red morocco with title in gilt. Near fine. 299 pages. 15.5 cm. Presentation copy - "To Anne and Ranaldo as a souvenir of a few hours in Portugal, With sincere affection, Conchita, Lisbon 1964." Privately rebound with personal photos and letters tipped in. Text in Spanish.

Autobiographical account of Cintrón's life and career as a female matador. Cintrón (1922-2009) was born in Chile, the daughter of the first Puerto Rican Graduate of West Point and an American Mother. Beginning at 13, she learned bullfighting in Lima, Peru where her family had settled. Citrón, the most famous female torera of the 20th century, was perhaps the only bullfighter to combine the two main styles of the sport in the same fight - Spanish, in which the matadora is on foot, and Portuguese, in which the bullfighter is on horseback. As her fame grew, she became a media darling. Her legend was sealed in 1940, when she was gored in Guadalajara, Mexico, collapsed, and was carried to the infirmary. Upon regaining consciousness, she returned to the ring, killed the bull, and collapsed again. She ended her career spectacularly in Jaén, Spain, in October 1950. This was during the Franco regime, when women weren't allowed to fight bulls on foot. She did just that, was arrested, and released to cheering crowds. She married Francisco de Castelo Branco in 1951, settled in Lisbon, Portugal, and raised a large family.

Ranald H. Macdonald and Anne Thomptson Macdonald were lifetime friends of Cintrón. Anne was the founder of Recording for the Blind and Ranald was a businessman and former governor of the New York Stock Exchange. The letters and photos tipped and laid in to this privately rebound copy show a fondness and closeness that lasted for many years.