Rare books, manuscripts and ephemera from five centuries

Models for business, from a father to a son 

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COLL Y ALSINA, Pedro Martir. NORMA EN QUE SE PRESENTAN VARIAS FÓRMULAS DE CONTRATAS de fletamentos, conocimientos, polizas de seguras, letras de cambio, patronías de buque, facturas, libros de cuentas, balances, contrata de compñía, &c. Que para govierno de un hijo suyo joven comerciante compuso comerciante compuso, don Pedro Martir Coll, y Alsina. Barcelona: Por la Compañía de Jordi, Roca, y Gaspár, MDCCCIII [1803]. £400

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FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [xii], iv, 120, [4] index and errata; prelims in cursive typeface, model bill of exchange within printed border on p. 38; clean and fresh throughout with contemporary ownership inscription ‘Vidal’ in ink on title-page; in contemporary sheep, flat spine ruled in gilt with gilt-lettered skiver label; block-printed decorative endpapers; light scuffing to boards, and 3/4 loss of leather near top of upper cover, but still an attractive copy.

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First edition of this collection of templates for commercial correspondence, addressed by a merchant father to his son as the latter sets out into the world of business.

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Containing ‘una idea de algunas de las partes que comprehende el todo del comercia’, the book contains models for contracts, agreements for the charter of boats, letters of credit and bills of exchange, formulas for invoices for different kinds of goods and services, notices of forced sales, and more; most are explicitly concerned with international and maritime trade. This was one of two manuals Coll y Alsina wrote to guide his readers through the mechanics of trade, with a Tratado elemental teorico y práctico de comercio: en que se presentan varias formulas de contratas de fletamentos, conocimientos, pólizas de seguros appearing, also in Barcelona, in 1818. 

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Although this is very much intended as a practical guide, Coll Y Alsina does not neglect the importance of good conduct in trade; addressing his son in the preface, he emphasises the importance of wisdom and humility: ‘the wise man must study in order to know truth, must dedicate his life to it, and have the courage to speak it. The wise man must not become vain with honours, from which the Hero flees’ (p. [vii]). 

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Palau 57479; outside Spain, OCLC records copies at Berkeley, Harvard, Kansas, and the Mexican National Library. 

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