Cataloging the Teatro Español Collection: Over 4,000 19th-century Spanish plays reveal intriguing new details
The Teatro Español collection at Bancroft comprises over 4,000 plays published in Spain during the 19th century bound together in 224 volumes. Originally in the Main Library, it was transferred to Bancroft last year.
From the title page of El Uno Para El Otro (One for the Other) by P. Lopez Fortun. |
Bancroft and Berkeley's Department of Spanish and Portuguese then launched a joint project to catalog the collection. Already, great strides have been made toward the goal of a comprehensive inventory of the Teatro Español volumes, which we expect will generate much interest.
Although I am not a librarian, I was given charge of the Teatro Español collection because of my training in 19th-century Spanish literature. As a PhD student in Romance languages and literatures, I am in the unique position of viewing Bancroft material not only as a researcher and a student, but also as cataloguer of one of Bancroft's richest collections.
My first few weeks at Bancroft were spent under the tutelage of Patrick Russell, principal cataloger, who instructed me on the myriad cataloging rules established by the Library of Congress. Each item in a catalog record has a multi-digit code which any librarian can decipher, even if she/he is not fluent in the language of the text. For example, distinctions between multiple or individual authors are reflected by a single digit. Patrick continues to be an invaluable resource.
Cataloging is a true "close reading" of literature, but it is unlike most textual approaches taught in university literature departments. Fundamental bibliographic information, such as author, title, and date of publication, constitutes only a fraction of the data I must gather and organize in a catalog record. Because the public first interacts with most library materials via catalog records, I am trying to reflect as many particulars of this unique collection as possible. Hoping to anticipate questions of future scholars and researchers, I have augmented skeleton catalog entries in several ways.
For example, the concept of authorship in 19th-century Spain differed considerably from today's. Perhaps 60 percent of theater works of that era were translations or adaptations of foreign works. Often the name of the original author is not given. Recognizing the potential importance for research of associating a text with both a translator and an original author, the Teatro Español records harmonize bibliographical descriptions based on an examination of the published play with historical research to ferret out the original author.
A second element, unique in the Teatro Español catalog records, is the date and place of the play's premiere. (Plays were first performed and then published, if sufficiently popular on the stage.) This information is included on the title page of each copy of the published work, but without its transcription onto a catalog record, scholars could remain unaware of its existence. Thus, each record includes pre-publication information.
Similarly, I have given critical attention to several other entries of special interest to the collection as a whole. The most interesting — genre — collapses the immense diversity of 19th-century Spanish theatrical terms into uniform categories. For example, a Spanish play subtitled "Danceable, singable, tragic revue" is grouped with other works of musical theater, while the record retains the original headings. In this way, I hope the collection will be useful for genre studies by people unfamiliar with the original cryptic designations in Spanish, as well as for those well-versed in them.
Once I have included all the pertinent printed information for a piece, I look for distinctive markings which add to its value — the aspect of the project which has offered the greatest surprises. Hidden, until now, in the hundreds of pages I examine each day are notes by stagehands, actors, censors, and critical readers.
For example, in a Granada production of the Count de Fabraquer's La vieja del candilejo (The Old Lady of the Lamp), a censor chose to strike the following (immoral) lines: Father: Be gone wicked woman! Daughter: Oh, accursed father!! Father: Truly, it is a lovely girl who is about to lose her innocence.
From the title page of Ricardo Darlington by "Alejandro Dumas." |
Curator Anthony Bliss emphasizes the importance of these unanticipated additions to the Teatro Español catalog records: "Frankly, I wondered how much useful information this project would generate," he said recently, "but within two weeks of getting started, Lisa began uncovering a wealth of fascinating information . . . It's one more proof that close examination of original artifacts can produce amazing results."
According to information on the title pages, most of the works in the Bancroft collection premiered on the Madrid stage, often by acting troupes headquartered there. Indeed, most information available about 19th-century Spanish theater concerns Madrid. However, the Teatro Español collection demonstrates what scholars have assumed to be the case: within a few years of the premiere, many plays were performed in the provinces by different companies.
One outstanding example of manuscript notes in the collection is a copy of a play by Alexandre Dumas that belonged to a director from the Canary Islands. His annotations regarding staging, text modification, and declamation hold immense value for investigating little-studied aspects of Spanish theater, such as provincial productions, that have been ignored for lack of primary material.
The Teatro Español copy of Ventura de la Vega's La cisterna encantada (The Enchanted Cistern) belonged to a stage manager who noted which sections of the play were to be accompanied by music — an important element of Spanish theater that has been lost to a great degree.
Many highly regarded, canonical authors are well represented in the Teatro Español collection, among them José Zorrilla, Ventura de la Vega, and Benito Pérez Galdós.
Several first edition copies of works studied by scholars today enrich the collection, such as the stage production copy of Galdós's Mariucha. One member of the production team included his or her comments on the back cover: "There is no art in Galdos. He has no style and he lacks intensity. He doesn't have the necessary talent to make his works anything but sermons. He is always criticizing and [it is not] literature. Literature is that which when one reads it, one forgets the world that surrounds us." [my translation]
Such a large collection promises to expand the number of authors and texts studied by scholars beyond the established canon. A large percentage of works in the Teatro Español collection are by authors seldom studied today. Many were great theatrical successes, such as La Gran Vía by Federico Chueca, which reached a seventh edition within five months of its premiere. The premiere date in the Teatro Español records favors recovery of the work of many popular but since forgotten authors.
From the title page of Dar Tiempo al Tiempo (Give Time to Time). |
During the months that remain before the Teatro Español cataloging project's completion in December, I hope to uncover more exciting information as I continue to increase the usability of the collection. But there is still one big mystery to solve: who compiled the Teatro Español collection, for what purpose, and how did he or she choose which authors to include?
Lisa Surwillo is the cataloguer of
Teatro Español and a PhD candidate
in romance languages and literatures.
Volume 115
Fall 1999
Table of Contents
Bancroft's Marvelous Medieval French Manuscripts
From the Director: Biotech at Bancroft
Cataloging the Teatro Español Collection
New (Old) Mark Twain Found in Bancroft Scraps
Eleanor Swent Puts Her Mining Expertise to Work
Russian Emigré Wins First Hill-Shumate Prize
Theresa Salazar Is New Curator for Bancroft Collection
New Oral History Catalog Covers Two Decades
Second Chronicle Salutes UC Women Since 1870
Desiderata: Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
