Francisco Guerrero: the hidden story of an antiquarian bookseller in 18th-century Madrid

Abstract

Francisco Guerrero (1727–1796) was an important figure in Madrid's book trade in the second half of the 18th century. Left on the margins of historiography, he now comes to light thanks to the study of a body of documents preserved in the Diocesan Historical Archive of Madrid: the estate established following the death of his heir and only daughter Florencia, who died unmarried and without issue in 1797, a few months after her father. The discovery allows us to identify with great precision numerous biographical and professional details of a life dedicated to books, which began in the modesty of a street stall and culminated with great brilliance among the shelves of the largest antique book store of its time. Deeds and certificates, an inventory of the bookshop's stock at the time of his death, correspondence and lists of books exchanged with his scholarly customers and collectors paint a picture of a clearly unique individual, but one who also holds the key to expanding our knowledge of the general trade in these goods. The proximity in time between the deaths of father and daughter made it easier for the executor to enter Guerrero's book warehouse as he left it to inventory books and collect correspondence and other papers. Thus, today we are in a position to paint a very accurate picture of his professional practices as an antiquarian bookseller, which he devoted himself to almost exclusively in his later years. The aim of this first article on the archive is to trace Guerrero's life and highlight his characteristics as a professional dedicated to antique books, leaving other details revealing his way of doing business for future works.