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ICAZBALCETA, Joaquín García (e-cath-bal-thay-'tah), Mexican author, born in the city of Mexico, 25 August, 1825, died in Mexico City, 26 November 1894. He gave his time from youth to the collection and study of antiquities and books concerning the history of Mexico. His collection of manuscripts is one of the best known in Mexico, and by continuous study he has become an authority in the ancient history of his country.  

About 1855 he was a collaborator on the "Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografia," published by Jose M. Andrade (1852-'6). Later, three supplementary volumes of this dictionary have been published, containing original articles on Mexico, among which those of Icazbalceta are distinguished, and specially his treatise on the history of the first attempts at printing in Mexico. His name was known earlier by foreign authors than by those of Mexico, and he soon became a correspondent of William H. Prescott; Gonzalez de Vera, of Madrid; Trebner, of London; and Brunet, of Paris.  

In the first years of his literary activity he published in Spanish a translation of Prescott's "Conquest of Peru," with a historical supplement up to the conclusion of the conquest. He afterward issued from his own printing house the gothic edition of an unpublished letter of Hernan Cortes to the Spanish emperor, imitating the original in style and letters. The text of the letter was reprinted afterward in the first volume of his "Coleccion de documentos para la historia de Mexico," the preparation of which occupied seven years (2 vols., Mexico, 1858-'66). Both volumes refer to the history of the first century of the Spanish rule in New Spain, and contain much valuable material that had been hitherto inaccessible.  

His "Apuntes para un catláogo de escritores en lenguas indigenas de America" (Mexico, 1866) contains the description of 175 rare books and is accompanied by important notes, he has recently published "Historia eclesiastica indiana, obra escrita a fines del Siglo xvi. per Fr. Geronimo Mendieta de la Orden de San Francisco" (Mexico, 1870). This manuscript, supposed to be lost, Icazbalceta brought from Spain.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001 Stanley L. Klos

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