Two parts in one volume, folio (275 x 205 mm). 4 ff., 121, 1; 4, 162 ff., large woodcut illustration to each title page, woodcut illustrations and devices to final leaf of each part. Contemporary limp vellum, spine lettered and decorated in ink, wrinkled, darkened and rubbed. Title-page of first part damaged and expertly repaired, affecting a few words of text replaced in facsimile, but overall very good; marginal repairs to earlier leaves, occasional minor damp staining within, last several leaves of Part II with staining, several with marginal ink annotations of a more recent date, last few leaves with early loss to gutter affecting text, expertly restored and completed in manuscript, possibly in the 18th century judging from the handwriting; overall very good, rare in any condition.

The first edition of the Vocabulario appeared in 1555, this second edition is enlarged, it is in a different - larger - format, and finely printed by Antonio de Espinosa, the second printer of the Americas, who had worked previously with Juan Pablos.

“[E]l primer diccionario publicado de una lengua americana y uno de los primeros diccionarios publicados con una nomenclatura en español. Ademas, ejerció una influencia enorme en la descripción del léxico de otras lenguas novohispanas. Sin embargo, a pesar de su importancia para la historia de la lexicografía en general y del español y del nahuatl en particular, ha sido casi imposible consultar este trabajo puesto que han sobrevivido pocos ejemplares… El vocabulario de Molina no es simplemente una aplicación ciega del modelo de Nebrija a otra lengua; representa el resultado de una reflexión lingüística madura sobre el problema de cómo registrar el léxico de una lengua tan diferente de las europeas más familiares” (Stark, Thomas C. Smith. “El ‘Primer Nebrija Indiano’. Apuntes Sobre Una Nueva Edición Del Vocabulario de Alonso de Molina.” Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 50, no. 2 (2002): 531–41).

Molina´s work was an indispensable tool for the missionaries active in Mexico in their interactions with the native population that spoke Nahuatl, however not only was it used in the field, but also in learning institutions as the Imperial School of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. The book provided the communication instrument for people wishing to interact with the native population, and for Spaniards wishing to learn the language.

As the first of it´s kind, Molina´s book was of pivotal transcendence, few books have the distinction of having contributed so much in the development of the knowledge of indigenous linguistics, and of having served a whole contingent of missionaries and Spaniards get around in the Indies.

Alonso de Molina (c.1513 – c.1579), a Franciscan friar, was an early immigrant to Mexico where he had arrived when still a child with his family of conquistadores in 1522. He became the first priest to be ordained in America and taught and served as interpreter of the Franciscan Friars with the Indians. The first edition of his Vocabulario appeared in 1555 and this second was much enlarged with the addition of the dictionary of Mexican into Spanish with which Molina sought to broaden the dialogue with the Indians. It was vital for the Friars to be able to translate from Spanish into Mexican in order to communicate the irreligious message to the Indians. By producing a dictionary from Mexican into Spanish Molina made a cultural breakthrough and thus helped to open the fluid communication between both cultures.

Sabin writes: “This second and enlarged edition is so scarce that forty years ago Lord Kingsborough paid 50 guineas for it. The Buyer should be careful to secure a copy with title-pages to both parts, for sometimes the first title-page being deficient the enterprise of a dealer induces him to put the second in its place, as it reads nearly the same; the woodcut however, represents San Francisco, and differs from the escutcheon on the first title. Rich and other bibliographers erroneously supposed that this was the firstbook printed in America.”

The illustration is composed of a large woodcut arms on part I title, woodcut at (P10r), woodcut device on verso (P10v), large woodcut of St Francis on part II title, woodcut device at V10, woodcut IHS device on verso (V10v).

Icazbalceta (1954) 68; Medina (Mexico) 65; Palau 174352; Wagner (1940) 60; Sabin 498671.