Bibliotheca Hispana

work by Antonio

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June 22, 2026

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Bibliotheca Hispana was a seminal work by Nicolás Antonio, considered the first systematic historian of Spanish literature. Published in two parts, Nova (1672) and Vetus (1696), it served as a comprehensive bibliography and history of Spanish and Peninsular writers. The Nova section cataloged authors and their works from 1500 onward, offering critical evaluations, while the Vetus covered literature from the Augustan age to 1500. This work was instrumental in establishing literary history as a scholarly discipline and transforming bibliography into a modern practice.1

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Nicolás Antonio
His Bibliotheca Hispana appeared in two parts (Nova, 1672; Vetus, 1696). The first is a vast bibliography of Peninsular and Spanish colonial writers after 1500, with critical evaluations. The second, a history of Peninsular literature from the reign of Augustus to 1500, marks the emergence of…
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His Bibliotheca Hispana appeared in two parts (Nova, 1672; Vetus, 1696). The first is a vast bibliography of Peninsular and Spanish colonial writers after 1500, with critical evaluations. The second, a history of Peninsular literature from the reign of Augustus to 1500, marks the emergence of…
Read More