José Toribio Medina Zavala (; October 21, 1852 - December 11, 1930) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

, prolific writer, and historian. He is renowned for his study of colonial literature in Chile, printing in Spanish America and large bibliographies such as the ''Biblioteca Hispano-Americana.'' (7 Vol., 1898-1907.)

Biography

Jose Toribio Medina was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Chile. He was the eldest son of José del Pilar Medina y Valderrama and Mariana Zavala y Almeida, a woman of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent."Jose Toribio Medina." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography''. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale, 2005. ''Biography in Context''. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. His father was a lawyer, and he discouraged Medina from bibliographic studies in favor of a more practical career.Chapman, C. E. (1931). A "Recuerdo" of José Toribio Medina. ''The Hispanic American Historical Review'', ''11''(4), 524–529. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-11.4.524, p. 527. He was constantly traveling due to his position as a magistrate, and Medina spent his childhood moving between cities including Santiago, Talca, and Valparaiso. At the age of thirteen, he returned to Santiago to support his father who had lost the use of his legs. Later on, Medina joined the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera under the direction of the great historian Diego Barros Arana. Later he studied law at the University of Chile, graduating as a lawyer on March 26, 1873. His first publication, while a very young man, was a metrical translation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's '' Evangeline''. At twenty-two he was appointed the secretary to the legation at

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. After his return, he published a history of Chilean literature (1878), and a work upon the aboriginal tribes (1884). In 1879, he contributed to Chile's war effort against Peru and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

with the invention of an improved manufacturing method of cartridges. He was appointed military judge of Tarapacá in 1880 as a result of his efforts. In this latter year, he was appointed the secretary of legation in

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, and availed himself of the opportunity of examining the treasures of the old Spanish libraries. These researches, repeated on subsequent visits to Spain, and also to

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and

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, enriched him with a mass of historical and bibliographical material. Among his publications may be mentioned the '' Biblioteca hispano-americana'', a remarkable catalogue of unedited documents relating to the Spanish discovery and colonization of Chile, including a number of articles from Martín Fernández de Navarette. Volumes II and III of this collection focus on Ferdinand Magellan, from where the recorded history of Chile starts. Other works include the similar '' Biblioteca hispano-chilena'' which commenced in 1897; the standard and magnificent history of printing in the

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

countries (1892); comprehensive works on the Inquisition in Chile,

and the

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; and the standard treatise on South American medals (1899). Medina worked extensively to acquire and publish bibliographic documents printed in Lima, Mexico, and Manila, including books, memoirs, and other historic documents. At this time, Medina's work was the most extensive existing effort toward documenting the literary history and bibliography of the Spanish colonies. He was designated "Humanist of the Americas" by members of the Pan American Union. Prior to his death, Medina offered his personal library collection to the National Library of Chile (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), which contained 30,000 rare books and 500 volumes of documents dated prior to the independence of Latin American nations. The collection is held in the Medina Room. Before donating his collection to the National Library, he was offered it for purchase many times. One offer was for half a million dollars, but he decided it was best to "leave it to his own people." Medina was married to Mercedes Ibáñez de Medina, who assisted with much of his work. She is credited with making bibliographical cards, reading proof, and conducting other "intellectual drudgery" for his works.

Exhaustive study of Magellan

In 1920, Medina published a comprehensive study of Ferdinand Magellan containing an impressive amount of biographical information, a detailed analysis of the beginning and development of the voyage of circumnavigation, and a remarkable amount of information on the crews of the ''Armada de Molucca''. This contained a priceless list of documentary sources and an extensive bibliography. The work is titled, ''El Descubrimiento del Oceano Pacifico: Vasco Nuñez, Balboa, Hernando de Magallanes y Sus Compañeros''. In the words of Tim Joyner, "Any serious study of Magellan and his enterprise must include this informative product of Medina's exhaustive archival research."

Additional works

Medina was the author, editor, and translator of approximately 282 titles (books, pamphlets, and articles). This number exceeds 350 if additional works are included, such as re-editions, sections of books, posthumous studies, or pre-prints and re-prints of complete or partial works. Some of his published books from 1882 to 1927 include: * 1882: Los Aborigenes de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Gutenberg. * 1887: Historia del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la inquisición de Lima (1569-1820). Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Gutenberg. * 1904: La imprenta en La Habana (1707-1810). Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana. * 1904: La imprenta en Lima (1584-1824). Santiago de Chile: Impreso y grabado en casa del autor. * 1904: La imprenta en Cartagena de las Indias (1809-1820): Notas bibliográficas. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana. * 1904: La imprenta en Manila desde sus origenes hasta 1810. Santiago de Chile: Impreso y grabado en casa del autor. * 1904: La imprenta en en icQuito (1760-1818): Notas bibliográficas. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana. * 1906: Diccionario biográfico colonial de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Impr. Elzeviriana. * 1908: El veneciano Sebastián Caboto: Al servicio de España y especialmente de su proyectado viaje á las Molucas por el Estrecho de Magallanes y al reconocimiento de la costa del continente hasta la gobernación de Pedrarias Dávila. Santiago de Chile: Impr. y encuadernación universitaria. * 1908: Los restos indígenas de Pichilemu. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes. * 1910: La imprenta en Guatemala (1660-1821). Santiago de Chile: Impreso en casa del autor. * 1913: El descubrimiento del Océano pacífico: Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Hernando de Magallanes y sus compañeros. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta universitaria. * 1923: La literatura femenina en Chile: (notas bibliográficas y en parte críticas). Santiago de Chile: Imprenta universitaria. * 1927: En defensa de siete voces chilenas registradas en el Diccionario de la Real Academia Española y cuya supresión se solicita por un autor nacional. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Nascimento.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Jose Toribio 1852 births 1930 deaths 19th-century Chilean historians 20th-century Chilean historians 20th-century Chilean male writers Diplomats for Chile Chilean people of Basque descent Members of the Chilean Academy of Language Chilean bibliographers Writers from Santiago, Chile Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera alumni University of Chile alumni 19th-century Chilean male writers Historians of libraries

Biography

Exhaustive study of Magellan

Additional works

See also

References

External links