Description
Privately published, Published 1964. Wraps, 35 pp.; 26 cm; illustrated with color photographs on covers and black-and-white photographs within.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
110
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In good condition. Cream pictorial paper covers have light bumping and creasing to edges and light to moderate toning with some light foxing; heavier toning to edges of rear cover. Faint price notation ink on cover; binding sound (staple bound); interior pages lightly aged but unmarked with some very light foxing to inside front cover and title page. Scarce privately printed booklet by Ida Luisa Franklin ("Dona Luisa"), recounting the discovery, acquisition, and restoration of Las Delicias, a historic Greek Revival hacienda in the colonial silver-mining city of Alamos, Sonora, Mexico. Written in a personal narrative voice to answer the questions most frequently asked about Las Delicias and Alamos: who built it and when (a member of the wealthy Almada family, c. 1856); why the builder chose Greek Revival architecture in a city where Moorish influence predominates; the legend of the buried Almada Treasure; the legal complexities of obtaining clear title under Mexican law; and the practical challenges of restoration, including hauling a diesel electrical plant in by train from Navojoa, hand-mixing cement, and sourcing colonial-era bricks. Documents the ruin (captioned "La Ruina, 1956") and the stages of restoration, with a final view of the completed villa credited to restoration architect Walter A. J. Franklin. Alamos is a colonial-era silver-mining city designated as a Mexican State Historical Monument.