Eloy Hernández's library: the role of writing

We exist thanks to books, says Eloy Hernández. Because someone can have an idea and share it, but if it doesn't remain in a medium and be shared, it doesn't go any further. "In the past, the important thing was to recite from memory, and knowledge was transmitted in a limited way; then people began to write, texts were copied, the printing press arrived, and things multiplied," he explains. "How that develops is fascinating." He says his passion is an illness: "There's no cure for desperate cases; you get some relief by acquiring more books, but you quickly relapse."

This "unhealthy bibliophilia" began after the death of his father in 1965. He had run a textile company in Tarragona and, like his grandfather, was a history enthusiast and coin collector. Hernández caught the bug and began buying numismatic books, eventually acquiring a substantial library. But at some point, his main interest arose: everything published from, about, and in Tarragona. He has more than thirty 19th-century photo albums, postcards, prints, and the collection of the bulletin of the Royal Archaeological Society of Tarragona dating back to 1901. His father and grandfather were members; he, his son, and his grandson were members as well.

Most of the books are in his house in Bràfim, near Valls. Every week he brings boxes and bags full. Those that don't fit go to a warehouse where there are several shelves with copies of the Diario de Tarragona , some from the 19th century and especially from 1908 onwards. In the Barcelona apartment, there are books everywhere. Some are for reading, others for collecting, others for reference, and others he buys because the binding is beautiful, or because the subject amuses him, or because he finds the author sympathetic, such as the Rector of Vallfogona—in addition to everything published about him, he has a first edition of L'harmonia del Parnàs —or Doctor Thebussem, “Don Mariano Pardo de Figueroa was a curious fellow.” Lluís Pons d'Icart was the first to write a history of Tarragona, Grandeses i coses memorables , from 1572-1573.

I'd say he has everything by Pin y Soler. There are duplicates, because he buys them and then realizes he already had them. That's why he's making a general index of his collections. In addition, he notes on each book where he bought it, when, and how much it cost. Dialogues on Medals, Inscriptions, and Other Antiquities , by Archbishop Antonio Agustín, was acquired on January 29, 1973, at the Puvill bookstore for 5,000 pesetas. Dating from 1587, it is one of the most important works from Tarragona, and he has several editions.

The prying gaze

English: Place The apartment in Barcelona where he has lived for 58 years, a house in Bràfim and a warehouse Lundia type of shelving , “made of a magnificent wood that does not bend under weight”. Bought thirty years ago in Esquitino Likeable authors Jaume Pla (he really liked Famosos i oblidats , with his opinions on Picasso, Eugeni d'Ors, JV Foix...), Néstor Luján, Paco Candel, Gregorio Marañón, CJ Cela (as author), Francesc Vicens (the Rector of Vallfogona), Pons Icart, Mariano Pardo de Figueroa (Doctor Thebussem) A curiosity He had 75% of 'The Arismética of Iuan Ventallol', from Tarragona, 1619; he bought two other incomplete copies, although two pages were still missing; They photocopied them and some restorers put them on old paper and fixed it A classic Documents for the history of printing and bookstores in Barcelona (1474-1553) , J.M. Madurell, and J. Rubió i Balaguer. They collected from the archive of the Col·legi Notarial all the minutes that referred to the books

The books printed in Tarragona are arranged in chronological order, starting with the facsimile of an incunabulum, Liber distichorum , Tarragona, 1499. It contains all the editions of Història de l'esforçat cavaller Partinobles (the first in Catalan is from Tarragona, 1588). It contains the only edition of Don Quixote made in Tarragona, in 1757. It also contains studies on Don Quixote by Avellaneda – first published in Tarragona in 1614 – and some forty different editions of this book.

In the hallway, next to the first three hundred issues of Historia y Vida magazine, there are several cups. Some are his: he was runner-up in the Catalan foil championship in 1961. Others belong to his son, an engineer like him who has competed in triathlons, Ironman, and at 46, does CrossFit. Hernández tries to pass on his passion for books to his daughter, a lawyer. His bookbinder is Josep Cambras, a member, like him, of the Barcelona Bookbinder's Association.

His other major theme is books about books: printing presses, paper, bookbinding, libraries, archives. Paper remains; it can be burned (or, more accurately, scorched), but the digital format is more easily lost. After working for IBM for thirty years and receiving a multitude of emails a day, he's had enough and has a mania for the internet. Since retiring, if someone asks for his email address, he gives that of his wife, Ona. Now he considers computers to be magnificent typewriters.

He used to meet with two other Tarragona book lovers to talk about books, their new acquisitions, and to exchange them. They passed away, one at 48 and the other at 103. Hernández frequented secondhand bookstores, of which few remain; when they closed, a few of them would go to the one on Santiago Valls and chat until late. “It was a small, very pretty shop, with modernist woodwork; now they've put a souvenir shop in it and destroyed it.”