[Cover title]: Mexican: 300 Words for U.S. Guard and Boy Scout

Corpus Christi, Texas: El Piloto Press, 1916.

Price: $1,500.00

Softcover. First edition? 16mo. 32pp. Original stapled stiff pictorial wrappers. Spine partially split, but holding; other light wear to wraps. Slightly later ownership inscription on front wrapper. Some tanning and light foxing. near very good.

A wonderfully rustic, unrecorded Texas imprint, comprising a guide to 300 basic "Mexican" words and pronunciations published in Corpus Christi in 1916, perhaps to coincide with the commencement of Pershing's punitive expedition into Mexico that the same year. The front wrapper depicts an American guardsman standing at attention, as well as a pair of stereotypical sombrero-wearing Mexicans. The rear wrapper shows a diagram of a cowboy on a bucking bronco, accompanied by a bald eagle for some reason, with relevant Spanish words near corresponding parts of the image, as well as another caricatured Mexican next to the caption, "Get the Mex."

The text displays a certain Texas charm, as in the introduction, which states, "Mexican and Spanish are printed and written alike, and are pronounced nearly the same. The pronunciation is similar to German, and easier than English or French. Mexican is to Spanish as American is to English." Spanish words, English equivalents, and phoneticized pronunciations are divided into categories such as "Adjectives" and "The Human Body." The Texas accent of the anonymous author often shines through in the phoneticizations, such as "pay kayn yo" for "pequeño" or "rays to raunt" for "restaurante." The initial and final leaves contain advertisements for Corpus Christi businesses and facts about Mexico in Spanish and English ("Mexico has fifteen million people including Spaniards, Indians, and Foreigners"). The verso of the front wrap indicates that these pamphlets were available at the Woolworth's and several other locations in Corpus, as well as at one or two outlets in Harlingen, Brownsville, and Laredo.

A wonderfully idiosyncratic little Texas publication. Not located by *OCLC.*.


Item #432034

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Item #432034 [Cover title]: Mexican: 300 Words for U.S. Guard and Boy Scout
[Cover title]: Mexican: 300 Words for U.S. Guard and Boy Scout