Lorenzo Hervás

LORENZO HERVÁS Y PANDURO (Spain, 1735- Rome, 1809).
"History of the life of man". 6 volumes.
Printer: Aznár, Madrid.
Volumes of different editions: Volumes 1 and 2 (1789), volume 3 (1794), volume 4 (1796), volume 5 (1795) and volume 6 (1798).
It presents faults and stains in the engravings.
Measurements: 21.5 x 15 x 3 cm (x6).
Lorenzo Hervás was one of the most important authors, together with Juan Andrés, Antonio Eximeno or Celestino Mutis, of the Spanish Universalist School of the 18th century. He entered the Jesuit order in Madrid and studied in Alcalá de Henares, dedicating himself with special zeal to architecture and linguistics. For a time he taught at the royal seminary in Madrid and at the Jesuit college in Murcia; he then went to America as a missionary and remained there until 1767, when, in connection with the abolition of the Jesuits, the Jesuit establishments were withdrawn from the order. Hervas returned to Europe and settled first in Cesena (Italy) and then, in 1784, in Rome. In 1799 he returned to his homeland, but four years later he left Spain and lived in Rome for the rest of his life. Pius VII appointed him prefect of the library of the Quirinal and he was a member of several learned academies. In Italy he had the opportunity to meet many Jesuits who came from all over the world after the suppression of the order. He diligently took advantage of the exceptional opportunity to obtain information on remote and unknown languages that could not be studied from literary remains. The results of his studies were published in several works, first in Italian and then translated into Spanish.