JOSÉ MARÍA GUTIÉRREZ DE ALBA, Illustrated diary of travels through Colombia 1871 - 1873

By 1869, Spain was surprised that Colombia was the only country in Latin America with which it had not yet established diplomatic or commercial relations. To find out why, he appointed José María Gutiérrez de Alba, a cultured Andalusian poet, playwright and cartoonist.

Gutiérrez de Alba landed in Cartagena de Indias in April 1870 and in mid-May he arrived in Bogotá. A regular at gatherings and literary circles, he soon integrated into the life of the capital and even founded El cachaco , a newspaper that reached more than 30 issues.

A stubborn and curious traveler, Gutiérrez de Alba traveled the country to the maximum and recorded his impressions in detailed texts and more than 350 watercolors. He worked on a total of 13 volumes, duly calligraphed and bound, of which only 10 were preserved, which his great-grandnephew, Pedro Gutiérrez Gómez, jealously cared for until 1991 when Benjamín Villegas acquired them, recovering this valuable testimony for Colombia.

The book brings all the reproductions of the original, interspersed with consecutive extracts from his diary: pictures of customs, Creole homes, burials, malocas, festivals, flora, fauna, archaeological elements from San Agustín and other places, indigenous figures, characters from the world of the quina

This is an exceptional death testimony that, 113 years after its author's death, is still fresh and revealing. As stated by the historian Efraín Sánchez, who was in charge of transcribing the texts, the work provides “subtle nuances and elements or elements little recorded prior to its manuscript, of Colombian society in the 19th century,” and the drawings not only They represent “a substantial addition to the visual memory of Colombia, but the greatest single effort in the 19th century to achieve a pictorial synthesis of the nation.”