Mexican and Spanish Popular Print Culture El Coyote Archive Documenting Californio Identity and Resistance Narratives 1945 to 1946

"El Coyote"

Archive

Mallorquí, José. El Coyote. These mid-twentieth century Spanish-language pulp narratives document the adaptation of the Western genre within Hispanic literary traditions, centering a Californio protagonist navigating questions of class, colonization, and identity in nineteenth-century Alta California. Published between 1945 and 1946, the series follows César de Echagüe, a landowner who assumes the masked identity of El Coyote to intervene in social injustice, drawing from earlier archetypes such as Zorro while articulating a distinct Spanish-speaking heroic tradition. The stories engage themes of land ownership, political authority, and resistance, situating the figure of El Coyote within a narrative structure that reflects both European and American influences while addressing audiences in Spain and Latin America. The archive provides primary evidence of how Western narratives were reinterpreted through a Hispanic lens during the mid-twentieth century, contributing to broader discussions of cultural identity and popular literature.

Mallorquí, José. El Coyote. Barcelona: Cliper, 1945–1946. Ten issues bound in two volumes. Spanish language.
Archive includes: [1] No. 22 Tras la Máscara del Coyote (1945); [2] No. 23 El Diablo en Los Angeles (1945); [3] No. 24 La Esposa de Don César (1945); [4] No. 25 La Hacienda Trágica (1945); [5] No. 27 Los Jarrones del Virrey (1945); [6] No. 28 Al Servicio del Coyote (1945); [7] No. 29 La Ley de los Vigilantes (1946); [8] No. 30 Toda una Señora (1946); [9] No. 31 El Secreto de Maise Syer (1946); [10] No. 32 Rapto (1946). Each issue issued with illustrated wrappers and interior title art, later bound into two volumes. Narratives across the series include plotlines involving impostors, land disputes, feuds between families, political corruption, kidnapping, and the maintenance of El Coyote’s concealed identity. Settings range from Los Ángeles and San Francisco to rural haciendas and mining regions, with recurring characters navigating personal and political tensions within a frontier environment.

These works were produced during a period when pulp publishing expanded access to serialized fiction for mass readership, particularly among working- and middle-class audiences in Spain and Latin America. The figure of El Coyote operates within this format as both an entertainment figure and a symbolic response to dominant Anglo-American Western narratives, repositioning the Californio experience within the genre. The archive reflects the transnational circulation of Spanish-language popular fiction and its role in shaping cultural memory and identity. Bound volumes with original wrappers retained; toning, edgewear, and some chipping and creasing to individual issues; text blocks intact and legible; bindings loose with wear at joints and spines, including tape reinforcement to one volume; overall fair to good condition. The collection supports research into Latinx literary history, popular print culture, and reinterpretations of the Western genre.

Item #22618

Price: $885.00