José Mariano Beristain

Who was José Mariano Beristain?

José Mariano Beristain y Martin de Souza was a Mexican bibliographer and author of one of the principal sources of knowledge of the bibliography of Mexico and Central America.

He was born in Puebla, Mexico, but went to Spain and spent some time in the family of the former Bishop of Puebla, then Archbishop of Toledo. Returning to Mexico he was made Archdeacon of the Metropolitan church of Mexico, and was afterwards its Dean. Beristain was a secular priest who had made thorough studies in Mexico and perfected them in Spain under the favourable circumstances. He wrote a number of treatises, some of them on economic subjects, but hardly any were published, the manuscripts being mostly lost in sending them to Europe. He died in Mexico.

His magnum opus is the Biblioteca hispano-americana septentrional, the last part of which was published after his death. For this he used as a basis the Biblioteca mexicana of Bishop Juan José de Eguiara y Eguren of which only the first volume appeared in print.