THE FIRST WORK PUBLISHED IN RÍO NEGRO

Apuntes Históricos del Río Negro. Seguidos de una brevísima reseña de sus más importantes pueblos. Biedma-Rio Negro. 1887.

Quarto, (23 x 15 cm), 120 pp. Modern cloth binding with gilt titles, preserving its original covers. Suarez, no. 833. First edition.

José Juan Biedma (1861-1933), son of military man Juan José Viedma, from Buenos Aires, settled in Carmen de Patagones as a result of Roca's campaign on the southern territories and would be the author of this, the first book published in the region. His last name would often make him appear erroneously linked to the Viedma colonial officials, promoters of the so-called "Operation Patagonia" in the last third of the 18th century. Here we find it in the first work published in Río Negro and it includes a historical review of the events experienced in that region from the founding of Patagones to 1828, with special emphasis on the last period that includes the combat in Patagones where the Brazilian forces were defeated. .

Around 1881, with his brother Alberto, they installed the printing press in the city of Viedma (capital of the then National Territory of Río Negro) and there José Juan was the founder of the local Library, acted as Justice of the Peace (1886) and municipal authority. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1889, he resumed his military career, worked in the National Archives and with his brother gave impetus to the Biedma Printing House. He reiterated in 1905 a text on the Historical Chronicle of Río Negro de Patagones and, in 1909, an exceptional "Historical Atlas of the Argentine Republic" drawn by Carlos Beyer.