Born at the end of the first decade of the twentieth century and launched from his homeland in the village of Villafranca del Panadés into Spanish America in 1937, Don Pedro Grases lived a remarkable life as a major figure of Venezuelan letters for at least two generations. Although never far in spirit from his cherished Villafranca in Barcelona, Grases adopted Venezuela—its history and culture—with enthusiasm, energy, and efficacy.
An accomplished university citizen with the requisite degrees, publications, and positions, Grases excelled as a premier developer of and contributor to the historical tradition of his native country. An apparently endless list of projects, activities, institutions, and publications reflect his deft editorial hand, keen sense of the historically significant, and omnivorous enthusiasm for the telling bibliographic or documentary detail. Sometimes as the visible author, often as the ghost contributor to or author of the projects of others, Grases’s presence informs hundreds...
