La Vuelta de Martín Fierro (Cover, 1879 first ed.)

Portada de La vuelta de Martín Fierro por José Hernández. 1a ed. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de Pablo E. Coni, 1879. Cover of 1879 first edition. Martín Fierro, also known as El Gaucho Martín Fierro, is a 2,316-line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro (1872) and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro (1879). The poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had played a major role in Argentina's independence from Spain. The poem, written in a Spanish that evokes rural Argentina, is widely seen as the pinnacle of the genre of "gauchesque" poetry (poems centred on the life of the gaucho, written in a style known as payadas) and a touchstone of Argentine national identity. It has appeared in hundreds of editions and has been translated into over 70 languages.