"This magazine, although short-lived, was important in its day and has great historical interest. Edited by José Joaquín de Mora, a Spaniard who spent some years in Chile, it was an outlet for Mora's literary activity and thought as well as for other liberal intellectuals. ... He printed numerous literary and scientific articles, some poetry and foreign notices of importance. As a staunch liberal he defended what were then considered very progressive theories. He was asked by the liberal government of Joaquin Pinto to edit what is now called the Constitution of 1828. Much of Mora's work on the constitution was published in the Mercurio, and for this reason, if for no other, it ranks as one of the principal periodicals of the early years."-- Rare Nineteenth-Century Latin American Periodicals, by Frederick M. Lauritsen.

Includes bibliographical references and index.