Calle Doctor Thebussen
The street takes its name from the pseudonym of Mariano Pardo de Figueroa (Medina Sidonia, 1828-1918), a lawyer, gastronome and stamp collector who signed his work as Doctor Thebussem, an anagram of the Spanish word for ‘lies’ with a Germanic H added. It belongs to the Postmen’s Colony (Thebussian Group), promoted in 1922 by the Cheap Housing Cooperative for Postmen.
Anyone walking down calle Doctor Thebussen would not guess the name hides a joke. The doctor signed his books with a German-sounding surname, but “Thebussem” meant nothing: it was the Spanish word for “lies” reshuffled letter by letter, with an H at the front for a Germanic gloss.
Behind the mask stood Mariano Pardo de Figueroa, born in 1828 in Medina Sidonia. He earned a law doctorate in Madrid and from 1863 withdrew to his hometown in Cádiz, where he wrote more than twelve thousand letters. As Thebussem he published on cooking, stamps and Cervantes; in 1888 he brought out La Mesa Moderna, the first major book of Spanish gastronomic writing. His love of the mail earned him the title of First Honorary Postmaster of Spain, granted in 1880.
That the street landed in the Guindalera was no accident. In 1922 the Cheap Housing Cooperative for Postmen built the Thebussian Group there, in homage to the honorary postmaster.
Sources (6)
- Mariano Pardo de Figueroa — Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
- Doctor Thebussem — Turismo Medina Sidonia
- Thebussem, Doctor — Biblioteca Nacional de España
- La fascinante historia del Doctor Thebussem — Bárbara Rosillo
- La Colonia de los Carteros — Por las calles de Madrid
- Pardo de Figueroa de la Serna, Mariano (1828-1918) — Archivo RAE