[Rarebooks] FS: Fine copy of the Cortes & Lorenzana's "Historia del Nueva-Espana" w/2 maps & 33 plates. Mexico: 1770

[Kenneth Karmiole]

Cortes, Hernan and Francisco Antonio Lorenzana. HISTORIA DEL NUEVA-ESPANA, Escrita por Su Escalarecido Conquistador Hernan Cortes. Mexico: Imprenta del Superior Gobierno, del Br. D. Joseph Antonio de Hogal. 1770. Folio (10-1/2" x 7-3/8"). (20),xvi,400,(18)pp. With the errata leaf. Title printed in red & black with an engraved vignette. Complete with the engraved frontispiece bound following the title, 2 engraved folding maps, 33 engraved plates (1, folding), and an engraved initial on the dedication leaf. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt. A beautiful, fine copy.                                       $12,500.00 (trade discount allowed)
First edition of this important and highly esteemed work, containing the celebrated letters of Cortes to the Emperor Charles V, illustrated with important engravings and two influential maps. It is a cornerstone on the Spanish colonial conquest of Mexico and the early exploration of southern California. Father Lorenzana, the Archbishop of Mexico from 1766 to 1772, here publishes three of Hernando Cortes' letters to Emperor Charles V, the second, third and fourth letters, with numerous valuable annotations which provide reliable information on the early civilization of Mexico and its conquest. Besides the allegorical frontispiece showing Cortes presenting the world to the Emperor, the plates include a depiction of the Mexican calendar, a folding view of the great temple of Mexico, and 31 plates depicting an Aztec codex representing the tributes paid by the different towns in Mexico. The maps include a general map of Mexico showing Cortes' route, by Jose Antonio y Ramirez; the second map is an important depiction of the northern Pacific coast of Mexico, the Baja peninsula and southern California after Domingo del Castillo (made in 1541). Note: in this copy the 31 plates are divided in the text; after p. 176 are 8, and after p. 200 are 23.  The other two plates are bound at p.1 and p.3.  Sabin 16938.

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