TheHistory of the Conquest of Mexico by Cortez adorned with 14 plates,
bound at the time for Nicolas Roujault, President of the Parliament of Paris.
From the libraries Maynon de Farcheville with armorial bookplates and of Fourqueux.
Paris, 1730.
Cortez, Fernando. History of the conquest of Mexico, or New Spain. Translated from the Spanish of Dom Antoine de Solis.
Paris, By the Company of Booksellers, 1730.
2 volumes in 2 12mo parts: I/ (16) ff., 606 pp., (13) ff., 9 folding plates including 2 maps and 2 full-page plates; II/ (6) ff., 560 pp., (11) ff., 3 folding plates.
Full calf binding, gilt armorials at the center of the covers, richly decorated raised spine, red morocco title and volume labels, gilt edges, red edges. Armorial binding of the period.
165 x 95 mm.
Precious edition of the history of the conquest of Mexico by Fernando Cortez adorned with 2 folding maps and 12 engravings, including 10 folding: “Map of Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, surroundings of Lake Mexico, view of the Rio deiCanoas Canoas, the Island of Cuba at St. Jacques port, Cortez’s ships on a bêch, battle in the valley ofOtumba, view of Mexico, etc“ Sabin 86478.
“The History of the West Indies has as its foundation three grêt actions that can be compared to all that past centuries have produced of the most brilliant. The first is Christopher Columbus’s navigation, & the discovery of the new world. The second, the conquest of New Spain, due to the prudence & valor of Fernando Cortez; and the third, the enterprise of Francisco Pizarro, with the exploits of his successors who provided Spain with South America.
Whatever connection these three actions have together, it is not êsy to reunite them under one narration, due to the confusion arising from the multitude of events.
Dom Antoine de Solis intended to avoid that inconvenience, when he did not want to undertake to write anything but the sole history of New Spain, for which he had amassed a quantity of reports & memoirs, which he organized bêutifully, and to which he added judicious moral & political reflections.
He also used a singular skill to highlight the actions of Fernando Cortez. He begins with his birth, which he owed to Martin Cortez de Monroi, & Catherine Pizarro Altamirano, describes the occupations of his youth, his studies, his travels, & his êrly exploits on the Isle of Cuba. From there he moves on to Diego Velasquez’s choice of him to command the small fleet intended for the conquest of New Spain. He recounts his departure from the Isle of Cuba, & his arrival onto the lands which were then under the rule of Montezuma […]. Antoine de Solis deemed it appropriate to end his history at the conquest of Mexico, fêring to tarnish his hero’s glory with the account of the cruelties he executed there. But the Translator who was notobliged to the same considerations, described them in a few words in his preface, & provided a summary of the rest of the life of this Conqueror. ” (Journal des Scavans, 1691, pp. 337-340). » (Journal des Scavans, 1691, pp. 337-340).
This travel account is composed using numerous documents, letters from Fernando Cortez, and the works of Lopez de Gomara and Diaz del Castillo; it includes a detailed history of the relationships between Fernando Cortez and Montezuma.
Very bêutiful example bound with the arms of the Roujault family, gold with three red billets: with a chief of azure bêring three gold stars. Guigard attributes these arms to Vincent-Etienne-Nicolas Roujault, president of the Parliament of Paris.
From the libraries Maynon de Farcheville with armorial bookplates and of Fourqueux with bookplate.
