A Paris, chez Panckoucke, 1778.
4 volumes 12mo: I/ (2) ll., 34 pp., 400 pp., 1 large folding map of the Gulf of Mexico, 1 large folding map of South America (small tear without loss), 1 folding map of Mexico, 1 folding map of the countries along the South Sea, 1 folding chronological table of the Mexicans ; II/ (1) l., 653 pp. ; III/ (1) l., 586 pp. ; IV/ (1)
l., 493 pp. misnumbered 433, (7) pp.
Speckled brown calf, blind-stamped fillet border on covers, raised bands with gilt fillets and floral tools, gilt armorial stamp in the top spine compartment, red edges. Contemporary armorial binding with library label at foot of spines.
164 x 96 mm.
First 12mo edition of the French translation, published the same year as the original 4to edition.
William Robertson (1721–1793) published his History of America in 1777, in 2 4to volumes.
At the time of its appearance, the work met with great success in England and across Europe—a success confirmed by posterity. The cool impartiality of the narrative matched the author’s judicious temperament. He himself defined his method as follows: “When I write, I always imagine myself giving testimony before a court of law.” His style is smooth and fluent, his opinions sound and enlightened.
The book is an account of the Spanish conquests, especially in Mexico and Peru.
“The History of America is a book written by Scottish historian William Robertson. It is a comprehensive history of America, from its earliest indigenous peoples to the American War of Independence. The work is divided into four volumes, each covering a specific period of American history. The fourth volume deals with the period from 1754 to 1763, marked by the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France for control of North America. Robertson describes in detail the events of this period, including the battles and diplomatic negotiations that led to the war’s end. He also examines the consequences of the war for the British colonies in North America, notably the growing tensions between the colonists and the British government. History of America is an important work that offers a unique perspective on key events in the colonial and pre-revolutionary periods.” (Amazon).
Strongly influenced by the European debate of the 1770s on the New World—from Buffon’s Histoire naturelle to Cornélius de Pauw’s Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains, and then Raynal’s Histoire des Deux Indes—Robertson’s History of America portrays Native Americans as a lesser form of humanity, virtually incapable of mastering nature: a stagnant world that only enters history through (providential) Spanish conquest. From Canada to Cape Horn, Robertson reduces all American peoples to the same condition, depicting them with uniform traits, and inscribing their cultural and social stasis into their “savage” nature. European tutelage is thus justified in the case of wild America, and this is why Robertson praises the Spanish conquest—in stark contrast to French philosophers, fervent disseminators of the leyenda negra.Unfortunately for humanity, in every part of the globe where Europeans established their domination, they found inhabitants not only at a much lower level of social development than their own, but also with different complexions and ways of life. […] In Africa and America, the difference was so striking that, in the pride of their superiority, Europeans felt justified in reducing the natives of the former to slavery, and those of the latter to extermination. Even in India, though far ahead of the other two continents in terms of refinement, the inhabitants’ skin color, effeminate appearance, unwarrior-like spirit, wild religious rituals, and other characteristics confirmed Europeans in their belief in their own superiority, to the point that they always viewed and treated Indians as an inferior race of men.
“What Robertson published covers only the history of Spanish America; he had intended to write the history of English America, now known as the United States; unfortunately death prevented him, and only a fragment of that history was found among his papers, which was published in Paris by Denné in two small 12mo volumes.
To compose the first part of the History of America, Robertson drew upon the best Spanish authors and the most knowledgeable travelers. In using these materials, he applied rigorous critical judgment and infused the work with profound observations—though he has rightly been criticized for having somewhat downplayed Spanish cruelty.” – Bibliothèque des Voyages (Catalogue of works on the history of America, no. 570).
Though unfinished, the work went through numerous editions and translations—including one in Armenian!
Fine edition illustrated with 4 folding maps of America: Map of the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the Adjacent Lands (460 x 350 mm), Map of South America, Map of Mexico or New Spain, engraved on thick paper, Map of the countries along the South Sea from Panama to Guayaquil, and a folding engraved plate showing the chronological table of the Mexicans.
A precious and beautiful copy, the only one recorded on the market in contemporary armorial binding.
It bears the gilt spine arms of the family of Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld, Duke of La Rochefoucauld and La Roche-Guyon, Prince of Marsillac, Marquis of Liancourt, sixth son of François VIII, Grand Veneur of France and Grand Master of the Wardrobe, and of Madeleine-Charlotte Le Tellier de Louvois. Born on September 29, 1690, he first bore the title of Count of Montignac; he served in the navy, then in the army, and was made Duke of La Roche-Guyon in February 1713; promoted brigadier of cavalry in 1719, knighted in the Orders of the King on May 16, 1728, he became Duke and Peer of France on February 22, 1729, upon the death of his father, and Grand Master of the Wardrobe.
