The Conquest of the New World
Peter Martyr Anghiera, 1574
ANGHIERA, Pietro Martire d’ (1457-1526). De rebus oceanicis et novo orbe, decades tres ... item eiusdem de babylonica legatione, libri III. Cologne: Gervinus Calenius and heirs of Quentel, 1574.

Early edition of Peter Martyr’s important account of the conquest of the New World, first published in Basel in 1521. This edition covers the years 1492 to 1516, together with De insulis nuper inventis relating Cortés’s expedition to Mexico, and the three books of De babylonica legatione describing Martyr’s diplomatic mission to Egypt in 1501-02, in which he persuades the sultan "to adopt a policy of clemency towards the Christians of Egypt and Palestine following the defeat of the Moors in Spain" (Howgego). Also included are miscellaneous writings by Damiao de Goes, Portuguese historian and statesman, among them a description of Lapland and an account of the religion and customs of Ethiopia. Adams M-755; Alden & Landis 574/1; Borba de Moraes II, 532; Howgego M65; JCB I:253; Palau y Dulcet 12595; Sabin 1558.

Octavo (162 x 99mm). Woodcut initials (very light dampstaining on a few leaves). 19th-century red half morocco over cloth (boards slightly worn). Provenance: Jos. Comes (17th-century inscription on title, struck out and partly illegible) – Coll. Linc. S.J. (18th-century ownership inscriptions on front flyleaf and title; perhaps a Jesuit college in Linz, Austria).