Conversion of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico
Jean Focher, 1574
FOCHER, Jean (1497?-1572); VALADÉS, Diego (1533-1588); and LEÓN, Nicolás. Itinerarium catholicum proficiscentium, ad infidels co[n]vertendos. Seville: Alonso Escribano, 1574. [Bound with:] CARRILLO, Martin (1561-1630). Itinerarium ordinandorum. Zaragoza: Typis Michaelis Sanctii, 1594. [And with:] CARDILLO DE VILLALPANDO, Gaspar (1527-1581). Commentarius praecipuarum rerum, quae in conciliis Toletanis contine[n]tur. Alcalá de Henares: Juan de Villanueva, 1570. [And with:] CARRANZA, Bartolomé (1503-1576). Controversia de necessaria residentia personali episcoporum & aliorum inferiorum Pastorum Tridenti explicata. Venice: Ad Signum Spei, 1547.

First and only edition of a very rare work on the conversion of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, one of the first in the genre. "This excessively rare book is wholly unknown to the American historian, though it has played no inconsiderable part in the conversion of the Indians of Mexico, especially the nation of the Chichimecas" (Stevens, quoted in Sabin). Only one copy recorded at auction, and only three institutional copies listed in WorldCat: John Carter Brown Library, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma (Puebla, Mexico), and Biblioteca de la Universidad Complutense (Madrid). Bound with three other contemporary works on Catholic theology. European Americana 574/25; JCB 1:862; Medina 1:234; Palau y Dulcet (2nd ed.) 3:255; Sabin 24934; Palau y Dulcet 44021 (Cardillo de Villalpando), 45006 (Carranza), 45498 (Carrillo).

16mo (133 x 89mm). Woodcut of the crucifixion on verso of leaf A8, decorative initials; Carrillo: lacking first two leaves, including title, and final leaf; Carranza: lacking final 11 leaves called for by Palau y Dulcet but appears complete (entire volume closely cropped, occasionally touching running titles and marginal text, esp. in Carrillo; small burn marks on lower margin affecting letters on Licencia page of Focher and a couple of pages in Cardillo de Villalpando). 18th-century mottled sheep (extremities rubbed). Provenance: Monastery of Santa María de Los Angeles, Churubusco, Mexico (ink inscriptions on titles of Focher and Cardillo de Villalpando and first page of Carrillo).