The letters of Hernando Cortés

F.A. Lorenzana, 1770
CORTÉS, Hernando (1485-1547) and LORENZANA, Francesco Antonio (1722-1804). Historia del Nueva-España, escrita por su esclarecido conquistador Hernan Cortes. Mexico City: Imprenta del Superior Gobierno, del Br. D. Joseph Antonio de Hogal, 1770.

The first edition of this "important and highly esteemed work, containing the celebrated letters of Cortés to the Emperor Charles V" (Sabin). Lorenzana collected historical documents during his tenure as Archbishop of Mexico; this work publishes material relating to the early history of New Spain with his commentary. The book is illustrated with numerous engravings depicting the Mexican calendar, the Pyramid of the Sun, and pages from an Aztec codex. One of the maps traces Cortés’s route on his first expedition to Mexico, labeling the Gulf of California as “Mar Roxo de Cortes,” and is only the second map in which the name of Texas appears. The other map is the first printing of a chart made during the 1541 Coronado-Alcarón expedition. Palau 63204; Sabin 16938.

Folio (265 x 201mm). Title in red and black with engraved vignette; engraved frontispiece; 33 engraved plates, one of which folding; 2 engraved folding maps (several repaired tears to first map with some loss of captions, title and frontispiece remargined at inner and lower edges). Contemporary sheep, edges red, ink title on spine (surface wear). Provenance: Vincente Albares (contemporary signature on title) – Joaquin Cortina Goribar (1906-1991, Mexican historian; bookplate).