Lopez de Gomara, Francisco | A primary account of the Conquest of Mexico

Lopez de Gomara, Francisco

The Pleasant Historie Of The Conquest Of The West India, Now Called New Spaine. Atchieved By The Woorthie Prince Hernando Cortes Marques Of The Valley Of Huaxacac, Most Delectable To Reade.... London: Thomas Creede, 1596

Small quarto (185 x 124 mm). [12], 405, [6]pp; title-page backed, two small holes to Nn3, not affecting text, small tear repaired to leaf Nn, not affecting text. Eighteenth-century red morocco, elaborately tooled in gilt, gilt leather label, all edges gilt; bookplate on front pastedown and front free endpaper.

A primary account of the Conquest of Mexico.

The second English edition of one of the most important early chronicles of the Spanish conquest of the New World, and one of the two chief accounts of Cortes' conquest of Mexico, the other being provided by Bernal Diaz. This is a reissue of the first English edition of 1578, and one of the handful of English works about the New World to appear in the 16th century.

Lopez de Gomara was Cortes's secretary for a number of years, and made use of his unparalleled opportunity to gather information from the primary source relating to the extraordinary exploits surrounding the overthrow of the Aztec empire. "Contains the first printed accounts of the Cortes expeditions to California, the expeditions of Francisco Ulloa, Marcos de Niza, Coronado, the subsidiary expeditions resulting from the last, and the voyage of Cabrillo" (Wagner). The work was first published in Zaragosa in 1552, and quickly went through a number of editions in Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries. The English translation was prepared by Thomas Nicholas, who abridged the original. This second edition is a virtual line-for-line reprint of the 1578 edition.

An important Elizabethan Americanum.

REFERENCE:

European Americana 596/52; Palau 141186; Sabin 27752; Wagner, Spanish Southwest 2qq; STC 16808