Cortés, Hernando

De insulis nuper inventis ... ad Carolum V. Rom. Imperatorem narrationes. Cologne: Melchior Novesianus, 1532



Folio (11 1/2 x 7 3/4 in.; 292 200 mm). Woodcut title-portrait of Charles V within a woodcut border of escutcheons of Spanish provinces and towns, the portrait repeated within decorative border-pieces on A1 and F1, large ornamental woodcut initials and border-pieces in text, woodcut printer's device at end; title-page cropped along top margin, not affecting border, some browning. Quarter calf over tree-calf marbled boards, morocco lettering piece; spine rubbed.

Spencer Compton, VIII Duke of Devonshire (Chatsworth bookplate, sale Christie's London, 24 February 1982, lot 531)

Church 63; Evans E1127; Harisse 168; JCB I, 103-104; Medina I, 86; Palau 63192; Sabin 16949;  

Folio (11 12 x 7 3/4 in.; 292 200 mm). Woodcut title-portrait of Charles V within a woodcut border of escutcheons of Spanish provinces and towns, the portrait repeated within decorative border-pieces on A1 and F1, large ornamental woodcut initials and border-pieces in text, woodcut printer's device at end; Title-page cropped along top margin, not affecting border, some browning. Quarter calf over tree-calf marbled boards, morocco lettering piece; spine rubbed.
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The Chatsworth copy, second Latin edition of the second and third letters of Cortés to Emperor Charles V (translated by Petrus Savorgnanus) and the first to contain missionary reports from Yucatan and Mexico. Cortés gave his personal account of the conquest of Mexico in a series of five letters, which he addressed to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. The first letter was lost, making the second letter the earliest account by Cortes himself, describing the events in Mexico after his departure from Vera Cruz. The third letter continues the narrative, describing Mexican events from October 1520 to May 1522. The present work also includes Peter Martyr's De Insulis (a condensed version of the lost Cortés letter); a letter from Mexico by Martin de Valencia, dated 12 June 1531, which is the first printed report from the Yucatan; a letter from Bishop Zumarraga giving an account of the Franciscan schools in Mexico, their teachers and the Indian converts; and a letter from Nicholaus Herborn dated 1532. These last three sections appear here in this edition for the first time. Scarce, only this copy and another have appeared at auction sine 1980.