Fernandez de Piedrahita, Lucas

Folio (11 3/4 x 8 in.; 299 x 200 mm). Engraved title and 2 engraved half-titles by J. Mulder, incorporating medallion portraits of the Spanish conquerors and the leading Indians and battle-scenes. Contemporary vellum; partially detached, wormholes not affecting the text, light dampstaining on lower right corner. 

Francisco Plancarte, Obispo de Campeche (ink seal on first blank)

Field 1215; Medina, BHA 1816; Palau 89568; Sabin 62704.

FIRST EDITION: "A work of the highest importance for the early History of New Granada" (Sabin).

Lucas Fernandez de Piedrahita was related to the Inca royal family through his mother. "Book I. is almost entirely devoted to a description of the peculiar rites and ceremonies of the Indians in New Grenada. The remainder of the work is largely occupied with the narration of battles with the natives, their work in the mines, their revolts, subjugation, and their conversion. The work was composed during the residence of the author at Madrid, from the manuscript of Gonzalez Ximenez de Quesada, the conqueror of the country, and the first European to penetrate its interior. This first volume is the only one ever printed, which is the more to be regretted, as it relates to a portion of America of which we possess the fewest documents. The work in any condition is very rare" (Field).