[Americana]. CORTES (Hernán); LORENZANA (Francisco Antonio). - Lot 36

[Americana]. CORTES (Hernán); LORENZANA (Francisco Antonio). Historia de Nueva-España, escrita por su esclarecido Conquistador Hernán Cortés, aumentada con otros documentos, y notas. México, Joseph Antonio de Hogal, 1770. Small folio, [11] f. (title, front, preface, errata), XVI-400 p., 9 f. (index) 36 pl., antique ivory parchment, smooth spine, havana title-piece, red edges (small leather loss at edges of title-piece, small flaws including 2 blunted corners, stains on boards; some browning and fingerprints, marginal crack on one of the codex plates and another reaching the map of New Spain, small window filled in at title, small mack. in margin p.I). First edition of this important work, which brings together valuable documents on the history of the conquest of Mexico. It contains the history of New Spain written by its conqueror Hernán Cortés, offering the text of his second, third and fourth letters, accompanied by Lorenzana's notes; and for the first time, the publication of Cortés' third letter to Emperor Charles V, recounting his voyage to the California peninsula. Information on subsequent expeditions up to 1769 is also included. Considered the finest book printed in Mexico in the 18th century, it is distinguished by its typographic quality, wide margins and copper-engraved illustrations. It features a title page in red and black with a vignette by Emmanuel Villavicencio, a frontispiece by Navarro and 36 plates. These include two very important folding maps: one of New Spain, prepared by José Antonio Alzate in 1769, and the other, the most significant, illustrating the eastern coasts of New Spain, drawn by Domingo del Castillo in 1541. This map appears here for the first time and is of great importance for America, as it is the first document in which the word "California" is written on the peninsula. Between pages 176 and 177 there are 31 copper-engraved plates by Villavicencio (title, 13 plates n. ch. and 18 plates numbered 15 to 32) reproducing the facsimile of a Mexican codex. Provenance: Frederich Miracle, Barcelona (lithographed ex-libris label) (Sabin, IX, 42065; Leclerc, Bib. Americana, 400).