HISTORIA DE LA CONQUISTA DE LA PROVINCIA DE EL ITZA, REDUCCION, Y PROGRESSOS DE LA DE EL LACANDON, Y OTRAS NACIONES DE INDIOS BARBAROS, DE LA MEDIACION DE EL REYNO DE GUATIMALA, A LAS PROVINCIAS DE YUCATAN, EN LA AMERICA SEPTENTRIONAL

Madrid: Lucas Antonio de Bedmar y Narvaez, 1701.. Engraved "frontispiece," [32] leaves, 660pp., [17] leaves. Folio. 19th-century Spanish sheep ("pasta española"). Boards rubbed, joints a bit worn, pinhole-type worming in spine, loss of lower inch of spine leather to insects. Text tanned (due to impurities in water during paper manufacture). Small insect damage to margins of first four leaves, not touching any text; similar small damage in inner margins of last four leaves. Overall, a good copy of a scarce work. Although the author never set foot in the New World, his high position in the Consejo de Indias and other royal councils gave him access to much important documentation for the writing of this prized history of the conquest of the Izta Maya and the attempted conquest of the Lacandón Indians during the last decades of the 17th century. The conquest of Petén and the misadventures of Roque de Soberanis y Senteno and Martín de Urzúa, two governors of the Yucatán, make for very exciting reading. This is the first published book dedicated solely to the history of the Yucatán and the Maya, here offered in its first edition, first issue (with the incorrect catchword "gla" at the foot of the recto of the twenty-second preliminary leaf).

Bedmar y Narvaez printed the titlepage in black and red, and the text is in double- column format. This copy contains both the engraved "frontispiece" and the black and red titlepage, but, as usual, not the very rare colophon.

Although touted as "Primera parte" on the titlepage, there were no further parts; this HISTORIA... is complete, "all published." PALAU 366681. MEDINA, BHA 2051. SABIN 99643. LeCLERC 1546. SALVÁ 3422. HEREDIA 3407. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 701/262. Villagutierre: ARCHIVO BIOGRÁFICO DE ESPAÑA, PORTUGAL, E IBEROAMÉRICA, fiche 1019, frames 213-16. (Inventory #: WRCAM36343)