The Discovery of Florida, Being a True Relation of the Vicissitudes That Attended the Governor Don Hernando de Soto and Some Nobles of Portugal in the Discovery of Florida, Now Just Given by a Fidalgo of Elvas

[San Francisco]: The Book Club of California [Printed by the Grabhorn Press], 1946. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Dean, Mallette. One of 280 copies, folio size, 115 pp. Hernando de Soto (1495-1542), the hero of this story, was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition into Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas, and was the first documented European to have crossed the Mississippi. After an adventurous life, he died in 1542; the actual location of his death is unknown because he had encouraged the local natives to believe that he was a sun god (as a ploy to gain their submission without conflict) and so his men (truncated) had to conceal his death.

This book printed by the Grabhorn Press, one of the most highly renowned private presses in America in the twentieth century, run by brothers Edwin and Robert Grabhorn; it was named one of the Fifty Books of the Year and included in the Exhibition of Western Books (Rounce & Coffin Club).

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in orange-yellow paper boards decorated in red and black by Mallette Dean, white cloth spine, orange-yellow paper spine label with black lettering and red decoration; the coat-of-arms on the title page, forty-seven initials, and special printer's device, all in red, yellow, and black, were designed and cut by Mallette Dean; hand-set in Franciscan type on hand-made French paper; pagination: [i-vii], [1, blank] [1]-106, [1, colophon page], limited edition of 280 copies, unnumbered.

___CONDITION: Very good overall, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, the pages and illustrations are all clean and bright, and the volume is entirely free of prior owner markings; the boards are slightly bowed, have minor wear along edges and corners, and the orange paper, being textured, has captured a significant amount of soiling over the years.

___CITATIONS: Grabhorn Press Bibliography, no. 432; Hawk, no. 229.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help. (Inventory #: 17100512)