Historia de la conquista de Mexico

Folio of (10) ff., 548 pp., (8) ll., (1) bl. L.

Contemporary vellum, handwritten title on the spine.

292 x 196 mm.

Solis, Antonio de. Historia de la Conquista de Mexico, poblacion, y progressos de la America septentrional, conocida por el nombre de Nueva Espana.

Barcelona, Joseph Llopis, 1691.

Rare second edition of one of the most remarkable work on Mexican History.

The first was published in Madrid in 1684.

Chadenat, I, 984 ; Palau, 318603; Sabin, 86447 ; Leclerc, 1275; Boucher de la Richarderie, VI, p.159.

The most remarkable history written in the Spanish language, according to Prescott, this work follows the history of the conquest and colonization of Mexico.

It describes events from the appointment of Cortez as the leader of the Spanish forces, through the fall of Tenochtitlan.

It deals with Cortes travels and the conquest of Mexico and gives very interesting details on Indians way of life at the time.

Solis’ Historia has been called a poem without verse, as it is written in epic style, with a great central hero and with the facts selected according to the needs of the story. It became the first standard literary version of the Conquest until Prescott’s history and other later works.

It went through numerous Spanish editions and was translated in the major European tongues.

Wilgus (pp. 155-156) remarks on the long-standing popularity of Solís’ work and reports that Prescott read Solís in order to learn Spanish. Prescott praised Solis’ history as the “most remarkable in the Castilian language.” Wilgus comments that noted ethnographer-archaeologist Charles-Étienne de Brasseur de Bourbourg became interested in America by reading Solís. Bancroft noted that although Solís made up the speeches by his characters, his work must be considered generally accurate.

“Cortés was his hero and the Conquest was a ‘Holy War’” (p. 156).

An attractive copy preserved in its contemporary vellum.