Item: 1524 Cortes Letters To King Of Spain Americana Mexico Aztec Rare Post-Incunable
Sold For: $4,174.00
Bids: 38
Date: Aug 19, 2012
Auction: Ebay
Description and Image By: lux-et-umbra
Printed in Venice by Bernardino de Viano, 1524.
FIRST COMPLETE EDITION IN ITALIAN OF THE EARLIEST SURVIVING PRINTED ACCOUNT OF NEW SPAIN by the famous Spanish conquistador. EXTREMELY RARE! This is Nicolo Liburnio’s Italian translation of Cortés’ Second and Third Letters to Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, based on the Latin edition published by Pietro Savorgnano the same year and derived from the original Spanish Carta de relación printed at Seville in 1522. Cortés’s letters (especially the Second) containing his personal account of the conquest of Mexico are an essential source for understanding the early Spanish presence in Mexico. They constitute the first major announcement of the discovery of major civilizations in the New World, and, as such, are of surpassing importance. In the Second Letter (dated Segura de la Sierra, October 30, 1520), Cortés recalls a fracas with his rival, Spaniard Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, and other memorable events of the conquest; he describes the people and places in the newly discovered country that he encountered en route to the magnificent Temistitan (or Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City), the capital of the Aztec empire built on Lake Texcoco. The architecture of the city, as well as the rites and ceremonies of its people and the Aztec king’s court, are vividly described. The letter relates the most noteworthy events concerning the Spaniards’ entry into New Spain: the surrender of the chief of Cempoala, the procession towards the capital, the alliance with the Tlaxcaltecas, early contacts with the ambassadors of Montezuma (or Moctezuma), and the meeting with the Aztec chief in Tenochtitlán. Finally, Cortés describes the events leading up to his departure from the capital. The report recounts the death of Montezuma, the destruction of the ships, and the retreat of the Spanish from Temistitan on June 20, 1520, known henceforth as la noche triste (the “night of sorrows”), and concludes with descriptions of the preparations being made from the refuge in Tlaxcala for the advance on Temistitan, which was soon to be besieged, destroyed, and captured. It is in this letter that Cortés provides a definitive name for the country, calling it “New Spain of the Ocean Sea”: “With the aid of God the conquest is progressing in this new country, which from its similarity to Spain in fertility, extent, temperature and many other things I have called La Nueva Espana del Mar Oceano”. “By the time of the receipt in Spain of Cortés’s second letter […] the general and his conquest had become so famous that his communications were not likely to be lost sight of. The incidents treated of were, besides, highly enticing, particularly the victories at Tiascala, the entry into Montezuma’s wonderful island city, the disasterous expulsion, and the renewal of the campaign…” (Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Mexico, in The Works, Vol. IX, p.547). This letter is also important for making reference to Cortés’ “lost” first letter, supposedly composed at Vera Cruz on July 10, 1520. Whether that letter was actually lost or suppressed by the Council of the Indies is unknown, but there is little doubt it once existed. The Third Letter (dated Coyoacan, May 15, 1522), gives an account of events in Mexico from October 30, 1520, to May 15, 1522. It describes the siege of the city and the fall of the empire. Most of this report is given over to the seventy-five-day siege and capture of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro (1485 – 1547), 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died peacefully but embittered, six years later. This edition includes two dedicatory epistles: one by Pietro Savorgnano (the editor and translator of the Latin edition) to pope Clement VII (1478 – 1534), and another by the translator of this Italian edition, Nicolo Liburnio to Marino Grimani (c.1489 – 1546), a member of an aristocratic Venetian family, an Italian Cardinal and patriarch of Aquileia and papal legate. Bibliographic references: Alden, European Americana 524/6; Harrisse, BAV, 129; Sabin 16951; Church 55; Palau 63191; Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana, 86n; Leclerc 399; Medina, Ensayo Bio-bibliográfico sobre Hermán Cortés, 6. Physical description: Quarto (textblock measures 210 mm x 152 mm). A tall copy. Bound in full 19th-century calf, gilt-lettered title to spine (rebacked), gilt dentelles to edges of boards, edges speckled red, housed in a early 20th-century folding case of green cloth over marbled boards. [72] (of [74]) leaves (forming 144 pages).
Signatures: ✝4 A-Q4 R6 [-R1,6].
Lacking the final leaf R6 (blank except for printer’s mark on verso), and the conjugate text leaf R1. Also lacking the exceedingly rare (virtually unobtainable) woodcut plan of the city of Tenochtitlan, which is absent in almost all extant copies. Elaborate decorative and historiated woodcut border to title-page, numerous three- to ten-line woodcut initials, printed marginalia. Preliminaries include two dedicatory epistles: by Pietro Savorgnano to pope Clement VII and by Nicolo Liburnio to Marino Grimani (c.1489 – 1546). Colophon on leaf R5 recto, verso blank. Provenance:
Illegible contemporary inscription to lower margin of title-page.
“Presented by James Lenox/ to the New York Historical Society. April 1853” (inscription to front free endpaper). James Lenox was a 19th-century bibliophile and philanthropist whose collection was incorporated into the New York Public Library in 1895. A.P.M (stamp to title).
Bookplate of Bruce McKinney’s famous collection of early Americana with motto “liceat decernere foro” to rear pastedown. Acquired by him at Sotheby’s New York sale, 29 January 1995, lot 38 at the price of $3,737.50. Condition: Lacking the final leaf R6 (blank except for printer’s device on verso), text leaf R1 and the folding map. Else, in Very Good antiquarian condition. Rebacked retaining most of original backstrip. Binding slightly rubbed with some wear to edges. Title neatly repaired without loss, a couple of other leaves with discrete marginal repairs (no loss of text). Signature mark altered by hand on R2r. Single small wormhole to border of title-page and to upper outer corner of a few final leaves, not affecting text. Some light marginal soiling, occasional light marginal dampstaining. Generally, a clean, wide-margined and pleasing example of this extremely important and rare work.