HERRERA, Antonio de. The General History of the Vast Continent and Islands of America, commonly call'd, The West-Indies, from the first discovery thereof ... translated into English by Capt. John Stevens, London: for Jer. Batley, 1725-26, 6 volumes, 8°, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, engraved portraits of Columbus and Cortes, 3 folding engraved maps and 15 plates, most folding (one map and M8 in vol. IV torn with slight loss and crudely repaired with adhesive tape, a few leaves torn at margins, occasional staining and light browning), modern library cloth. [Sabin 31557] (6)

Details

HERRERA, Antonio de. The General History of the Vast Continent and Islands of America, commonly call'd, The West-Indies, from the first discovery thereof ... translated into English by Capt. John Stevens, London: for Jer. Batley, 1725-26, 6 volumes, 8°, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, engraved portraits of Columbus and Cortes, 3 folding engraved maps and 15 plates, most folding (one map and M8 in vol. IV torn with slight loss and crudely repaired with adhesive tape, a few leaves torn at margins, occasional staining and light browning), modern library cloth. [Sabin 31557] (6)

Provenance

Stamps of the Mercantile Library, Philadelphia, to some plates and a few text leaves.

Lot Essay

The late 16th-century Spanish historian, Antonio de Herrera (1559-1625), is one of the most important authorities for the early Spanish and Portuguese voyages to America. His Historia general treats Magellan with unusual sympathy; it is, for example, the prime source for Ponce de León's 1513 voyage although written at least 80 years later; and is the sole authority for the belief that it was Cortés who first applied the name California to a place North of Mexico.

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