This book bears an ornate, emblematic engraved title-page, with portraits of St. Brendan and Boyl and more, and no fewer than 18 leaf-filling plates by Wolfgang Kilian. These plates, which mixfancy and realism in entirely engaging ways, include a portrait of Columbus, a scene of St. Brendan celebrating mass on the back of a whale, botanical images of the marvelous Peruvian potato, and numerous views of the missionaries’interaction with the natives, some friendly, and some not—the unfriendliest being notably violent and gory. Also, on p. 35–36 is given an example of purportednative American music, with both words and notation. This copy is one (probably the first) of two states of this sole edition (with only three leaves in the preliminaries), without the additional foldout plate found in some copies.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 621/100; Sabin 63367; Palau 224762. Binding as above and shown at left (distortion noted), chipped on corners and at head and foot of spine. Small wormholes visible on inside of covers, running into margins of pages and plates, and a few closed tears, neither affecting print or plates. Engraved title remounted. Small stains, light spots of waterstaining, and light soiling. A very covetable illustrated Americanum of the early 17th century, in an enjoyable copy.

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Provenance:  Ownership signature on front free endpaper, “Mr. Justice McDougall, Jamaica.”

Autograph manuscript addition: Tipped onto the title-page is a manuscript letter signed by Brougham, dated 1839. In this informal but warmly written letter apparently addressed to an uncle, he declines an invitation and briefly mentions “the children,” whom he thought were left safe from the measles at Paris; he had one living daughter at the time of this letter's composition, and may be referring to members of his extended family.

•  NSTC 2B51067.   Publisher's limp red cloth in imitation of morocco, yapp edges, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; extremities rubbed, spine slightly darkened with small paper label, sides with small areas of minor discoloration. All edges stained red. Front free endpaper with early inked inscription and small private pressure-stamp. Pages age-toned; one early inked correction.  (26986)

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Binding:  Publisher's brown ribbon-embossed cloth with original paper spine labels.

•  Sabin 8530; Palau 36231; Library Company, Afro-Americana (rev. ed.), 1701. On binding: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50, Fs 1.   Publisher's cloth, light spotting on covers with spine label of one volume chipped and the other faded; discoloration to head of spine head, vol. I, and strips of black cloth tape at head of spine and onto boards of vol. II. Ex–social club library: each volume with a 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Title-page and front free endpaper of vol. I neatly joined/reinforced with old paper tape; a firm, decent set.  (26410)

Signed by the crown with a wooden stamp, “Yo el Rey.”

This copy sent to Santiago, Chile, and docketed there.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and untattered.  (25817)

A mixed set in mixed bindings: all volumes except 11 are first editions, the exception being a 1966 reprint. Many original wrappers bound in. Volumes 1–10 in early quarter cloth, 11–42 in modern full cloth.

•  Griffin, Latin America: A guide to the historical literature, 2063; Palau 56442.   Bindings as above: Vols. 1–10 with abrasion/discoloration to spines, otherwise minor wear; moderate foxing, and some early annotations. Vols. 11–42, cloth bright; mostly clean internally, last 2 pages of last volume supplied in facsimile. Vol. 38 lacking fascicles 3, 4, 5, and 6.  (25828)

To aid in getting a refreshed grip on the administration of the New World, Philip IV of Spain asked Juan Díez de la Calle, a member of the Consejo de Indias, to produce a concise administrative handbook for use solely by the Council of the Indies, the King, and his close advisors. Here one finds all of the administrative divisions with dates of creation; office holders and their salaries and when the office was created; differences existing between administrative districts; and an interesting section on the various “annual” convoys (“armadas”) and the general in charge of each.

Provenance: Ownership signature at top of title-page of “Guill[er]mo Godolphin,” i.e., Sir William Godolphin.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 645/45; Palau 73741; Sabin 20133.   Early limp vellum. Lacking two leaves: “Al Lector” leaf and the sectional title-leaf. A very good copy.  (25808)

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•  On Gage, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XX, 353–55. Recent marbled paper over light boards. Second and third blank leaves pasted together. Some light soiling, and some chipping and tears without apparent loss of text. Rubber-stamps from a now-defunct library. The paper here is decidedly blue; the hand is very readable.

•  Publisher's gilt-stamped green cloth. Lightly toned. Small abrasion on two pages, not affecting text. A very good copy.  (23652)

A good example of the solid, workaday English law-printing of its period, opening with an attractive foliate initial crowned with a seated griffin.

•  ESTC N57352. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages clean save for some very minor browning in outer margins.

Barbados

•  This ed. not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume. Page edges slightly darkened, otherwise clean. (16757)

Jamaica

    Some of both the voyages and the maps make their first published appearances here—among them the New England map depicting the Maryland and Virginia coastlines, engraved by R. Michault after one contained in Richard Blome’s Description of the Island of Jamaica, part of which work appears here translated into French. Altogether, a volume notable both for its strong African and North American content and for the aesthetic appeal of its plates and pleasingly ornamented typography.

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The Appendix here provides a fairly comprehensive exposition of the enemy's defensive position at the time of the English arrival, while the main body describes ship movements and land fortifications in detail.

•  ESTC T18830; Sabin 11128; Alden & Landis 743/1. On Knowles, see: The Dictionary of National Biography.   Recent half calf with paper-covered sides; spine with gilt-stamped title. A clean and very good copy.  (24824)

•  Palau 221275; Sabin 60899.   Modern quarter brown calf over marbled paper boards, with red and green spine labels. A clean, very nice set, with only a bit of minor dampstaining and the odd spot or paper flaw in all the many volumes. All edges red.  (25829)

•  Sabin 29578; not in Library Company, Afro-Americana, but see 9145 for the 1818 U.S. edition.   Early 20th-century brown half-calf, gilt-stamped; rubbed on joints and corners. Ex-library (properly deaccessioned), with bookplates, call number on spine in gilt, pressure-stamp on title-page, abrasion to rear pastedown where once was a charge pocket. Occasional instances of spotting or soil; in fact, a good copy.  (26021)

•  Very Good condition, in recent wrappers.

In this work printed in Philadelphia, Vidaurre calls for republican reforms in Peru. This was a major change of political stance for him, for he had loyally served the crown in both his native Peru and, after the commencement of the Wars of Independence, in Spain. His attack on the Spanish political system and call for liberal republican reforms involves passionate denunciation of slavery, and his "renuncia" (pp. 197-225) speaks at length about Cuba's current socio-political conditions and explains why Cuba should follow the lead of the former Spanish colonies of the American mainland. On the basis of this work, which is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, The Liberator appointed Vidaurre head of the supreme court at Trujillo.

•  Sabin 99491; Shaw & Shoemaker 14780. On Vidaurre, see: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 1012, frames 251-56 & 261-62. Modern quarter green morocco and marbled paper sides. Foxing, some staining. Complete with the errata leaf, and solid.

As an historical record, this is probably the best contemporary account of Walker and the expedition. It details events up through Walker's “election” as president of Nicaragua and the subsequent U.S. recognition of his government in June 1856. Walker was forced out ten months later.

The large map of Central America opposite the title-page bears the imprint of J.H. Colton, New York, 1856, and includes insets of the Isthmus of Panama and “The Nicaragua Route” for getting from the U.S. eastern seaboard to California.

•  Howes W256; Nicaraguan National Bibliography 20727 (not calling for the map). Not in Sabin. On Wells, see DAB, X, 646.   Publisher's charcoal-colored cloth, stamped in blind on covers; spine with author's name, title, and Walker's logo of “Estado Soberano de Nicaragua” in gilt. Lacks the wood-engraved portrait of Walker.  (24825)