TORQUEMADA Juan de Primera [-tercera] parte de los veinte i un libros rituales i Monarchia Indiana, con el origen y guerras, de los Indios Ocidentales, de sus Poblaçones, Descubrimiento, Conquista, Conversion, y otras cosas maravillosas de la mesma tierra distribuydos en tres tomos. •• Segunda parte […]. ••• Tercera parte […].

Alden-Landis, 725/195 ; Brunet, V, 886 ; Burden, 140 (p. 169) ; Hill, 1707; John Carter Brown, 1723/ 339 ; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana (1867), 1476 (correct collation) ; Medina, IV, 2491 (erroneous collation) ; Palau, XXIII, 335033 ; Sabin, 96212.

Second and best edition, revised by Barcia, of this highly important work on Mexican history (first edition Madrid 1615).

“The present edition, which is edited by Barcia, is more highly prized that the first. The first volume treats of the Indians of new Spain and of their origin ; of the customs of the kingdoms of Mexico, Tezcuco and other provinces now included in the boundaries of Mexico, together with the history of the conquest by the Spaniards. The second volume contains a comparison of the customs of the Mexicans with those of the nations of antiquity. The third relates to ecclesiastical affairs, including the lives of many members of the order of Franciscans to which the author belonged. The Monarchia Indiana has been pronounced the most complete in respect to the antiquity of Mexico of any hitherto published. ‘The author resided in Mexico from his youth to his death; knew the Mexican language well, conversed with the Mexicans for upwards of fifty years, collected a great number of ancient pictures and manuscripts, and labored at his work for more than twenty years’… No work has been more consulted, and copied” (JCB).

“This revised second edition is considered the best version of Torquemada’s key work on the early history of Spanish North America, particularly Mexico. Essentially an encyclopedia of the history, customs, mannners, laws, and religious conversion of the Indians of Mexico, this work is the primary source for Sebastian Vizcaino’s 1596 and  and 1602 expeditions and voyage of discovery to California. It contains father Antonio de la Ascension’s letter describing the voyage of Vizcaino during which most bays, headlands, and rivers, including San Diego, were renamed… The scarcity of the 1615 first edition is partly due to the fact that most of the copies were lost in a shipwreck on their way to Mexico” (Hill).

The illustration comprises an allegorical title (repeated) engraved by Irala and a fine engraved worldmap which is here exceptionally present partially coloured. This worldmap, listed by Burden under number 140, was first used in 1601 to illustrate the work by Herrera y Tordesillas. It contains the famous ‘Line of Tordesilla’ showing the demarcation between the Spanish and the Portuguese possessions in the New World. This map, printed from the original copperplate, contains a diagram of climatic zones in the lower left. The other three similar maps mentioned by Burden are made from new engravings, reduced in size.

Very good copy, quires 2X-2Y (pp. 515-538) of volume II misplaced after quire 2T.