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Central America, incl. Mexico
HAWAI'I. The Crossroads of the Pacific.[Honolulu] : [c.1906]
Early edition, perhaps the first, of this hemispherical map of the Pacific Ocean, centred on Hawai'i and encompassing Australia, the Chinese seaboard, and the Americas. Radiating lines shows the distance from Honolulu to major cities in nautical miles.
The map was issued by the Hawaii Promotion Committee, an organization formed in 1903 by...Learn More
NUTTALL, Zelia (ed.). Codex Nuttall: Facsimile of an Ancient Mexican Codex Belonging to Lord Zouche of Harynworth, England.Cambridge, Massachusetts : 1902
First edition of this vivid facsimile. The Tonindeye (Nuttall) Codex is a rare example of a pre-Columbian manuscript, recording the genealogy and feats of the Mixtec ruler Eight Deer Jaguar-Claw. "Zelia Nuttall's artist rendered the Mexican painted book with remarkable accuracy and [he] does well in reproducing the colors of the original codex"...Learn More
HUMBOLDT, Alexander von; WILLIAMS, Helen Maria (trans.) Researches, Concerning the Institutions & Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America, with Descriptions & Views of Some of the Most Striking Scenes in the Cordilleras!London : 1814
First edition in English, revised and translated from the illustrated folio edition published in Paris in 1813. The work was originally serialized in seven parts from 1810 to 1813. It contains Humboldt's reflections on South and Central American culture, and "crosses many traditional genres of literary and scientific writing, ranging from...Learn More
CORTÉS, Hernan, & Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (Peter Martyr). Praeclara de nova maris oceani Hyspania narratio sacratissimo ac invictissimo Carolo romanorum imperatori semper Augusto, Hyspaniarum & cum regi anno dominii M.D.XX. transmissa;Nuremberg : 1524
First Latin editions of Cortés's second and third letters, this copy complete with the important map of Tenochtitlan and the Gulf of Mexico, which is nearly always lacking. Besides including the first plan of an American city, it is the first map to name Florida and the first map to depict any portion of the Mississippi, here named Rio del...Learn More
ZARATE, Augustin de. Historia del descubrimiento y conquista de las provincias del Peru,Seville : 1577
Scarce second Spanish edition of one of the first and best accounts of the history and conquest of Peru, following the original edition of 1555.
Agustín de Zárate was contador general de cuentas at the court of Castile, and was sent by Philip II to audit the Royal Treasury and tax collection process in Peru. He sailed with Viceroy Blasco...Learn More
LÓPEZ DE GÓMARA, Francisco. Historia de Mexico, con el descubrimiento de la nueva EspañaAntwerp : 1554
One of the most important early chronicles of the Spanish conquest of the New World, López de Gomára's work is one of the two chief accounts of Cortés's conquest of Mexico.
López de Gomára served as Cortés's secretary and chaplain and made use of his position to gather information relating to the extraordinary exploits surrounding the...Learn More
CORTÉS, Hernan, & Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (Peter Martyr). De nuper sub D. Carolo Repertis insulis, simulatque incolarum moribus... Enchiridion.Basel : 1521
Peter Martyr's De nuper repertis insulis (On the islands recently discovered) is the first substantial printed account of the first three expeditions to Mexico and the discovery of the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Including information from the lost first Cortés letter, it is a key work for the history of the New World from 1516 to 1520,...Learn More
KINGSBOROUGH, Edward King, Viscount. Antiquities of Mexico:London : 1830-48
First edition of these magnificent reproductions of the visual history of pre-Columbian and early Colonial Mexico. Kingsborough's all-encompassing work was instrumental in the transmission of Mesoamerican art to European audiences, and recorded several manuscripts that have since deteriorated.
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough (1795-1837)...Learn More
WARD, Emily Elizabeth. Six Views of the Most Important Towns, and Mining Districts upon the Table Land of Mexico.London : 1829
First edition of this attractive suite of views by the accomplished artist Emily Elizabeth Ward, sketched during a series of journeys inspecting mines across Mexico. We have traced four other copies in commerce in the last 50 years.
Lady Emily Elizabeth Ward, neé Swinburne (1798-1882), grew up at the Swinburne seat, Capheaton, in...Learn More
TEMPSKY, Gustavus Ferdinand von. Mitla. A Narrative of Incidents and Personal Adventures on a Journey in Mexico, Guatemala, and Salvador in the Years 1853 to 1855.London : 1858
First edition. This is Tempsky's engaging account of a journey along the highlands of Central America, from Mazatlan in Mexico to La Union in El Salvador; attractively illustrated with early examples of chromolithography from the author's own watercolours.
Coming from a Prussian military family Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky (1828-1868) was...Learn More
CARRIÓN, Ulises. De Alemania.Mexico : 1970
First edition and only edition, number 533 of 3,000 copies, of Carrión's second book, a collection of six short stories employing the interior monologue, by "perhaps Mexico's most important conceptual artist" (Torre). Uncommon on the market: we were unable to trace any other copies for sale or at auction.
Ulises Carrión (1941-1989) wrote...Learn More
PORCACCHI, Thomaso. L'Isole Piu Famose Del Mondo.Venice : 1576
Second and best edition, which contains "much more" (Sabin) than the first edition of 1572, including 17 additional maps. Two of these, Jamaica and Porto Rico, are in the eight-map section on the New World, which also includes a reduced version of Forlani's 1565 map, the first to show America as a single geographical entity, Temistitan (Mexico),...Learn More![[Account sheet, with manuscript docket title:] Account of contingent expences incurred by the Superintendent of His Majesty's affairs in Honduras,](/image.pl?url=https%3a%2f%2fd3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net%2fmedia%2fcatalog%2fproduct%2fcache%2feddd32ef720e909fecec8d69051e6d0d%2f1%2f3%2f135127.jpg&f=jpg&w=240)
DESPARD, Edward. [Account sheet, with manuscript docket title:] Account of contingent expences incurred by the Superintendent of His Majesty's affairs in Honduras,(1789)
Account sheet for six months' expenses in Honduras by Edward Marcus Despard (1751-1803), Superintendent of Honduras, later executed for treason, despite the appeals of Nelson, with whom he had worked closely during the San Juan Expedition. On Honduras Despard sought to give the same rights to freed slaves as to white settlers, claiming that...Learn More
FRIEDLANDER, Lee. Flowers and Trees.New York : 1981
First edition, first printing, signed by the photographer on the dedication page. 40 stunning botanical photographs, taken during Friedlander's trip through the United States, Mexico, Japan and Europe.Learn More
PRESCOTT, William H. The Works.Philadelphia and London : [1904]
The Aztec edition, limited to 250 numbered sets. A stunning set beautifully bound and well illustrated. Includes his History of the Conquest of Mexico, History of Ferdinand and Isabella, History of the Conquest of Peru, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, plus his biographical and critical miscellanies.Learn More
