NOTICIA DE LA CALIFORNIA, Y DE SU CONQUISTA TEMPORAL, Y ESPIRITUAL HASTA EL TIEMPO PRESENTE

Venegas, Miguel

Verlag: En la Imprenta de la Viuda de Manuel Fernandez, Madrid, 1757

Three volumes. [24],240pp. plus folding map; [8],564; [8],436pp. plus three folding maps. Floriated initial caps, woodcut headpieces and tailpieces. Small quarto. Contemporary limp vellum, contemporary manuscript titling to the spines of first and second volumes in brown ink, and third volume in black ink. Five of twelve binding ties present. Second and third volumes with moderate soiling to vellum. Hinges starting on first and second volumes, front hinge of third volume broken. Textblock edges modestly foxed. Marginal worming (often repaired) in the margins of all three volumes. Intermittent tidelines in outer margin of second and third volumes. A single early red pencil arrow in the margins of first and second volumes. Later stamped ownership mark of Juan N. Ortiz on the verso of map in first volume. Very good overall. In cloth chemises and a half morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt. The first edition of this classic history of California, frequently reprinted in various languages. Published in Madrid in 1757, Venegas' work is the first general history of California and of the Spanish on the Pacific Coast and into the far Southwest, including southern Arizona and northern Sonora. It broke the general Spanish practice of concealing as much information as possible about their activities and possessions in America. Noted bibliographer Henry R. Wagner expressed surprise that the work was permitted to be published at all, and also states that the work "contains more on Lower California than almost any other book that had been published in one hundred and fifty years." Anonymously edited by Father Andrés Marcos Burriel, who based the work on Venegas's 1739 manuscript but incorporated additional information from other sources. Volume three of this original Spanish edition contains [an] account of discoveries on the Northwest coast attacking, as fictitious, the then-accepted voyages of de Fonte and de Fuca." The folding map in the first volume shows the Baja Peninsula of California and the Gulf of California from the Colorado River down to Cape St. Lucas, with part of Sonora and Sinaloa in the south and the Gila River and Apache territory to the north. The four plates surrounding the map depict the peoples and animals found in California as well as the Martyrdom of Jesuits there. Cowan asserts that all four plates appear in "but a few copies of the work, as two is the number usually found." "Volume III contains extracts from Lopez de Gomara and Torquemada relating to the early explorations on the northwest coast and several articles written by Father Burriel himself. Of these the most interesting is his account of the construction of the map of California, and of the general map of North America.The extract from Torquemada relates to the Vizcaino expedition of 1602 and 1603 which Torquemada took from the diary of Father Antonio de la Ascension" - ZAMORANO 80. HOWES V69, "c." STREETER SALE 2433. GRAFF 4470. SABIN 98848. COWAN, p.238. WAGNER SPANISH SOUTHWEST 132. BARRETT 2539. ZAMORANO 80, 78. REESE, BEST OF THE WEST 7. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM58194

Bibliografische Details

Titel: NOTICIA DE LA CALIFORNIA, Y DE SU CONQUISTA ...
Verlag: En la Imprenta de la Viuda de Manuel Fernandez, Madrid
Erscheinungsdatum: 1757