Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, Redeccion, y Progressos de la de el Lacandon, y Otras Naciones de Indios Barbaros..

Madrid: En la Imprenta de Lucas Antonio de Bedmar y Narvaez, 1701. Good plus.. [64],660,[36]pp., plus engraved frontispiece. Small folio. 19th-century tree calf, spine gilt ruled with leather title label. Light dampstain to fore-edge of text block, heavier to boards. Title page frayed at fore-edge, with minor loss not entering printed area. Light foxing and toning. The first edition, first issue of the first book dedicated solely to the history of the Yucatán, the Maya, and the Spanish conquest of the peninsula. The author, Juan de Villagutierre Sotomayor, never set foot in the New World, but held a high position in the Consejo de Indias and other royal councils that gave him access to much important documentation in the Archivo de las Indias for the writing of this important history of the Itza Maya and the attempted conquest of the Lacandón Indians during the last decades of the 17th century. "The conquest of Petén and the misadventures of Roque de Soberanis y Senteno and Martín de Urzúa, two governors of the Yucatán, make for very exciting reading" - Szewczyk.

The printer Bedmar y Narvaez produced the title page in red and black; although this volume is there touted as the "primera parte," the history is in fact complete and all published. The present copy contains both the engraved frontispiece and the often lacking colophon leaf. An important work, with much information on Yucatan indigenous populations.
European Americana 701/262. Field, p.407. Leclerc 1546. Medina, BHA 2051. Palau 366681. Sabin 99463.