The History of the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards.: Done into English from the original Spanish of Don Antonio de Solis, Secretary and Historiographer to His Catholick Majesty. By Thomas Townsend Esq.

CLASSIC ACCOUNT OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO - FIRST & BEST EDITION IN ENGLISH
first edition in English folio (35 x 23.5 cms.) [6 (title page, dedication & preface)], [4 (list of subscribers)], [10 (contents)], 163, [1 (blank)], 252, 152pp., decorative initials, head and tail pieces, engraved frontispiece portrait (of Cortes), 2 maps, 6 engraved plates (of which 2 are large folding), contemporary calf with nesting blind Cambridge panels on sides, edges sprinkled red, very handsomely rebacked with the original end papers reused, spine panelled by gilt highlighted raised bands, large blind tool at panel centres, russet morocco label gilt, corners refurbished, portrait and title page with minor Japanese tissue repairs to fore edges, a few closed tear (no loss) in folding plates professionally repaired (barely noticeable), a couple of old worm holes running into the upper margin of the text block, first few leaves lightly dust marked and with a barely visible water mark at upper corner, a few other scattered minor dusty marks or worm traces, but overall a very good fresh copy in a handsome binding.

SABIN 86487 Cox Reference Guide to the Literature of Travel II, p. 239 ESTC t135491 Divided into 5 'Books'; Books 1 & 2, 3 & 4, and 5 separate pagination and registers.
First edition in English of Solis's monumental account of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, his Historia de la Conqvista de Mexico, which was first published in Madrid in 1684 and which was in major part based on the Cortez letters. The work was translated into several European languages and remained the most important European source on Latin American history into the early nineteenth centurySolís (1610 - 1686), a Spanish lawyer whose literary abilities as a dramatist gained him appointment in 1654 as both Secretary of State and private secretary to Philip IV. Later he was appointed to he lucrative post of chronicler of the Indies. This work based mainly on the letters of Hernan Cortes, the works of Francisco Lopez de Gomara and Bernal Diaz del Castillo, chronicles the three years between the appointment of Cortés to command the invading Spanish forces and the fall of Mexico City. "In addition to a full account of the relations between Cortés and Montezuma, there is an abundance of data concerning the intimate lives of the Indians" [Cox]. Apart from its importance as an historical document the book ranks as a Spanish prose classic.