LIMA, or, Sketches of the Capital of Peru, Historical, Statestical [sic, i.e. Statistical], Administrative, Commercial and Moral by Fuentes, Manuel A[tanasio] - 1866

Paris: Firmin Didot, Brothers, Sons, & Co., 1866. Large 8vo. ix, [1], 224 pages, including woodcut half-title, plus hand-colored title page with lithograph portrait and 45 lithograph plates, being 27 portraits (including frontispiece and dedication leaf), 16 tinted views, and two other views. Numerous woodcuts printed with the text. Original green cloth with gilt spine lettering. [27 cm.] Book block is inverted in casing, as issued; evidentially a binder's error. Short external tear to front hinge. Binding cracked between front flyleaf and half-title, but holding; several cracks between signatures internally, but holding. Moderate foxing to text throughout, however the plates are generally in nice condition. Many plates are affected by traces of marginal soiling or foxing, without detriment to the images. About a dozen plates have some light foxing affecting the images but are still presentable. A little soiling and short marginal tear to author's portrait. A few pencil erasures in the front matter. Overall, fair only, but serviceable for reading and with presentable plates. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. An edition in French was issued by the same publisher in the same year, perhaps simultaneously. A London edition of the same year followed, using the sheets of the Paris edition with the imprint altered. Manuel Atanasio Fuentes (1820-1889) was one of the foremost Peruvian scholars of the mid-19th century. He was a journalist, lawyer, statistician, administrator, and educator. His several works on the statistics of Lima documented all facets of life in the Peruvian capital and remain a critical primary source on the era. Extracts of his statistical studies, as well as his guidebooks on Lima, are incorporated in the present volume. Fuentes also organized the National Exhibition of 1872, founded the State Printing Office, helped create the faculty of Political Science at National University of San Marcos, and was responsible for the first national census. Sabin 26118.