Borba de Moraes, II, pp. 743-4 ; Brunet IV, 1349 : \u00ab Ouvrage estim\u00e9 et dont les exemplaires sont rares \u00bb ; Palau 273201 ; Sabin 72524 ; Sommervogel, VI, col. 1965 ; Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana, III, 1771.<\/i><\/p>\n
A rare first edition of one of the most important accounts of the discovery of the Mara\u00f1\u00f3n River region and its indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
Father Manuel Rodr\u00edguez, a Jesuit born in 1633 (according to sources, either in Spain or in Colombia \u2013 New Granada) and who died in Valladolid in 1701, dedicated his account to Jer\u00f3nimo Baca de Vega, governor of the province of Maynas in Peru.<\/p>\n
Comprising six books, the work compiles earlier accounts, missionary reports and chronicles, and, incorporating first-hand information, recounts the discovery and exploration of the Amazonian nations.<\/p>\n
The account opens with the expedition of Francisco de Orellana, who, in 1542, was the first to travel the entire length of the great Mara\u00f1\u00f3n River. The famous episode of the attack led by female warriors \u2014 the Amazons \u2014 helped to permanently establish the name \u2018Amazon\u2019 for the river. The work then recounts the quest for a mysterious land known as El Dorado; this expedition, led by Pedro de Urs\u00faa, was jeopardised by the mutiny of Lope de Aguirre, who murdered Urs\u00faa before being executed himself in 1561. An abridged version of Nuevo descubrimiento del gran r\u00edo de las Amazonas<\/i> by Father Crist\u00f3bal de Acu\u00f1a (Madrid, 1641) appears on pages 101 to 141.<\/p>\n
The work describes missionary activity at length: the founding of Jesuit residences in Quito, the organisation of the reductions \u2014 villages intended to bring together and evangelise the indigenous populations \u2014, progress in religious education, a description of the peoples of the Maynas region, and the search for gold.<\/p>\n
Finally, the concluding section, which is sometimes missing, presents a chronology of Peru and the New Kingdom of Granada (1491\u20131684). According to Antonio de Le\u00f3n Pinelo, as cited by bibliographers such as Sabin and Sommervogel, this section is thought to have been printed separately in Madrid in 1688 and subsequently appended to certain copies before the final index.<\/p>\n
The final leaf, resembling a colophon within an attractive wood-engraved frame, is rather curious and lists the print run (0001), the books (0006), the chapters (0090), the pages (0444), the year of printing (1684) and the years covered (0044). It summarises the two main themes of the work: territorial conquest and spiritual conquest.<\/p>\n
Borba de Moraes explains that “l’une des raisons pour lesquelles cet ouvrage est si rare est qu’il a \u00e9t\u00e9 publi\u00e9 sans l’autorisation de la Congr\u00e9gation de la \u00ab Propaganda Fide \u00bb, contrairement aux ordres de Cl\u00e9ment X pour les ouvrages de ce type. Il a donc \u00e9t\u00e9 inscrit parmi les ouvrages interdits dans l’\u00ab Index \u00bb, bien qu’il ait obtenu toutes les autres autorisations eccl\u00e9siastiques et civiles” <\/p>\n
Foxing, ink stain on p. 147, water stain on p. 279. Modern endpapers. Restoration to most leaves. Scratches and small tears on the covers and spine (with small white marks). A modest copy.<\/p>\n
Provenance: Mario Pimenta Camargo (bookplate): a collector of Brazilian art, he was director of the S\u00e3o Paulo Museum of Art (Masp) and a board member of the S\u00e3o Paulo Biennial Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Folio (195 x 285 mm), 12 unn.l. (including half-title and title page), 444 pp., 12 unn.l.(Compendio historial), 4 unn.l.(Contents). Speckled brown calf, gilt spine with raised bands, red morocco title piece, red edges, new endpapers (Copy rebound in its original binding<\/i>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":91234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[552],"product_tag":[1376,1450],"class_list":{"0":"post-91241","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-travel","7":"product_tag-brazil","8":"product_tag-first-edition","9":"pa_auteur-rodriguez-manuel-2","10":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","12":"first","13":"instock","14":"shipping-taxable","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":"Manuel RODRIGUEZ","chapeau":"","adresse_bibliographique":"Madrid, Antonio Gon\u00e7alez de Reyes, 1684","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":"oui"},"yoast_head":"\n