Historia, di Don Ferdinando Cortes, marchese della Valle, capitano varlorosissimo. by Lopez de Gomara, Francisco - 1564

In Venetia: per Giouanni Bonadio, 1564. 8vo. [8], 354 of 356 ff. (lacking fol. 1 and final blank).

Following the achievement of the conquest of Mexico, Cortés did not know how to stop and rest on his laurels: He sought greater fame and honor and to do this embarked on several ill-conceived expeditions that added no luster to his name, and when it became clear that the king was not going to make him a viceroy, the slide down the slope was an unpleasant one. Still striving, he enlisted his chaplain Francisco López de Gómara to write a history of the New World that would include a laudatory biography.
    The Historia general de las Indias (first published in 1552) is divided into two parts which stand on their own although clearly written as two parts of a whole. Part I is a history of events concerning the discovery and conquests of the New World exclusive of those involving Cortés. Part II is entirely dedicated to the telling of Cortés's role in the conquest of Mexico and subsequent discoveries.
    In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz, López's "all-Cortés" volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.
    The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. The title-page is printed in roman and italic and has the woodcut printer's device.
    
    Alden & Landis 564/25; Sabin 27741; Medina, BHA, 159n; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2v. 18th-century vellum over paste boards, soiled and a bit rubbed; red leather spine label, with a chip, and an old circular paper shelf-label. Title-page dust-soiled, mounted; small, narrow, oblong portion of blank area of title-page excised and filled in at an early time. Lacks folio 1 and final blank. Top margins closely trimmed, sometimes costing the running heads and folio numbers.