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ANTONIO DE HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS

ANTONIO DE HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS - H I S T O I R E G E N E R A L E DES VOYAGES ET CONQUESTES des Castillans, dans les Isles & Terre ferme des Indes Occidentales... A P A R I S, Chez NICOLAS & JEAN DE LA COSTE, au Mont Saint Hilaire, à M. D C. L X (1660). First edition for the second and third volumes and second for the first - first published in 1659. Extremely rare to find with the third volume, which was published 10 years after the first and second volume. Translated by Nicolas de la Coste. Herrera‘s great history of the New World can be regarded as one of the most important histories of the Americas and the Spanish settlements and conquerors. The author (1549 ? 1625) was appointed Royal historiographer in 1596, a few years later, and with unrestricted access to the Spanish secret archives, he started his "Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano" in 1601 and finished them in 1615. The fact that Herrera had access to the Spanish discoveries and chronics of the "Adelantados" is not to be easily disregarded, for the Spanish Government policy was often of absolute secrecy. These are the first three Decades by Herrera y Tordesillas, the last six were never translated into French; Sabin says "The three volumes, having been published separately, with different titles, are rarely found together". Sabin, 31548, 31549 & 31550. Borba.de.Moraes, 401.