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The author was the cosmographer and historiographer of the Dutch East India Company as well as the Dutch royal family's official translator.

This is one of the scarcest volumes in commerce of the Elzevirs' series of histories in the Respublica series. It is only the third copy we have had in our 30+ years in the antiquarian book business.

•  Willems 313; Rahir 284; European Americana 629/79; Palau 129562; Sabin 38560; Borba de Moraes (2nd ed.), Bibliographia brasiliana, I, 450.   Recased in contemporary Dutch vellum over paste boards. Red leather spine label, abraded and sunned. Tiny pin-type wormhole in margin of first three leaves, and silverfish damage to final blank and rear privilege leaf, costing a few letters of the privilege, but not impairing sense. Ownership inscription at base of title-page has been inked through. A clean decent copy of this nice little book.  (24335)

Las Casas, the first great historian of the New World, arrived in Cuba in 1502 and spent most of the ensuing years in the Caribbean and Mexico until his return to Spain in 1547, so his arguments are based on personal observation and not on Aristotelian theory, as were Sepúlveda’s. He had witnessed first hand the destruction of the American Indian population via the diseases the Spaniards brought with them and through mistreatment and war, things he continually fought against as a priest. After his return to Spain and throughout his old age, he launched a series of attacks on Spanish policy. He engineered the publication of his arguments against Sepúlveda in a series of nine tracts printed in Seville in 1552 and 1553. The first, and most famous, of these tracts was the Brevissima relacion de la destruycion de las Indias, which describes the numerous wrongs inflicted upon the Indians, mainly in the Antilles.

This is first edition of Bartolomé de las Casas's third tract advocating the better treatment of Amerindians by the Spanish. In it he offers 20 detailed suggestions for the better treatment of the natives, including such basics as that they should be secure in their homes. He also flat out calls for the end of the encomienda system and for the placing of all Indians under the direct protection of the crown. All of the tracts are of great significance, both for their immediate effect in reforming the Spanish colonial system to some degree, and as an extremely early example of European concern with the human rights of native people.

The text is printed in gothic (i.e., “black letter”) as was the custom for “legal” and religious texts. The title-page is printed in red and black, with the text surrounded by a four-panel woodcut border.

Evidence of readership: A half dozen contemporary annotations and textual corrections.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 552/9; Sabin 11229; Medina, BHA, 146. Church 89; JCB (3), I, 169; Index Aurel. 132.872; Palau 46942. Full modern deep claret-colored morocco. Round spine with raised bands, each of which is accented above and below by gilt beading. Gilt center devices in blank spine compartments, others with author and title information in gilt lettering. Covers tooled in gilt with rules and rolls forming concentric panels. Gilt corner devices. Marbled endpapers. Minor instances of soiling on title-page, two areas of verso of title-page reinforced. Minor age-toning and soiling, top portion of a few leaves brown-stained. Lower corners of leaves c8 & f4 lacking, restored; nine letters supplied in manuscript facsimile on c8 and four on f4. Lacks final blank leaf. A good copy, untattered.

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•  Palau 60707; not in Almirante. Removed from a nonce volume. Creased, with holes along creases causing loss of some letters; lower inner margins waterstained. Leaves trimmed closely, second leaf with first line lost and second line partially shaved.

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The work was later reprinted in Venice.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3999; DeBacker-Sommervogel, IV, 1603-04.   Contemporary limp vellum without the ties. Edges of binding damaged by rodent(s) with loss; sometime repair to small hole at top border of title-page, with limited instances of waterstaining there and to some top margins. A good copy.  (23970)

Scarce.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three reported holdings, two in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9604; Palau 139176. Recent quarter cloth with marbled paper–covered sides, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages with small inked pagination numerals in upper outer corners and a few scattered spots of very faint foxing, else clean and fresh.

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In this decree Llamosas and Tovar Ponte explain the coup d’etat of 19 April in which the viceroy was deposed and a caretaker government was installed. Although stating loyalty to the imprisoned Spanish king, the revolutionaries repeatedly use the terms “independent” and “independence.”

This historic document was printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October of 1808, and it is universally dated as having come off the press on 20 April 1810!

Very Rare.  This broadside was unknown to Medina and is only the 15th item in Pedro Grases chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. In his entry he located only the copies in the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Villasana. Grases, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela, Repertorio #15. As issued, but one later fold. Worming in upper and lower margins; repaired. Pencilling in margins. A very good copy.

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Llamosas and Tovar Ponte were among the leading figures of the early Independence movement in Venezuela. Both served as president of Junta of Defense of the Rule of Fernando VII (later, The Revolutionary Junta), Llamosas 19 April – Aug 1810, and Tovar Aug 1810 – 2 March 1811. Additionally Tovar Ponte, the favorite son of an elite family, was a member of the 1811 Congress and a signer of the Venezuelan Act of Independence.

This historic document was printed by Venezuela’s first press, that of Gallagher and Lamb, which only arrived in Caracas in October of 1808, and is it universally dated as having come off the press on 20 April!

Very Rare.  This broadside was unknown to Medina and is only the 14th item in Pedro Grases chronological list of things printed in Venezuela. In his entry he located only the copies in the Public Record Office (London) and the Archivo de Indias (Seville). Searches of NUC, OCLC, and RLIN fail to find any copy at all. Further, no copies were found when searching the OPACs of the national libraries of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, France, and England.

•  Not in Medina, Caracas; not in Villasana. Grases, Historia de la imprenta en Venezuela, Repertorio #14. As issued. Worming in fore-margin, touching but not costing three letters; repaired. A very good copy.

This is the only edition of this that we were able to trace. Only three copies were located in the U.S. via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956, and a search of the online catalogue of the Bibliotheca Nacional in Spain revealed no copies.

Provenance: Inked ownership inscriptions: “J. Hill, Madrid Sept. 1773”, and “Jere[my] Hill Jun. Bristol” on title-page.

•  Palau 253115. Mottled calf, pasta española–style; spine prettily gilt with rules, fleurons, cinquefoils, and foliate rolls. Marbled endpapers, and all edges marbled. Leather rubbed on edges with a little loss on corners. Endpapers rubbed. Interior generally clean with occasional light spots of foxing or traces of soiling. Inked notation on verso of front free endpaper.

•  Palau 82871. Modern cloth.

•  Palau 108151. Recent neat vellum over light boards, spine lettered in black. Paper cockled with light to moderate waterstaining and small spots of soiling, not impeding legibility. Some marginal chipping with tissue paper repair on front fly- and title-leaf, a few shallow marginal tears elsewhere, and a wormhole in lower inner margin of final 22 leaves and rear fly-leaf; rear fly-leaf with some holing. Overall actually in very good condition.

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•  All documents on stamped paper. Excellent condition. Binding with light abrasion to edges; gilt on the silver closures partially perished. A handsome, significant production.