Beschreibung:

Americas.- West Indies.- Martyr d'Anghiera (Peter) The Historie of the West-Indies, containing the Actes and Adventures of the Spaniards, which have conquered and peopled those Countries, inriched with varietie of pleasant relation of the Manners, Ceremonies, Lawes, Governments, and Warres of the Indians, Published in Latin by Mr. Hakluyt, and translated into English by M.Lok. Gent., woodcut initials, title very lightly soiled but generally clean, small paper flaw holes to I1 & O1 affecting one or two letters, S1 & 8 soiled at upper edge, loose in binding, contemporary limp vellum, spine titled in manuscript at head, rubbed a little soiled and stained, lacking ties, [STC 651; Sabin 45011], 4to, [by Thomas Dawson] for Andrew Hebb, [?1625]. ⁂ An excellent clean copy in a contemporary binding of this scarce history of the Spanish conquest in the New World by Peter Martyr, King Ferdinand's councillor for Spain's affairs in the New World. The work is a translation of Richard Hakluyt's 1577 edition of De orbe novo, originally published in 1530 and the first work to describe contact between Europeans and Native Americans and containing the first European reference to india rubber. This is generally believed to be a reissue of the 1612 edition with the first gathering cancelled and a new title-page. ESTC lists only 7 copies of this edition in the UK and only 3 copies have appeared at auction, most defective or in later bindings. The most recent copy was part of the De Orbe Novo Collection, sold by Bloomsbury Auctions New York in 2009 for $3500, but with a soiled and repaired title and bound in modern goatskin.