SANDOVAL, Prudencio de
HANDSOME SPANISH AMERICANUM
Historia de la vida y hechos del emperador Carlos V, primera parte. (with) Historia de la vida y hechos del emperador Carlos V…parte segunda.
Pamplona, Bartholomé Paris…a costa de Pedro Escuer, 1634£3,750.00
Folio. 2 vol. pp. (xxviii) 895 (xxxi) (with) (iv) 898 (xiv), without engraving of Charles V in vol. 2. Roman letter, with Italic, mostly double column, t-p in red and black. Woodcut arms of Charles V to t-ps, full-page engraved portrait of Charles V to verso of e4 in vol. 1, decorated initials and headpieces, armorial tailpieces. Varying degrees of age browning, vol. 1: spotting to first gathering, faint marginal waterstaining in a few places, tiny worm trail to upper blank margin of 4z4-5c4, vol. 2: lower outer blank corner of 2f1 torn, clean tear to 4v2 touching letter. Good copies in contemporary Spanish straight-grained crimson morocco, double gilt ruled to a panel design, raised bands, spine in four double gilt ruled compartments, gilt lettering, little worming and minor repair at head and foot, inscription ‘estas (?) de este libro stan registradas (?) (?) se vendan juardan de la casa (?) (?) (?) deside Junio 1654 Vano dia 5’ to verso of t-p, occasional early marginalia.
Handsomely bound copies of the two parts of this monumental history of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, including extensive accounts of the conquests of Mexico and Peru.
Prudencio de Sandoval (1533-1620) was a Benedictine monk, a historian and the bishop of Tuy and Pamplona. His most famous works are encyclopaedic saints’ lives and histories of the kings of Spain, which are considered fundamental historical sources to this day. The first part of the ‘Historia…del emperador Carlos V’ was published in 1603 and the second in 1614, when the first was also reprinted. Like Sandoval’s other works, it featured ample references to and the reproduction of epigraphic material and documents, e.g., the edict of Worms, some of which are no longer extant. Vol. 1 begins with a genealogical overview of Charles V’s ancestry. The historical narrative begins in 1500, the year of Charles V’s birth, an event anticipated by prophetic overtones. The ‘Historia’ analysed the splendour achieved through difficulties in C16 Spain, at a moment in which Habsburg pre-eminence was in decline. In addition to the Emperor’s life and the annals of his reign, it provides accounts of the Ottoman wars, relationships with other states and exploration, including a long section on the discovery and conquest of New Spain by Hernando Cortes in 1519 (I, 159-90) and those of Peru (I, 680-92 and II, 529-38). The work discusses approximately one year and a half of Charles V’s reign in each chapter; vol. 1 ends in 1528, vol. 2 spans the years 1528-53.
An elegantly bound monument to the glorious days of the Habsburg Empire. According to Palau, the printer Pedro Escuer from Zaragoza added the date 1634 to the t-p of several copies of the 1614 edition printed in Pamplona (Palau 297147, 1614 ed.). Of a total of 9 and 7 copies of the 1614 and 1634 editions respectively, which we have been able to consultor for which collation was available, nearly fifty per cent do not have the vol. 2 engravings. Its absence appears to be a variant.
Brunet V, 124; Palau 297147: ‘sólo consistía en cambio de portada de la de 1614’; Alden 634/121; Sabin 76426: ‘contains accounts of the conquests of Mexico and Peru.’ Not in BM STC Sp.In stock
