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.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 1953. On Brown, see: Dictionary of National Biography, VII, 37–38 (under William Laurence Brown). Relatively unworn library buckram; library name pressure-stamped on covers and its bookplate to front pastedown. Hinges reinforced at rebinding with cloth and first few pages fragile along line of reinforcement; front free endpaper separated. Title-page and a few others faintly stamped, title-page with crossed-out ownership inscription. Some offsetting; a very few instances of pencilled underlining; corners occasionally dog-eared or chipped. Overall a fairly decent copy, suffering a bit from earlier "conservation."

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Provenance: Pencilled note on endpaper, “From Ralph E. McCoy’s Library”; McCoy, emeritus Dean of Libraries at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, published widely on the First Amendment freedoms.

•  Howes C336; Sabin 12379; Shaw & Shoemaker 17193. Later quarter plain brown paper over contemporary tan paper–covered sides; edges and corners rubbed. Front free endpaper (modern) with pencilled note of McCoy’s ownership; front fly-leaf with pencilled gift inscription dated 1849. Offsetting and foxing throughout. A very sound copy.

Rare in commerce: No copy has appeared at auction in more than fifty years. The fact that it was printed on the portable press of Bolívar’s Army of Liberation, and in the small town of Cúcuta on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, adds to its rarity.

•  Not in Palau. Late 19th- or early 20th-century cloth over paste boards; binding shows wear and some insect damage. Front free endpaper with institutional rubber stamp. Text with occasional light foxing. Withal, a very good copy of a book that is now nearly impossible to find in any condition.

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There were two editions in 1853, the other being 24 pages in length.

•  Palau 59737. Original printed yellow wrappers, creased and a little dusty. Very good condition.

First edition.

•  Sabin 19890; Dumond 63. Sewn, in original printed wrappers, slightly chipped. Five-digit number stamped on front wrapper, and a neat paper label at upper left corner. A very nice copy.

Binding: Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind; spine gilt extra with floral decorations and gilt-ruled bands, with gilt-stamped leather title-label. All edges saffron.

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplates of I.W. Roberts and Robert E. Steiner, both of Montgomery, Alabama.

•  Bound as above, covers and edges moderately rubbed. Two pages with offsetting from a now-absent laid-in item; a few leaves with small spots of foxing. One signature separated and protruding a tad.

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An important negative statement of civil liberties and religious freedom.

•  ESTC R21099; Wing (rev.) E862.   Removed from a nonce volume; dusty, in modern wrappers. Sidenotes closely trimmed with loss of letters and even a short words.  (20451)

A search of RLIN, OCLC, NSTC, and NUC Pre-1956 shows only four U.S. holdings of this pamphlet.

•  NSTC 2N1853. Recent moiré cloth–covered boards. Title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. One leaf with short edge tear just touching text.

•  ESTC T102145; Sabin 59081. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Original sewing holes visible in inner margins; some leaves lightly foxed, with final page darkened.

Uncommon: Only three U.S. institutions report holdings.

•  ESTC T3154.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Lacking the half-title. Pages lightly age-toned. (21078)

•  ESTC N46161. Marbled paper–covered boards, old-style, front cover with printed paper label. Pages skillfully reinforced at inner margins; clean throughout.

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Offered here is a circular letter that the Holy Office sent all over New Spain saying that it had been a long time since there had been a General Inquisitorial “Visit,” and that consequently many law breakers are going unpunished. The Inquisitors call on everyone, no matter status or social condition, to denounce the following categories of criminals: Jews, Muhammadans, Lutherans (i.e., Protestants), “alumbrados,” abusers of the confessional, bigamists, astrologers and necromancers, witches and warlocks, devil worshippers, collectors of astrology and witchcraft books, peyote and marijuana users, and a number of other specified offenders and heretics. Tips on how to “spot” the various malefactors are given in detail and there are extended explanations of why the offenses are serious.

The explanations were undoubtedly given as a balm to ease the consciences of those worried about “turning in” a friend, neighbor, or relative. In the 1770s and 1780s the power and influence of the Inquisition in Mexico was at a very low ebb, and, indeed, it was on the verge of being suppressed. This publication shows just how desperate the institution was to justify itself.

Very rare.  Medina did not know of this and we only trace copies to the John Carter Brown and Cushing (TAMU) libraries. Our dating of the piece is based on the typography, the paper, the historiated initial on p. 1, the very large woodcut device of the Holy Office that appears above the beginning of the text, and most importantly, the in-text manuscript date of 1713 in the copy at the Cushing Library.

This copy bears a manuscript completion date of 14 November 1807, showing clearly that a large remainder of this early-18th-century printing was available a century later for reissue at a time when the earlier concerns had resurfaced.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; nor González de Cossío, Cien; nor González de Cossío, 510.   Light to noticeable waterstaining in margins, darkest in upper margins of last two leaves. Tattering in blank margins. Silverfish damage to verso of last leaf causing weakness of paper, repaired with archival tissue (not obscuring or touching any text).  A good+ copy.  (24696)

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•  Evans 16773; Hildeburn, The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685–1784, 4006. Five-digit number stamped above the title; pp. 1 and 2 separated from 3 and 4, and gutter margin repaired, reattaching the halves. Semicircular tear in lower, inside area of all pages, costing a total of 9 or 10 words.

A states' edition issued in Puebla.

•  Streeter, Texas, 926.1.   Very Good copy, with small holes in inner margin, and one small brown stain in lower margin.  (24621)

Not the least of his accomplishments was the creation of two pueblo-hospitals for native Americans, and appended and integral to this biography are his “Reglas, y ordenanzas para el gobierno de los Hospitales de Santa Fé de México, y Michoacàn,” which occupy the final 29 pages.

Historians still consider this to be the definitive biography of Quiroga. The engraved portrait of him, handsome and from the burin of José Morales, adds a face to the words of the biographer and to the account of the deeds of the biographee.

•  Medina, Mexico, 5099; Wellcome, Medical Americana, M.134; Palau 181902; Beristain, III, 2059.   Contemporary limp vellum lacking ties. A very good copy.  (23061)

Despite this strongly worded treatise against persecution (which argues that all men should be able to make a free and open choice of faith and worship), the statutes remained in place for many years to come.

•  Wing (rev.) P1298A; ESTC R12742. Recent marbled paper–covered boards. Title-page with tiny, unobtrusive numeral inked in upper outer corner, first text page with numeral stamped in lower margin (no other markings). Title-page and first text page with moderate foxing, others clean.

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•  ESTC R234420; Wing (rev.) P1362A; Smith, Friends’ books, 2.673.   Modern plain paper–covered boards; back cover and spine a little dust-soiled. Lacking blank leaf at end of preliminaries and pp. 9–16 (the B signature — this opens in medias res, as to Penn's “cruelties”); title-page’s inner and outer margins each with one small repaired tear, not touching text; title-page and last page dust-soiled, with other pages age-toned. Small, small repair to inner margin of last leaf of preliminaries. Still shocking.  (22907)

Many institutions report microform holdings, but very few hold actual copies.

•  Sabin 59986; Shaw & Shoemaker 1114. Contemporary-style quarter tan cloth over blue paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Paper embrittled and somewhat fragile; pages age-toned and foxed.

Uncommon: No U.S. copy of this issue located via OCLC and ESTC locates only the Harvard copy. There were other, less complete editions of 40 pp., 58 pp., and 78 pp.

•  ESTC N15187.   Recent full calf, period style; spine with raised bands accented in gilt, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title, publication date and place in gilt at base; covers framed and paneled in gilt rules with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. Shallow chip to top outer corners of final two leaves. One word on p. 32 is blotted out in ink by an early owner with the correction supplied above it. Penned signature (partly cropped) at top edge of p. 79. Pp. 79–92 duplicated, nothing missing.  (23766)

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•  Evans 13585; ESTC W30498; Howes R-372; Trumbull, Connecticut, 1305; Adams, Amer. Pamphlets, 134j; Sabin 72151; Allibone 1839. On Robinson-Morris, see: Oxford DNB online.   Period-style quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and elegant small decorations at head and foot. Pages age-toned; three leaves with minor staining. Title-page with repaired chip to outer margin, traces of early inked inscriptions in center of page, and partially shaved inscription in upper margin. Last text page with inked inscription in lower margin, partially shaved at beginning of inscription.  (24866)

Uncommon: OCLC locates only the copies at the Bancroft and Chilean National libraries; although, clearly, there is or was one in the Sutro Library.

•  Sutro 175.   Removed from a nonce volume. A good clean copy.  (21742)

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for an enlargement.

While Ferdinand VII remained the prisoner of Napoleon, the Regency promulgated several important human rights acts, and this was one of the most important. The Regency ratified and published it 29 January and on 31 January it was ordered distributed throughout the empire.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in Garritz, Impresos novohispanos; not in Sutro. Folds from having been previously bound into a small folio volume. Left margin irregular from removal from that volume. Revenue stamps on the verso. Viceroy Venegas’s paraph (“rúbrica”) below his printed name. A very good copy.

•  Garritz, Impresos novohispanos, 1612. Not in Medina, Mexico; not in Sutro. Folds from having been previously bound into a small folio volume. Left margin irregular from removal from that volume. Revenue stamps on the verso. Viceroy Venegas’s paraph (“rúbrica”) below his printed name. A very good copy.

Rare. No copies located via OCLC or NUC Pre-1956.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in Garritz; not in Sutro.   Folded once, otherwise as issued. With Viceroy Venegas's paraph next to his printed name at the base of the document.  (24594)

OCLC locates only the copies at the John Carter Brown and the Bancroft Libraries. NUC Pre-1956 adds no others.

•  Garritz 1917. Not in Medina, Mexico; not in Sutro.   Folded once, otherwise as issued. With Viceroy Calleja's paraph next to his printed name at the base of the document.  (24595)

At the heart of the controversy was Duane’s support of Jefferson for president and his exposure of the notorious Ross election bill by which the Federalists sought to thwart Jefferson’s bid for that office.

•  Evans 38856; ESTC W021879. Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and in nice condition.

This Boston edition most likely appeared shortly after the Philadelphia edition printed in the same year; among the prominent American women’s rights activists known to have read and been influenced by the Vindication are Judith Sargent Murray, Abigail Adams, and (later) Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

•  Evans 25054; ESTC W2450; PMM 242 (for first ed.); Windle, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, A5d. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped devices between raised bands. Half-title mounted; a few leaves with old repairs to lower inner margins. Pages age-toned, with offsetting, staining, and spotting.