
NATIVE
AMERICANA
A-G
H-Q
R-Z
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More than One Lifetime's Worth of Adventure & Interesting Ideas
Harriott, John. Struggles through life, exemplified in the various travels and adventures in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, of John Harriott, Esq. London: Pr. for the author, 1815. 12mo (18 cm, 7.1"). 3 vols. I: Frontis., xvxv, [1], 443, [1] pp. II: xii, 428, [2] pp. III: vii, [1], 479, [1] pp. (lacking pp. 69–72); 1 fold. plt., 1 plt.
$750.00
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Autobiography of
one
of the founders of the Thames police, a clever and independent
mariner who went adventuring around the world before settling down to become
an Essex justice of the peace and eventually Resident Magistrate of the Thames
River Police (a.k.a. the Marine Police Force, sometimes called England's
first official police force). Here he looks back on his remarkably varied youthful
escapades, including travelling in the merchant-service,
visiting
“the Savages in North America,” meeting the
King of Denmark, serving in the East India Company's military service, and narrowly
escaping such dangers as tigers, poisonous snakes, floods, fires, and scamming
fathers-in-law. If the narrator is to be believed, the two issues that caused
him the chiefest distress in life were pecuniary difficulties and other people's
unchivalrous treatment of women. He also has much to say about law and business
in the New World and the Old, slavery in America, forcible incarceration in
private madhouses (with excerpts from a first-person account of such), and the
nature of farming in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as the state
of affairs in Washington, DC, and, of course, the history of the creation of
the Thames police.
Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author, done by Henry
Cook after Hervé; vol. III is illustrated with an
oversized,
folding plate of a water-engine intended for millwork, devised
by the author, and a plate of another of his inventions: the automated “chamber
fire escape”, which enables anyone to lower him- or herself from a high
window. This is the third edition, following the first of 1807.
NSTC H625; Sabin 30461. Contemporary speckled sheep,
spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; vol. I with joints and extremities
refurbished, vols. II and III with spines and edges rubbed, old strips of
library tape reinforcing spine heads. Ex–social club library: 19th-century
bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, vols.
II and III with paper shelving labels at top of spines (vol. I showing signs
of now-absent label). Vol. I title-page with offsetting from frontispiece;
vol. III with pp. 69–72 excised (two leaves of a rather long religious-themed
letter from Harriott to his son) and with upper portion of one leaf crumpled,
reinforced some time ago. Some light age-toning, intermittent small spots
of foxing and ink-staining, pages generally clean.
Utterly
absorbing. (30651)
The Amazon & Its “Aborigines” — 52 Lithographed Plates
Herndon, William Lewis; & Gibbon, Lardner. Exploration of the valley of the Amazon, made under direction of the Navy Department.... Washington: Robert Armstrong, 1853, & A.O.P. Nicholson, 1854. 8vo (23.2 cm, 9.1"). 2 vols. I: 414, [2], iii, [1] pp.; 16 plts. II: x, [2], 339, [1] pp.; 36 plts.
$600.00
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Original government issue of these “Minute, accurate, and very interesting accounts of the aborigines of the Andes, and the Amazon and its tributaries” (Sabin). These two volumes are parts I and II of Senate Executive Document no. 36, 32d Cong., 2d sess., consisting of Lieut. Herndon’s description of following the Amazon itself and Lieut. Gibbon’s account of his travels along the Amazon’s tributaries in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Many of the 52 lithographed plates are in duotone; some were done by Ackerman Lithography and some by P.S. Duval & Co., after views of scenery, buildings, and natives drawn by Lieut. Gibbon.
Two volumes of maps, not present here, were issued separately.
Sabin 31524; Palau 113897. Publisher’s textured cloth, covers blind-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title; vol. I with spine sunned and cloth chipped at spine extremities; vol. II with corners bumped, cloth peeling away from spine and chipped at spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed and small area of unobtrusive discoloration from now-absent label. Front pastedowns each with pencilled owner’s name and institutional rubber stamp (no other markings); front free endpaper of vol. II starting to tear along inner margin. Mild to moderate foxing and spotting; a few text gatherings unopened. One plate in vol. I with short tear from outer margin, turning into a narrow scrape extending about halfway into the upper portion of the image; one leaf in vol. II with tiny portion (less than one word) affixed to opposing plate.
Not a perfect set, but a perfectly fascinating one.

“An Outstanding Document Both of the Cree Language
& of Early Grammatical Practice”
Howse, Joseph. A Grammar of the Cree Language: With which is combined an analysis of the Chippeway dialect. London: Trubner & Co., 1865. 8vo (22 cm, 8.625"). xix, [1], 324 pp.
[SOLD]
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Howse (1774–1852) emigrated from England in 1795 to Canada to be a fur trader. “After ten years’ fur-trading experience in the Saskatchewan district . . . [he] took part in the exploration of western North America as the first Hudson’s Bay Company man to cross the Rocky Mountains.” His interaction with the native population and his deep personal interest in them, their language and customs led him to write “the first grammar of the
Cree language . . . [which is] still recognized as an outstanding document both of the Cree language and of early grammatical practice” (Canadian Dictionary of Biography). It was first published in 1844: This is the second edition. It is also highly important for its
study of Ojibwa (Chippewa).
Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Chippewa 99 & Cree 76; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 360; Pilling, Algonquian, 242. Not in Banks. Not in Evans. Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, pieces of spine chipped away; else good and solid. Title-page, last leaf, and endpapers with slight old soil and signs perhaps of onetime exposure to damp; front pastedown with evidence of a bookplate once (but not now) present; paper of text block otherwise
clean, fresh, even crisp. (41423)

LEC: A Southern Californian Landmark
Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. Los Angeles: Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club at The Plantin Press, 1959. 8vo. xiv, [6], 428, [2] pp.; illus.
$125.00
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Helen Hunt Jackson avowedly wrote Ramona, set during the Spanish missions period of California, to do for the American Indian what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the African-American The novel appeared as a book in 1884, five years after she heard an eloquent lecture by two Ponca Indians, Standing Bear and Bright Eyes, on the injustices inflicted upon the Indian at the hands of greedy white settlers. Roused to action, she had written her first book on the subject in 1881, a well-researched work of non-fiction called A Century of Dishonor; but unhappily, neither that one nor this mobilized much support for the rights of the first Americans — although the novel was very, very popular. The introduction here is by J. Frank Dobie who writes, “her chief work lives on, not only in print but in the minds and emotions of people who call for the book in libraries, buy it in stores, read it, and are moved by it. Helen Hunt Jackson's outcries of moral indignation against America's shifty and cruel treatment of Indians still lift human spirits — even though comparatively few people are moved to lift hands against ambitious patriots still trying to get hold of Indian property . . . Her passion against wrong and for right will make her book live a long, long while yet.”
The LEC illustrations consist of 8 full-page and 41 in-text color drawings by Everett Gee Jackson (no relation to the author), who also signed the colophon. Saul Marks designed the book, selecting a monotype Bembo font with the chapter titles printed in red ink, and the printing was done by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press, Los Angeles.
Binding: In an attractive full woven fabric derived from a striated Native American design, with a colorful paper spine label.
This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed; the appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 298. Binding as above in original slipcase, volume spine label slightly darkened, slipcase showing only minimal wear and with a spot or two of darkening to front panel. A very nice copy. (30117)
For LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB books, click here.

Literature from a Successful Presidential Campaign — “The People's Candidate”
Jackson, Isaac Rand. The life of William Henry Harrison, (of Ohio,) the people's candidate for the presidency. With a history of the wars with the British and Indians on our north-western frontier. Philadelphia: Marshall, Williams & Butler, 1840. 12mo (15.5 cm; 6"). [1–4], 5, vi–x, `5–222 pp. (complete despite odd pagination).
$145.00
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Fifth edition of this campaign biography, a greatly expanded version of Jackson's The life of Major-General William Henry Harrison: comprising a brief account of his important civil and military services, and an accurate description of the council at Vincennes with Tecumseh, as well as the victories of Tippecanoe, Fort Meigs and the Thames, that had appeared earlier in 1840, prior to Harrison's candidacy.
Needless to say, the emphasis is on his military career with much about native Americans.
The text is unillustrated, but the front cover has a
central medallion bust of Harrison in gold.
Provenance: Author's presentation copy? “Joseph Barclay Esq., from the author” in ink on the first blank page after the front free endpaper. In an appropriately contemporary style hand.
Binding: Publisher's brown textured cloth, front and rear boards stamped with blind corner devices and front board with a large bust of Harrison in gold in a circle and with his rank and name in gilt below. Cloth not in Krupp but closely related to her Wav1.
Sabin 35422. On binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50. Publisher's textured purplish-brown cloth, covers embossed with border rules and foliate corner pieces to frame the gilt image of “General Harrison” as above. A very good copy, light sun-fading to spine; the usual foxing. (36557)

Road to Heaven in
Nahuatl
León, Martín de. Camino del cielo en lengua mexicana, con todos los requisitos necessarios para conseguir este fin, co[n] todo lo que un Xp[r]iano deue creer, saber, y obrar, desde el punto que tiene uso de razon, hasta que muere. En Mexico: En la Emprenta de Diego Lopez Davalos, 1611. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). Fols. 10–11, 13–69, 69[!]–73, [nothing missing] 76, 75, 77–108, 110–23.
$7250.00
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Sole colonial-era edition and one rare in commerce of Fr. Martín de León's famous work for priests ministering to Nahuatl-speaking Indians. Fray Martín is universally held to have been one of the great scholars of the language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, admired for his fluency and ability to explain complex matters in elegant yet easy to understand expositions, as here in his confessionary, catechism, and calendar essay.
Tragedy struck this copy, which lacks the title-leaf, licences, dedication, preliminaries concerning use of the word “Teotlacatl,” prologue, the remarks on the Mexican language, the first nine leaves of the catechism in Nahuatl, and fols. 109 and 124–60. Surviving is most of the catechism, the section in Spanish on the syncretism of the Spanish and the Mexican religious calendars, and all but the last half page of the confessionary in Nahuatl, the missing paragraph supplied in early, neat manuscript — the book's sad owner redeeming its losses as best he could?
Sabin 40080; Palau 135423; Medina, Mexico, 160; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 37; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2252; Viñaza 127; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 1543; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl-136. Disbound but sewn; housed in a quarter red morocco clamshell case with marbled paper sides. Waterstaining throughout causing many pages to have an almost uniform tan appearance except in the foremargins; foremargins with shouldernotes shaved. Missing leaves as itemized above; fols. 30, 80–81, and 110–11 damaged with small loss, and repairs to some of these margins plus a few others; other usually minor scattered stains. The interesting woodcut on fol. 100 verso and text on recto, holed, still striking and readable respectively. Pencilled marks of emphasis and one faded note (or signature?) across a bottom margin in old ink.
Priced much, much less than a good, complete copy; and a relic with much more than its lowered price to recommend it. (25860)

FIRST BIBLIOGRAPHY of
AMERICANA (PLUS)
León Pinelo, Antonio de. Epítome de la bibliotheca oriental, y occidental, nautica, y geográfica ... Añadido y enmendado nuevamente en que se contienen los escritores de las Indias orientales, y occidentales, y reinos convecinos China, Tartaria, Japón, Persia, Armenia, Etiopia y otras partes. Madrid: En la oficina de Francisco Martinez Abad, 1737–38. Folio (30 cm; 11.75"). 3 vols. I: [71], [135], [27] ff. II: [221] ff. III: 202 pp.
$9000.00
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Antonio de León Pinelo (1589–1660) was a Spanish-colonial historian. Born in Cordova de Tucuman and educated at the Jesuit college of Lima, he left the New World for Spain in 1612 and there enjoyed a highly successful career, becoming attorney of the Council of the Indies and later a judge in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville.
His Epitome was originally published in Madrid in 1629 and is here in the second edition as
enlarged and annotated by Andres Gonzalez de Barcia: It was the first bibliography for the field of Americana and to this day
it remains an important source for scholars and collectors of the colonial era of the New World for its wealth of bibliographic data and most especially information about manuscripts.
Rich says of this edition that it is, “The most complete general bibliography of geographical works, travels, missionary reports, etc.” And LeClerc echoes him: “ouvrage extremement important pour la bibliographie americaine.”
The work is handsomely printed (although erratic in its pagination and signature markings), in double-column format, featuring title-pages in black and red with an engaging small engraved vignette of a ship between pillars reading “Plus” and “Ultra.”
Provenance: Ownership stamp of Carlos Sanz in several places.
Sabin 40053; Palau 135738; Alden & Landis 737/135; Medina, BHA, 3071; Borba de Moraes, II, 150; LeClerc 872. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards, a little soiled especially to spnes, retaining button and loop closures; hinges (inside) open in a few places but bindings strong. Occasional waterstain or other sign of exposure to dampness; a few gutter margins (only) of first volume with a short wormtrack; some cockling of paper. (34810)

John Carter Brown's Copy, Acquired from Stevens
López de Cogolludo, Diego. Historia de Yucathan. Madrid: Juan Garcia Infanzon, 1688. Folio (29 cm; 11.5"). [1 of 15] ff., 760 pp., [16] ff.
$9250.00
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In this account of the conquest and Spanish settlement of the Yucatan, López de Cogolludo, a Franciscan missionary and administrator originally from Alcalá de Henares, presents a sought-after account. He had access to a manuscript version of Bishop Landa's work and consulted such important printed sources as Torquemada.
He also presents his personal eye-witness accounts of events during his 30 years among the Maya (1634–65).
Robert Patch says in the Encyclopedia of Latin American History & Culture (III, 458) that López de Cogolludo wrote this history in the 1650s and that it is “a major source not only for the history of Yucatán but also for the study of Maya culture.”
Provenance: Small booklabel: “Marchio Regaliae D.D. 1741.” John Carter Brown (1797–1874) purchased this from Henry Stevens in 1845/1846. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Palau 141001; Sabin 14210. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties, front joint (inside) starting to open. Scattered foxing, including on title-page; short tear, repaired, in title; some staining in early margins and into text; without the preliminaries or the added engraved title. Doodling in many margins; ink stains from a careless quill user on several pages. John Carter Brown's stamped signature on p. 1. A less than perfect copy that yet does not “feel” maimed; a copy with a distinguished provenance to match the distinction of the work. (27561)
For Books with SPECIAL PROVENANCE, click here.

Cortés Historia in Italian — Signed, American,
PROVIDENCE
Red Morocco
López de Gomara, Francisco. Historia, di Don Ferdinando Cortes, marchese della Valle, capitano varlorosissimo. Venetia: Per Francesco Lorenzini da Turino, MDLX [1560]. 8vo (15 cm; 5.75"). [11 of 12], 348 ff. (lacks the title-leaf).
$3200.00
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In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz (first published with title Historia di Mexico, et quando si discoperse la nuoua Hispagna [Roma: appresso Valerio & Luigi Dirici fratelli, M.D.L.V]), López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of
Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.
The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. Leaves 292–96 contain
a brief study of Nahuatl including lists of numbers, months, days, and years in that language.
Binding: American signed binding by Coombs of Providence, R.I., for John Carter Brown (ca. 1865), with his binder's ticket. Full red morocco, round spine, raised bands; author, title, place and date of publication in gilt on spine; gilt roll on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt. Gilt supra-libros of John Carter Brown on front cover.
Provenance: Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on first leaf of preliminaries, supra-libros as above. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Alden & Landis 560/28; Sabin 27739; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2t; Medina, BHA, 159n. This edition not in H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, but see 1692. Binding as above. Lacks the title-leaf; (therefore) first leaf of preliminaries with a John Carter Brown's personal ownership stamp and his bookplate on front pastedown. Waterstaining, barely visible in many margins and lightly across text in last half. Four leaves with very old scribbling (pen trials?) in margins.
A treasure with a distinguished provenance, presenting itself in the classic fashion of a 19th-century “collector's copy.” (28914)

Cheating the Church Out of the Tithe Tax
Lopez Torrija, Carlos. Broadside. Begins: El Dr. Maestro Don Carlos Lopez Torrija ... Hago saver a todos los fieles ... qu sean duenos de hazinas de labor, rancho, tierreas dezimales, vezinos y moradores, estantes, y havitantes en la iurisidccion de la Ciudad de los Angeles ... Puebla de los Angeles: [Diego Fernandez de Leon], 1687. Folio extra (43 x 31 cm, 17" x 12.125"). [1] p.
$1250.00
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Lopez Torrija is identified as an “Abogado de la Real Audiencia de Mexico . . . Cura en interin de la Parrochial de el Patriarcha San Ioseph de esta Ciudad, Iuez de Testamentos, Capellanias, obras pias, y diezmos en ella y todo su Obispado.” Here he seeks to rectify a quirk in the law concerning collection of the tithe (“diezmo”) tax. Indians and certain others who are exempt from paying the tithe tax have been raising corn and other crops on land that was lent, rented, or otherwise made available to them, thus allowing them to raise and sell more crops.
Reading between the lines, it is clear that the landowners are then splitting the “saved” sums with the farmers — or, sometimes, simply demanding them in full — with those payments to be taken out of the sale proceeds. Now all such arrangements must be registered and approved by the Church.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only one copy worldwide — at the John Carter Brown Library.
Not in Medina, Puebla; Gavito, Adiciones a la Imprenta en la Puebla; not CCILA. Folded once longitudinally, otherwise, as printed. Crisp copy. (40408)

A Memorial Tribute to Michael Mathes — A 1629 Assessment of California & Its Natives
Martinez, Enrico. Parecer que dio Henrrico [sic] Martinez cosmographo de S.M. en gueguetoca obra del desague a 30 de Iulio de 1629. Sobre las ventajas o perjuicios que se podian esperar del descubrimiento, conquista y pacificacion de las prouincias de las Califonias, con espresion de las costumbres y vsos de sus naturales, &ca. Molino de Sancta Rosa, San Geronymo Tacambaro: Taller Martin Pescador, 2015. 8vo (22 cm, 9"). 12 pp., [2] ff.
$47.50
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As a tribute to, and remembrance of, Michael Mathes, Juan Pascoe printed on his handpress in Mexico this tract by the cosmographer of New Spain. The text of Martinez's assessment of the prospect of exploring, “conquering,” and settling the province of California is an original manuscript in the Archive of the Indies, later printed in several compilations, including Mathes' Spanish Approaches to the Island of California, 1628–1632 (San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1975).
The Taller Martin Pescador edition consists of
100 copies, the main text composed by Florencio Ramirez in Enrico Martinez type, the three-page colophon composed by Juan Pascoe in Blado type, and the whole hand printed on DePonte paper.
Stitched in light wrappers with a paper label on the front wrapper. (40718)

“Muy Rara” — Otomí by a
Native-Speaker — with the FRONTISPIECE!
Neve y Molina, Luis de. Reglas de orthographia, diccionario, y arte del idioma othomi. Mexico: Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1767. Small 8vo (14.5 cm, 5.75". Frontis., [2] ff., 160 pp., engr. leaf of errata.
$5500.00
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Otomí is one of the principal languages spoken in Central Mexico, and this work, more than any other, standardized its orthography; it is also the classic Otomí grammar and dictionary, and is by a man some authorities believe to have been himself an Otomí Indian, or at least of Otomí heritage. It was written during the mid-18th-century renaissance of linguistic study of the languages of Mexico, and Palau considers it “muy rara.” (It is much rarer on the market, in our experience, than similarly important works in Nahuatl.)
Both the engraved frontispiece and the engraved errata leaf are signed by the engraver Jose Francisco Gomez; the former, often, is not present but it is
here in very good state.

Provenance: Red leather bookplate stamped in gold of Estelle Doheny on front pastedown.
Medina, Mexico, 5174; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 55; Viñaza 356; Maggs, Bibl. Amer., II, 2154; Sabin 52413; Palau 190159; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2738. Contemporary vellum, now shrunk to smaller than the size of the text block, with newer endpapers, ties lacking, light to moderate staining and wear to interior; housed in a custom slipcase of quarter vellum and cranberry-colored cloth with a cloth chemise.
A good copy of an important and scarce book, complete and with a good provenance. (31417)

Future Punishment Theology — with
Reference to the Americas!
Patuzzi, Giovanni Vincenzo. De futuro impiorum statu libri tres ubi advers. deistas, nuperos Origenistas, Socinianos, aliosq; novatores Ecclesiae Catholicae doctrina de poenarum inferni veritate qualitate et aeternitate asseritur et illustratur. [Verona]: Typis Seminarii Veronensis, 1748. Folio (31.7 cm; 12.5"). [16], XXIV, 405 pp. Lacks final blank (only).
$675.00
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Neatly printed Latin treatise on future punishment for those who do not follow the ways of the Catholic Church, its three books covering why punishment should exist, what merits it, and the punishments themselves.
Alden & Landis also note this text “mentions beliefs on afterlife by people in Americas.”
The Americana content is found in the first section of the volume, dedicated to “deists,” chapter XI (subsections xxvi–xxxii); the natives discussed include those of Canada (Hurons), Virginia, Florida, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Earlier in the “deists” section there is equally interesting discussion of the afterlife in the religions for various
African nations.
The title-page is printed in red and black with an engraved armorial design in the center. Several engraved historiated initials, including a few that show people holding books, and one engraved headpiece of women leading horses on clouds decorate the text.
Binding: Uncut text in an 18th-century cartonné binding with an attractive hand-lettered vellum spine label.
Provenance: “Ex Libris P. Josephi Sacella” written in the bottom margin of the title-page; Sacella has also inked a few words (mostly obliterated) to the front pastedown and a manicule within the text.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 748/147. Uncut and bound as above, corners bumped and binding rubbed with some loss of paper at front bottom corner, binding dust-soiled and spotted. Volume with final blank (only) lacking and with markings as noted above; half-title with loss of some paper at fore-edge. One leaf detached and two with short to medium marginal tears; central gatherings with a very pale, old, circular stain across gutter reaching type on a few leaves only; and a few leaves creased or with small spots.
A handsome text interestingly cased. (36831)

Baja, Florida, Spanish Southwest, & Northern Mexico
Perez de Ribas, Andres. Historia de los triumphos de nuestra santa fee entre gentes las mas barbaras, y fieras del nuevo Orbe, conseguidos por los soldados de la Milicia de la Compañia de Iesus en las missiones e la prouincia de Nueua-España ... Madrid: Por Alo[n]so de Paredes, 1645. Folio. [20] ff., 763, [1] pp.
$37,500.00
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A great rarity of the Spanish Southwest, and still the dominant history of the region and of Jesuit activities there for the period from 1590 to 1644, the Historia provides an
unparalleled description of the upper part of Mexico and what is now the southwest region of the United States in the first half of the 17th century.
Andres Perez de Ribas (1576–1655) joined the Jesuit order in 1602 and arrived in Mexico in 1604 to proselytize among the native Indians. He was assigned to the area of northern Sinaloa, along the Pacific coast, and showed great ability from the start. Within a year he had baptized all the members of the Ahome nation and a large part of the Suaqui tribe, together about 10,000 natives. In 1617 he was instrumental in the pacification and conversion of the Yaqui tribe. Perez de Ribas was recalled to Mexico City in 1620 to work in the college there, eventually becoming a provincial of the school. He returned to Rome in 1643, undertaking the present history (which he completed in 1644) and other histories still found only in manuscript.
The work is divided into twelve parts, cumulatively giving a history of Jesuit activities in Mexico and the American Southwest, as well as providing a social and cultural examination of Indian customs, manners, rites, and superstitions. The first part of the book gives a history of Sinaloa and its people before the arrival of the Spanish. Parts two to eleven describe the arrival of the Spanish and the Jesuits in upper Mexico and their activities among the several tribes, including the conversion of the Hiaqui tribe, and the missions at Topia, San Andres, Parras, and Laguna Grande, as well as the conversion of the Tepeguanes and their subsequent rebellion. The final part discusses missionary activities in other parts of New Spain, including
an account of the martyrdom of nine Jesuit missionaries in Florida in 1566.
There is also some information on Baja California.
“Obra de extremo interes acerca de las actividades de los jesuitas en Sinaloa, California y Florida” (Palau). Of Perez de Ribas' Historia Bancroft writes: “It is a complete history of Jesuit work in Nueva Vizcaya, practically the only history the country had from 1590 to 1644, written not only by a contemporary author but by a prominent actor in the events narrated, who had access to all the voluminous correspondence of his order, comparatively few of which documents have been preserved. In short, Ribas wrote under the most favourable circumstances and made good use of his opportunities.”
Provenance: On the upper edges of the volume is the colonial-era marca de fuego of the Seminario Conciliar de México.
Perez de Ribas' work is exceedingly rare on the market. In forty years of bookselling, this is only the second copy we have handled.
Very important and desirable.
Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 43; Alden & Landis 645/96; Sabin 60895, 70789; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 525; Servies 176. JCB (3), II, 333. Medina, BHA, 1083; Palau 222254; Streit 1745; Barrett 1984; Bell P169; Howgego R35; Brunet, IV, 21590; Graesse, VI, 106; Leclerc, Bibl. Amer. (1867), 1305; Huth, Catalog, IV, 1243; Heredia 6836; Salva 3376. Contemporary vellum, manuscript spine title, marca del fuego; hinges (inside)cracking, light soiling. Very small ink stamp on title-page. Light foxing and tanning to text; some very slight worming, confined primarily to margins in rear of text block. A few ink
notations and stains.
A very good copy in a cloth clamshell case, leather label. (34581)

The Land & Indian Problems
Pimentel, Francisco. Memoria sobre las causas que han originado la situacion actual de la raza indígena de México, y medios de remediarla. Mexico: Impr. de Andrade y Escalante, 1864. 8vo. 241, [1] pp., [1] f. [with the same author's] La economía política aplicada a la propiedad territorial en México. México: Imprenta de Ignacio Cumplido, 1866. 8vo. 265, [1 (blank)] pp., [1] f.
[SOLD]
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Pimentel, the conde de Heras, essays two of Mexico's greatest problems of the 19th century: the condition and treatment of its indigenous populations and land tenure.
Memoria: Palau 226014. Economía política: Palau 220615. Contemporary quarter red morocco, gilt spine extra, silk placemarker. Very good condition. (23064)
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WORLD MYTHOLOGY — 8 Vols. & Thousands of Entries
Pozzoli, Giovanni; Felice Romani; Antonio Peracchi, et al. Dizionario storico-mitologico di tutti i popoli del mondo. Livorno: Stamperia Vignozzi, 1824–28. 8 vols. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). I: 580 pp. II: 581–1163, [1] pp. (pp. 1057–64 repeated in place of pp. 1065–72). III: [1165]–1708 pp. (pagination 1551–52 repeated, 1687–88 skipped). IV: [1709]–2342 pp. V: 2351–3086 pp. (pagination skips 2519–26). VI: 3087–3855 pp. (pagination skips 3407–08). VII: 576 pp. VIII: 577–1074 pp.
$2500.00
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Second edition of this classic dictionary of comparative mythology,
a hefty collection of the deities, heroes, tales, festivals, antiquities, and
other folklore of numerous cultures and countries including Mexico, Peru,
America,
Africa, India, Japan, China, etc, along with Jewish, Greek, and Roman antiquities.
The foundation of the work was François Noel's Dictionnaire de la
Fable; copious additions and corrections were made by Pozzoli, Romani (the
famed poet, scholar, and librettist for La Scala), and Peracchi (another librettist).
The resulting encyclopedic endeavor was originally published from 1809–27
under the title Dizionario d'ogni mitologia e antichità incominciato,
according to Graesse and Brunet, who both give Pozzoli's first name as Girolamo.
This set includes two volumes of supplemental text, adding a number of entries.
The first edition was followed by two volumes of supplemental plates, not
present here and not called for: Graesse describes this edition as “sans
grav.”
The pagination is erratic in a number of places; there is a numbering gap
from 2342 to 2351 between vols. IV and V, but the text and signatures are
uninterrupted.
Uncommon:
OCLC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings of this second edition.
Provenance:
Most volumes with small inked ownership inscription in an outer margin:
“G.R.W.” the mark of William Rollinson Whittingham (1805–79),
fourth Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and an enthusiastic book collector.
Brunet, IV, 851; Graesse, V, 429. Not in Sabin. Contemporary
half binding, recently rebacked with tan paper, spines with printed paper
labels; boards rubbed and faded with small chips, one vol. with front cover
waterstained. Foxing almost throughout, generally no worse than moderate;
light waterstaining in upper margins of vol. I; one leaf in vol. VII with
lower outer portion torn away, with loss of words from about 18 lines on each
side. Vol. II with printer's error replacing pp. 1065–72 with duplicates
of pp. 1057–64; pagination erratic in other places. Most vols. with
ownership mark as above; vol. VI with one pencilled and one inked marginal
annotation. (25862)
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