Some 18th Century Historians

Torquemada on the Franciscans in Mexico

Torquemada, Juan de, ca. 1557-1664. Primera parte de los veinte i vn libros rituales i manarchia indiana, con el origen y guerras, de los indios occidentales. 3 vols., second impression.
Madrid: N. Rodriquez Franco, 1723 [1725]. Boards.
 

Herrera's General History

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, d. 1625. Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las islas i tierra firme del mar oceano. . . . En quatro decades desde al año de 1492 hasta el de 1531.  9 vols. in 3.
Madrid: Nicolas Rodiguez Franco, 1726-30. Contemporary calf.
 

The engraved title-page shows the royal arms of Spain, with pictures of the conquistadors, of events during the conquest, and of American customs. The College library also held John Stevens's six-volume English translation (London, 1725-26).
 

Bareia's Historiadores Primitivos

Barcia Carballido y Zuñiga, Andrés Gonzalez de, 1673-1743. Historiadores primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, que juntò, traduxo en parte, y sacò à luz, ilustrados con erudìtas notas, y copiosos indices. 6 vols.
Madrid: s.n., 1749.  Contemporary half vellum.

The editor of this collection of exploration narratives, Gonzalez de Barcia, also edited the previous two works in this case.

A New Edition of Documents about Cortes

Lorenzana y Butron, Francisco Antonio, cardinal, 1722-1804, ed. Historia de Nueva-España, escrita por su esclarecido conquistador Hernan Cortes, aumentada con otros documentos.
Mexico: Impr. del superior gobierno, J. A. de Hogal, 1770.  Contemporary mottled calf.

This later 18th-century Spanish edition of Cortes also prints a number of other early sources, including this section of 31 plates with facsimiles from early codices.
 

A Spanish Epic Poem about Cortes

Ruiz de León, Francisco. Hernandia. Triumphos de la fe, y gloria de las armas españolas.  Poema heroyco. Conquista de Mexico, cabeza del imperio septentrional de la Nueva-España.  Proezas de Hernan-Cortes, catholicos blasones militares, y grandezas del Nuevo mundo.
Madrid: Fernandez, y del Supremo consejo de la Inquisicion, 1755.

The only other work known by the author of this heroic poem (which was not reprinted till the 1980's) is his elegy on the funeral of the Queen of Spain, Tristes ayes de la aguila mexicana (Mexico City, 1760).
 

A French Translation of Cortes

Flavigny, Gratien Jean Baptiste Louis, vicomte de, 1741-1803, transl. Correspondance de Fernand Cortès avec l'empereur Charles-Quint, sur la conquete du Mexique.
Paris: Cellot and Jombert, 1778.  Contemporary mottled calf.  Alfred Chapin Rogers Collection.

With the passing in 1701 of the Spanish throne from the Hapsburg to the Bourbon dynasty, it is perhaps surprising that more of the College's books about Mexico were not in French.
 

Clavigero's History in English

Clavigero, Abbé Francesco Saverio, 1731-1787. The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts and ancient paintings of the Indians.  2 vols.
London: G. G. J. and Robinson, 1787.  Tree calf.  From the Georgetown Library Society.

This English translation from the work of the Italian historian Clavigero was by Charles Cullen.

Diaz del Castillo in English Translation

Keating, Maurice Bagenal St. Leger, d.1835, transl. The true history of the conquest of Mexico, by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of the conquerors. Written in the year 1568. . .  Translated from the original Spanish.
London: Printed for J. Wright, by John Dean, 1800.  Tree calf.

Keating's was the first edition in English of this account by Diaz del Castillo (1496-1584).