256 - [Americana]. ERCILLA Y ZINIGA or ZUNICA, Alonso de.

[Americana]. ERCILLA Y ZINIGA or ZUNICA, Alonso de. La Araucana dirigida al rey don Felipe Nuestro Señor. Madrid, Antonio de Sancha, 1776. 2 volumes in-8, (2) ff., LVI-298 pp. and 413 pp., plates. Contemporary fawn calfskin, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, title and volume number labels in red morocco, cold-stamped fillet framing the covers, roulette on the edges. (Edges rubbed; 3 corners and a cap worn; scuffs; a tear of approx. 5 cm with no loss to the endpaper; corner restored on p. 291, vol. 1). The most famous Spanish epic poem and the first major work in Spain on the American continent. Dedicated to the struggles between the conquistadors and the Araucan Indians, it deals with the conquest of Chile, in which the author took part. Edition illustrated with a portrait of the author, a large black-and-white engraved fold-out map by Don Tomás López based on a manuscript by Poncho Chileno, and three black-and-white copperplate engravings by Fabregat and J.M. Tejeda based on drawings by Antonio Carnicero. “The best edition is Madrid 1776,” Ticknor, II. 464. Sabin, 22725. Palau, 80425 Included: [MELLET, Jullien]. Journey through South America, into the interior of Côte-Ferme, and to the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, from 1808 to 1819; containing descriptions of the cities, towns, and villages of these regions, a portrayal of the customs... of the inhabitants, and an overview of the fertility of the soil and the prosperity of trade, along with an account of the misfortunes experienced during this journey by a resident of the Lot-et-Garonne department In Agen, Prosper Noubel. 1823. In-8, 291-[5] pp. 20th-century Bradel half-vellum binding, author, title, publisher, and date handwritten on the spine, untrimmed (slight foxing on a few pages). First edition. Without the two plates that are often missing and were not included in the second edition published in Paris in 1824.