180 - Central America - SOLIS (Don Antonio de). History of the Conquest of Mexico or New Spain, translated from the Spanish by Don Antoine de Solis. Paris, Antoine Dezallier, 1691.

Central America - SOLIS (Don Antonio de). History of the Conquest of Mexico or New Spain, translated from the Spanish by Don Antoine de Solis. Paris, Antoine Dezallier, 1691. Quarto, brown calfskin, decorated ribbed spine, with a crowned dolphin scroll at the tail. End caps worn with missing sections. First edition of the French translation, 14 plates, including 2 maps. Originally published in Spanish in 1684, this work by the Spanish playwright and historian Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneyra (1610–1668), appointed First Chronicler of the Indies, met with remarkable success and was quickly translated into several languages. The author drew in particular on the chronicles of Francisco López de Gómara, as well as on the accounts and maps of the conquistadors Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Hernán Cortés. “The liveliness and interest of the narrative, the purity and elegance of the style, its richness and ornamentation lend this work a truly poetic dimension, giving it the air of a vast and noble panegyric,” M. Pifferer, *A Survey of Spanish Literature from the 12th Century to the Present Day*, Paris, 1845, p. 359. Engraved ex-libris bearing a coat of arms by N.R. Frizon de Blamont, mounted on the back cover. A few scattered foxing spots or pinholes. Small marginal tear on pp. 495–496. (Chadenat 459.)