Folio, (315 x 190 mm). Engraved title page, [20] pp., full-page engraved plate of Archbishop Mogrovejo, 381 [i.e. 391, pagination duplicated at pp. 230 - 239 ], [2] pp., large engraved folding plan of Lima. Later, possibly 19th century calf, gilt fillets to boards, gilt tooled spine with raised bands and red morocco title label lettered in gilt, endpapers renewed. The map supplied and cleaned, expert edges repairs, pale water stain to top corner of title page away from text and pp 300-341 away from text, a few pen redactions to a few words, occasional spotting, else a fine copy.

The work is a record of the celebrations for the beatification of the second Archbishop of Lima, Saint Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo (1538 - 1606), which took place in 1679. This rather lavish volume contains important contemporary descriptions of Lima, and the present copy includes the wonderful folding plan of the city (40 x 55 cm), which is “lacking in every copy but one” (Medina, translation). Sabin: “This rare volume was unknown to Antonio”.

By the end of the 17th century, Lima was an important city, both as the Capital of the Viceroyalty that controlled most of Spanish South America, and as a regional trading centre. Mulder's spectacular delineation of Lima surrounded by coats-of-arms, portraits of Saints, and animals, is the first engraved plan of Lima. “This rare volume was unknown to Antonio” (Sabin). It is noteworthy than Sabin’s collation doesn’t mention the engraved portrait or the plan. In fact, according to Medina, only copy is known to have the map.

According to Kenneth Nebenzahl, this is the first plan of Lima ever to be printed “The engravings, including the plan, are the work of Jose Mulder. His fine delineation of Lima, surrounded by coats-of-arms, portraits of Saints, animals and views, is the first engraved plan of Lima, cited by Winsor”, and continues mentioning that Sabin does not make mention of the rare plan. Sabin does not appear to make mention of the plan.

Provenance: front paste-down with bookplate Semper idem, Todo por Aragon y para Aragon, bookseller's label from Juan M Sanchez to rear pastedown (noting ‘Rarissimo'); from the collection of Nicholas Ingleton, Australia.

Uncommon when complete with the plate and folding map, according to OCLC we locate the following copies in the United States: JCB, Duke(perhaps without the map, doesn’t mention it), Harvard, Yale (perhaps without the map, doesn’t mention it), Indiana Bloomington Library (perhaps without the map, doesn’t mention it), Getty Research Institute, LoC, Newberry, and New York Public Library.

The map is rare, most institutional copies of the book lack the plan.

Medina, BHA, 1813; Sabin 21765; Palau 78066.