Four works bound in one, folio, (297 x 203 mm). Full contemporary (ca. 1610) vellum over boards, five raised spine bands, leather on spine partly chipped away, exposing cords, spine lettered in ink, minor rubbing to edges, several tiny wormholes on outer surface of vellum. Collation: Porcacchi: [24], 211 pp., engraved allegorical title page and numerous engraved maps in the text, early inscription in fore-edge margin, inked over; Ramusio extract: 225-296, [2] ff. (woodcut plan of Tenochtitlan on leaf qq3r and full-page illustration of Aztec pyramid on leaf qq4v); Cortes 2nd letter: [4], 49, [1 blank ff.], 12 ff., full-page woodcut imperial coat of arms on verso of title page; woodcut of Pope Clement VII within a medallion on verso of leaf a4; Cortes 3rd letter: [4], 51, [1, errata] ff., title with woodcut portrait on recto and full-page woodcut imperial coat of arms on verso, 2 supplied leaves from another copy, with some expert paper restoration and minimal facsimile work: Hh2 & Hh9, i.e. folios XLIIII and [LI]). The errata leaf at end (fol. [LII] or Hh10) with watermark of bull's head and a cross or pilgrim's staff, as in the Streeter copy. Woodcut plan of Tenochtitlan, not present as usual.

The two letters by Cortes stand as “one of the most valuable accounts of all time” (Guillermo Tovar de Teresa). The exciting news of the Spanish conquistador's entry into Mexico and his encounters with Montezuma and the Aztecs in 1519 riveted European readers. While the Second Letter appears on the market periodically, the Third Letter is, for some reason, far rarer, and the appearance of the two together is a superlative presentation, especially because it comes to us in a contemporary sammelband housing other works for which the common denominator of interest is the conquest and discovery of Mexico.

The Cortes Letters:

Cortes wrote a total of five letters to the Hapsburg Emperor Charles V, describing his exploits in Mexico in 1519-22. In these letters he presented himself as a self-styled independent agent; indeed, Cortes rather brazenly asserted himself by reporting directly to the Emperor. The First Letter, purportedly written in 1519, was never published and is now lost. The so-called Primera Relación dated at Vera Cruz on July 10, 1519 and often found in modern translations of the letters, is a summary of events set forth by the municipal council of Vera Cruz and was not written by Cortes. The existence of the First Letter is based on a reference by Cortes himself in the opening lines of his Second Letter, though at least one scholar suggests the wily conqueror never actually sent the missive, an intentional omission motivated by the initially tenuous legal standing of his bold project. A separate publication by Peter Martyr, De nuper sub D. Carolo repertis insulis (Basel, 1521), and not to be confused with the Martyr extract integral to the Nuremberg 2nd letter, is sometimes called a substitute for the First Letter.

The Second Letter, dated at Segura de la Frontera (Tlaxcala) on October 30, 1520, was first published in Spanish at Seville in November 1522, by the German printer Jacobo Cromberger, without a map. A French edition, also without a map, was issued at Antwerp in 1522. The first Latin edition (present here) was printed in Nuremberg in 1524 and is sometimes found with a map. An Italian edition translated from the Nuremberg Latin text appeared a few months later in 1524 at Venice. The Italian edition is also sometimes seen with a version of the Cortes Map with text in Italian. The Second Letter bears a provocative title, which translates as follows:

The Splendid Narrative of Fernando Cortes concerning the New Spain of the Oceanic Sea… in which is contained many things worthy of knowledge and admiration about the excellent cities of those provinces, customs of the inhabitants, sacrifices of children, and on the subject of religious persons, above all about the famous city of Temixtitan

The Second Letter stands as a foundation stone of first-hand American discovery and exploration literature, highly esteemed for being in the conqueror's own words. Here Cortes describes the people and places encountered en route to Tenochtitlan, the wars and alliances made on the path to the grand island city, which he herein christens for the first time as New Spain of the Ocean Sea. In recounting his exploits Cortes makes important ethnographic observations while painting a picture of the impressive city of Tenochtitlan, its architecture, institutions, Montezuma's court, and the like. He describes a skirmish with his rival Velazquez, leading to a retreat to Tlaxcala and expulsion from Tenochtitlan. Throughout, Cortes defends his shaky legal position, emphasizing the political and religious gains of his conquests. Establishing New Spain as a distinct administrative region, he introduces the use of “new” to name an American territory by a European nation. Crucially, this letter includes Montezuma’s famous -likely apocryphal- speech to Cortes wherein the Mexica ruler supposedly surrenders his empire to Charles. For a new perspective on the meaning of this speech, which if authentic, may have been mistranslated or misunderstood by Cortes, see Matthew Restall's recent book, When Montezuma Met Cortes (2018).

Yale scholar Rolena Adorno has described the Second Letter as follows:

“The famous second letter is the most spectacular of Cortes's five letters to his emperor, Charles V, because it describes events that include the decision to conquer Mexico, the Spanish march to the Mexica (Aztec) capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Cortes's brilliant description of the city, his reception by the Mexica lord Moctezuma, the imprisonment and death of Moctezuma, and the Spaniards' retreat on the fateful night of June 30, 1520” (Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative (2007), page viii).

The Third Letter, describing the siege and conquest of Mexico, was also first published in Spanish, appearing four months after the first edition of the Second Letter. A French edition was issued from Antwerp in 1522, including a purported paraphrase of the First Letter, along with the Second Letter. The first Latin edition was issued in 1524 to accompany the Latin edition of the Second Letter issued the same year (both present here).

The remaining Fourth Letter was printed later and never issued in Nuremberg, it extends the narrative to ongoing aspects of the conquest, including the destruction and rebuilding of the city; the Fifth Letter primarily concerns Cortes's excursion into Honduras, and did not appear in print until the 19th-century.

Nuremberg First Latin Editions of Cortes

“[The Nuremberg 2nd and 3rd letters] were doubtless issued together” Church. This copy contains the portrait of Pope Clement VII (which is not found in all copies), and the 12 leaves of Peter Martyr's De Rebus, et Insulis Noviter Repertis, describing newly discovered islands of the West Indies, also often missing. The Martyr text is often called an inserted substitute for the lost first Cortes letter, but these 12 leaves are in fact integral to the Nuremberg printing of the 2nd and 3rd letters (cf. Church).

The Letters were translated into Latin by Petrus Savorgnanus and printed by Frederic Peypus, a prominent Nuremberg printer known for producing Humanist and theological works. Peter Marty's text, a summary of recent discoveries in America, is included by the publisher under the caption De rebus, et Insulis nouiter Repertis. These Letters represent the most important account of Cortes's exploits, fully displaying the “verve and piquancy for which he is remembered” (Kenneth Nebenzahl).

The present example is bound in a beautiful early 17th century vellum binding with two other related works, and includes Ramusio's map of Tenochtitlan

While we do not know who had these works bound together in the early 1600s, they clearly had a special interest in early accounts of Mexico. The inclusion of the sections from Ramusio, including another map of Tenochtitlan, highlights that focus. The presence of Porcacchi's Isolario (which includes yet another map of Tenochtitlan) and the Ramusio are reminders of a once-prevalent European idea likening the vanquished Tenochtitlan to an ideal island city akin to a “Great Venice”.

Aside from the map, one of the prime decorative elements in the Second Letter is the coat of arms of Charles V, printed on the verso of the title page, in fact the illustration takes up the entirety of the page.

The woodcut derives from a coat of arms of Maximilian first published in a Nuremberg edition of the Revelationes sancte Birgitte published by Koberger in 1500 (Schoch, Mende and Scherbaum III.488.A34.2 and 34.3; Hollstein VII.227.283). That woodcut is sometimes considered an autograph work of Albrecht Dürer, though more critical readings have attributed it to his workshop. Schoch, Mende, and Scherbaum have suggested that it should be attributed to the Meister der Celtis-Illustrationen. Later, the 1500 woodcut was closely copied but with the eagle at the top rendered in black. This copy is the one that was modified for Cortes's Second Letter, with the shield at the center removed and replaced with one showing a tower, transforming it into the coat of arms of Charles V.

The Italian Connection & Tenochtitlan as "Great Venice"

The 16th century European imagination associated Tenochtitlan with Venice (both were styled “island cities” in 16th century Isolarios), to an extent that Tenochtitlan was occasionally referred to as the “Great Venice”. A Venice-printed Italian translation of the Nuremberg Cortes letters was issued by B. Vercellensis and G. B. Pederzano in late 1524, but the map issued to accompany the Italian edition of the Cortes Letters is clearly a copy after the Nuremberg map, with captions in Italian.

Venetian fascination with Tenochtitlan extended well into the 16th century, and is reflected in the Isolarios or island books of the time, including that by Porcacchi, which is bound with the present Cortes letters:

An isolario, or "book of islands," published in 1547, noted a resemblance between Venice and Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City. The author of that book, Thomaso Porcacchi da Castiglione, wrote that whereas other cities were founded by men, Tenochtitlan was "another Venice founded by blessed God... by his very holy hand."... Venetian cartographers, travelers, humanists, and diplomats also demonstrated a special interest in Tenochtitlan. - David Y. Kim, Uneasy Reflections: Images of Venice and Tenochtitlan in Benedetto Bordone's Isolario.

The present volume, in a beautiful period early 17th-century binding, includes two additional works, both printed in Venice: a 1605 edition of Porcacci's Isolario and an extract from Ramusio concerning Mexico. The inclusion of these two works with the Cortes Letters adds an additional layer of Venetian interest to the volume at hand.

Manuel Toussaint has pointed out how the Porcacchi map of Tenochtitlan represents a simplification, emphasizing the island aspect of the city, with the Templo Mayor quite isolated. Toussaint suggests that the Pocacchi is not based on well-known Bordone map of Tenochtitlan.

It is worth noting an obscure and very rare 1522 Augsburg printed pamphlet, which (imperfectly) reported the news of Cortes's exploits in the New World: Newe zeitung. von dem lande. das die Sponier funden haben ym 1521. iare genant Yucatan. Newe zeittung von Prussla. The text of this brief account applies the term "Great Venice" to Tenochtitlan. Mostly fanciful, and based on unknown sources, the Augsburg newsletter predated the publication of the Cortes Letters, but had no map. It was illustrated with crude woodcut scenes purporting to depict Tenochtitlan.

The volume contains the following:

- The first Latin edition of Cortes's 2nd and 3rd letters together, textually complete.

- 1605 edition of Tomasso Porcacchi's L'isole piu famose del mondo. . . A later edition of a classic Venetian isolario or Island Book, first published in 1572. Full of engraved maps of "the island world," including a fine engraved map of Tenochtitlan on page 157. According to Manuel Toussaint, this is a finer version of the Bordone version: "On page 157 we find Descrittione delle Gran Citta e Isola Temistitan, under which is a copperplate engraving of a plan of Mexico, inspired by the 2nd Letter of Cortes. The engraving, better made and finer than that in Bordone's Isolario, is oriented to the East, with calzadas de Iztapalapa and Coyoacan on the left; that of Guadalupe to the right, and that of Tacuba at the bottom. Below the map is a text: La Citta e Isola de Temistitan &c. which continues through page 160."

- Giovanni Battista Ramusio: Di Fernando Cortese la Seconda Relatione Della Nuova Spagna [extracted from vol. 3 of the 1606 edition of his:] Delle navigationi et viaggi. First published in 1556. Folios 225-296 plus full-page map of Tenochtitlan and full-page illustration of Templo Mayor.

Summary

With the quincentenary of the Cortes letters upon us, new perspectives abound.

In his Letters to Charles V, Cortés conveyed a sense of wonder and ambition that transcended mere conquest, painting Tenochtitlan as an island city of dreams, evoking a floating utopia upon the lake, its temples and pyramids surpassing Venice, glittering in the sun like visions of a promised land. This moment encapsulated not just the allure of untold riches but also a new horizon of possibilities, reflecting the dual edge of the European encounter with the Americas: a marvel at the sophistication and beauty of what they found, and the foreshadowing of the inexorable tide of conquest and change they were to bring. Cortés's words, steeped in the rhetoric of discovery and destiny, echoed the same blend of aspiration and hubris that would characterize the American dream centuries later, marking the beginning of a complex legacy of exploration and radical transformation.

An opportunity to acquire an iconic Americana rarity, the complete text of the most desirable first Latin editions of Cortes's 2nd and 3rd letters - a cornerstone book for any serious Americana collection.

Rarity:

Complete examples of Cortes's 2nd and 3rd letters bound together are rare in the market, although well represented in institutions individually.

Cortes: European Americana 524/5 & 524/8. Church 53 & 54, 47 (ref). Harrisse (BAV) 125 & 126. Medina (BHA) 70. JCB(3) I:90. Sabin 16947, 16948. Hill 377, 378. Streeter Sale 190. Streeter, Americana Beginnings 7. Winsor 2: pages 364, 404, and passim. Reese & Miles, Creating America 9. Delgado-Gomez: Spanish Historical Writing About the New-World, 1493-1700: 7a. Porcacchi: European Americana 605/90. Sabin 64151. Ramusio: (extract from 1606 ed.): European Americana 606/88.