Istoria ò brevissima relatione Della Distruttione dell' Indie Occidentali...

LAS CASAS Barthaolomaei (1640.)

£5000.00 

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DEFENDING THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF SPANISH AMERICA

con la traduttione in Italiano di Francesco Bersabita. [Bound with:] LA CASAS (B.) Il Supplice Schiauo Indiano ... [And:] LA CASAS (B.) Conquista dell' Indie Occidentali ... [Plus:] LA CASAS (B.) La Liberta Pretesa Dal supplice Indiano ...

Third, first, first, & first Italian translations, printed in double column with the Spanish and Italian texts side by side. 4to. Contemporary calf, spine gilt, label and headcaps renewed with joints strengthened, a few old wormholes to lower spine not affecting text-block. (viii), 150, (2), 118, (2), (12), xvii, 31-184, 155, (3)pp. Venice, Marco Ginammi, 1643, 1636, 1644 &

A valuable sammelband collecting four of Bartolomeo Las Casas' (1484-1566) tracts defending the Indigenous populations of Spanish America. He published nine in total and this copy includes the same four titles as the volume in the 1949 Harmsworth sale.

 

Istoria ò brevissima relatione Della Distruttione dell' Indie Occidentali ... , its translation ascribed to Giacomo Castellani, is one of the first and most famous of these tracts attacking the cruelties of Spanish rule in the Indies, including Jamaica, Trinidad, Florida, Rio de la Plata and Peru. "Written in 1540, and submitted to the Emperor and council in MS... [it] remains to-day almost unparalleled in the vigor of its composition and the nobility of its design" (Field). Conquista dell' Indie Occidentali ... includes Las Casas s Disputa, controuersia (1552) and Principia ad defendendam iusticiam Yndorum and summarises the Valladolid controversy. It argues for political theology over the use of force. lI Supplice Schiauo Indiano "contains judicial authorities and reasons why the natives should be restored to freedom" (Church). The final tract in this volume, La Liberta Pretesa Dal supplice Indiano ..., tackles the economienda system which was the virtual practice of slavery in Spanish America.

 

At the age of twenty-four Las Casas sailed on Columbus's third voyage to the New World in 1498. He became the first Catholic priest to be ordained in America, and the first "Protector of the Indies", a role he took seriously. He was instrumental in lobbying Charles V for their better treatment, which was enshrined in the New Laws of 1542.

 

Alden 636/14; cf. Church, 93; cf. Field, p215/6; Howgego, L68; Palau 46956; Sabin, 11244, 11245, 11246, & 11248; Streit I, 464..

Stock Code: 202391

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