Colleccion de Libros Espanoles: Varias Relaciones del Peru y Chile; De Las Antiguas Gentes del Peru.

[DE LAS CASAS, Bartolomé].

$375.00

Item Number: 139017

Madrid: Miguel Ginesta/Manuel G. Hernandez, 1879-1892.

Finely bound Spanish printings of Bartolomé de las Casas’ histories of Peru and Chile. Octavo, two volumes bound in one half morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, all edges untrimmed, original wrappers bound in. In fine condition.

16th-century Spanish historian Bartolomé de las Casas' extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies. Arriving as one of the first Spanish (and European) settlers in the Americas, Las Casas initially participated in, but eventually felt compelled to oppose, the abuses committed by colonists against the Native Americans. As a result, in 1515 he gave up his Native American slaves and encomienda, and advocated, before King Charles I of Spain, on behalf of rights for the natives.