History of the Conquest of Mexico: with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes

Prescott, William (Text by); John Foster Kirk (Edited by). History of the Conquest of Mexico: with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.,, 1889. New and Revised edition.

Large octavo (8 3/4 x 5 3/4″). XXIV, [2], 713, [1]pp. Contemporary full calf school binding, with gold lettering and tooling to spine, and seal of the Bedford School in gilt on front cover. Raised bands. Blind-stamped dentelles. Marbled endpapers and paper edges. Publisher’s device on title page.

Originally published in 1843, “The History of the Conquest of Mexico” is universally considered the author’s magnum opus.

Indeed, William H. Prescott’s sweeping account of Cortés’s subjugation of the Aztec people has endured as a landmark work of scholarship and dramatic storytelling.

This new and revised edition of the pioneering study presents a compelling view of the clash of civilizations that reverberates in Latin America to this day. All the chief actors of Prescott’s great historic drama not only live and breathe, but they are as distinctly differentiated as they must have been in life.

After a preliminary view of ancient Mexican civilization, Prescott takes the reader in 1519, the year Cortes embarks from Cuba with the aim of claiming Mexico for Spain. Arriving in the capital, he is made welcome by the divine ruler, Montezuma, and the two men become friends. Montezuma comes to believe that Cortes is, in fact, the ancient Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl. Cortes’ attempts to convert Montezuma to Christianity fail. He takes his counterpart prisoner, but within chivalrous limits. The arrival of a new body of Spaniards, seeking to overthrow Cortes, whom they see as a vainglorious rebel, revives the tension. Eventually, Montezuma dies and a fierce, bloody battle ensues.

Moderate and sporadic rubbing along edges of binding. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in very good condition. g to vg. Hardcover. (42032) $85