Peralta Barnuevo, Pedro de:

$4,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

HISTORIA DE ESPANA VINDICADA. EN QUE SU HAZE SU MAS EXACTA DESCRIPCION LA DE SUS EXCELENCIAS, Y ANTIGUAS RIQUEZAS.... The first edition of this history of Spain and its royalty, by the notable Peruvian linguist, described frequently as his country's "Poet Laureate." The author was the official cosmographer of Peru, held the post of accountant to the Real Audiencia, founded the Academy of Mathematics, and was for a time the Rector of the University of San Marcos. The illustrations are singled out by various authorities as of great significance for the period: "C'est peut-être le seul livre de cette époque publié, dans l'Amérique du Sud, qui soit si curieusement illustré" (LeClerc).Pedro Peralta Barnuevo was colonial Peru's greatest polymath: linguist, historian, architect, administrator, mathematician, poet, and medical writer. In this work he essays in detail the history of Spain from Greco-Roman times to circa 600 A.D. The text is one of the most important histories written in Peru during the colonial era, but it is also one of the greatest illustrated books produced in Lima in the period to 1825.Adorned with fifteen copper engraved plates, all portraits of historic and mythic Spanish leaders, each one contained in an elaborate copper engraved frame. Peralta is quoted as saying that the artist was "un sublime genio, cual lo es el del varón religioso que ha ilustrado esta obra son las suyas, grande en la cátedra y en el púlpito y mayor en la virtud" (Medina). To this day this

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