Tomo primero de la conveniencia de las dos Monarquias Catolicas, la de la Iglesia Romana y la del Imperio Español, y defensa de la Precedencia de los Reyes Catolicos de España a todos los Reyes del Mundo. Al gloriosisimo Filipo Ermenegildo nuestro señor Emperador de las Españas, y Señor de la maior Monarquia que antenido los hombres desde la creación hasta el Siglo presente. Autor el Maestro fr: Juan de la Puente, de la orden de Predicadores, Chronista de la Mag.d Catolica, Calificador dela Inquisicion y Prior de S.to Tomas de Madrid.
Madrid: En la Imprenta Real. [Juan Flamenco], 1612. First edition. First volume, no more published. Four books, divided into two parts, each with distinct pagination. In contemporary limp vellum. Tinted edges. Spine lettered in ink. Edges tinted. Engraved title page. Woodcut head and tail pieces, and initials. Text in two columns, with printed annotations. Text area and text columns ruled. 1612. 6º: [ ]6, †6, ††4, A–Z6, Aa–Hh6, a–z6, aa–gg6 ([ ]1v, [ ]6, †2v, †3v, Zz6v, dd3v, gg6v blank); 371, 371 p. (some mispaginated). Binding dusted, stained. Later shelfmark vignette on spine. Endpapers with wormholes and stains. Inside clean. Overall in very good condition.
Rare Spanish historical and political work with references to Mexico and Brazil.
Written by Juan de la Puente (15?–1629) the Spanish Dominican dean, mythographer, treatise writer, President of the Council of Castile and the Chancillería de Valladolid, chronicler of Philip III. In this extraordinary work, whose title and frontispiece encapsulate the notion of the superiority of Spain to all other countries, de la Puente demonstrates the apostolic founding of the Spanish Church and its equality with its Roman counterpart. De la Puente surmised that St Thomas may have visited the Americas and preached the gospel in Mexico also in Brazil, although without leaving much evidence of any survival of Christian beliefs among the natives of those countries. He supported Gregorio García's theory that the American Indians descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and “declared that ‘natural love which a man has for his country is born in the stars which engender us and preserve us in our first years’. It was this emphasis on the power of the stars which led him to insert the notorious oft-cited note: ‘the heavens of America induce inconstancy, lasciviousness, and lies: vices characteristic of the Indians and which the constellations make characteristic of the Spaniards who are born and bred there’. Here was an affirmation against which creole patriots were to rage for more than a century but which was destined to enjoy wide circulation.” (Brading 1993, pp. 200)
The entire work was planned to be consist of three tomes, however, only the present first volume was published.
Palau 74250; Not in Sabin
Bibl.: Brading, D. A.: The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots and the Liberal State 1492–1866. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
.
Price: €2,000.00