Zarate, Agustin de (Trans. Thomas Nicholas)

4to (7 x 5 1/4 in; 178 x 135 mm). Title within historiated woodcut border, pictorial half-title with woodcut illustration of "The Riche Mines of Potosi," initial six woodcuts, (two repeated; two woodcuts and catchwords cropped, stained, marginal worming and repair affecting a few shoulder notes and some text. Modern maroon morocco.

Wolfgang A. Herz (bookplate; Christie's New York, 9 December 2009, lot 310) 

Church 126; Sabin 106272; STC 26123; Alden & Landis 581/70

First edition in English of one of the earliest histories of the discovery and conquest of Peru. Augustin de Zarate was sent to Peru in 1543 by the Crown to collect special taxes under the Emperor's "New Laws." He was in Lima at the time of Gonzalo Pizarro's rebellion, and the book ends with the execution of Pizarro and the integration of Peru into the Spanish Empire in 1548. The second title with a large woodcut illustration reads: "The Discoverie and Conquest of the Provinces of Peru, and the Navigation in the South Sea, along that Coast. And also of the riche Mines of Potosi." The first edition in Spanish, Historia del descubrimiento y conquista del Peru, was published at Antwerp, 1555.