Lot 277: CORTES, Hernando (1485-1547). Von dem Newen Hispanien, so im Meer gegem Nidergang, zwo gantz lustige unnd fruchtreiche Historien. Translated by Xystus Betuleius and Andreas Dietherus. Augsburg: Philipp Ulhart, 1550.

CORTES, Hernando (1485-1547). Von dem Newen Hispanien, so im Meer gegem Nidergang, zwo gantz lustige unnd fruchtreiche Historien. Translated by Xystus Betuleius and Andreas Dietherus. Augsburg: Philipp Ulhart, 1550.

2υo (299 x 205 mm). Title page in red and black, woodcut initials (small stamp on blank portion of last leaf neatly removed, blank K4 replaced). Modern vellum gilt. Provenance: anonymous owner (sale Christie's New York 11 June 1982, lot 291).

FIRST EDITION IN GERMAN OF CORTES'S LETTERS and other works. An interesting miscellany, the principal contents include: Cortes' Segunda y tercera carta de relacion (Seville 1522 and 1523), his second and third letter (of five) to Charles V, reporting on his activities in the New World. The German translation by Sixt Birck and Andreas Diether is based on the first Latin editions by Petrus Savorgnanus (Nuremberg, 1524 and 1532). Additionally it includes extracts from the fourth decade of Peter Martyr, followed by Cortes third narration, an excerpt from the letter by Gonzalez Fernandes de Oviedo and letters by Philipp von Hutten (1505-1546) concerning the settlements of the Germans in Venezuela, an account which appears for the first time in this German edition. Von Hutten, was sent to America by the Augsburg banking family Fugger, who had given Charles V a loan and in return received trading and exploration rights. This combination of texts reflects the Augsburg interest in the exploration of and trade with the New World. Alden & Landis 550/11; Brunet II:312; JCB (3) I:158; Palau 63197; Sabin 16957.