a History of New Mexico (sic)

Description

Author: Pérez de Villagrá, Alcala-1610, Gaspar  (1555-1620)

Translator: Espinosa, Gilberto  (1897-1983)

Publisher: Rio Grande Press

Pub Date: 1962

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fair.  Without dust jacket, as issued.  No tears, bends or folds.  Inscribed and dated by the translator on the lower title page.  Lower front gutter at spine foot slightly worn.  Light edge and corner wear.

Notes:  Translated from the Spanish.  Reprint edition.  First published by the Quivira Society in 1933.  A poem in the form of a historical ballad.   Villagra was born in the New World but sent to school in Spain.  On his return he secured a position with Oñate’s entrada into Nueva Mexico in 1596.  “The subject is well enough adapted to epic narration, and in the generally smooth-flowing endecasyllabic lines of Villagra loses nothing of its intrinsic fascination.  Occasionally the author quits the realm of poesy to give us a document in plain prose; and while enthusiastic in praise of his leader and his companions, our New Mexico Homer is modest in recounting his own exploits.  Of all the territories of America–or of the world, so far as my knowledge goes–New Mexico alone may point to a poem as the original authority for its early annals.”  (From the Foreword by Frederick Webb Hodge).   This is the first published history of New Mexico, and this Rio Grande Press edition is the first reprint of the 1933 original.  A bilingual version of this history is also available.  See https://joethebookguy.com/shop/indian/historia-de-la-nueva-mexico-1610/  A New Mexico Homer.  I guess if you’re going to really, really compliment an author, link him to Homer.