GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA Primera parte de los Commentarios reales, que tratan del origen de los Ynvas, reyes que fueron del Peru, de su idolatria, leyes, y govierno en paz y en guerra: de sus vidas y conquistats, y de todo lo que fue aquel imperio y su Republica, antes aue los Espanoles passaran a el.

Alden-Landis, 609/44; Medina, BHA, 549; Palau, 354.788; Sabin, n°98757.

First edition of this work on the history and the civilization of the Inca people.

Considered the masterpiece of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the Comentarios Reales first appeared in 1609 and constitute an intention to provide Peru with a history that includes all aspects of its social and cultural development. The work is divided into two parts, the first consisting of nine books and the second of eight.

The first part covers the Incas (gods, laws, forms of government and instructions) before the arrival of the Spaniards in their territory. In clear and expressive prose, the Inca mixes data from political economy with problems of chronology, making use of oral and written sources and even memories from his childhood to structure his account. The account is essentially truthful and sometimes provides first-hand documents. Although accused of idealising the past, it is necessary to consider all his humanist upbringing to explain Garcilasso de la Vega’s alleged distortions of the Renaissance utopianism that must have marked him: the Inca saw a psychological uniformity in comparing the Indian with the man of antiquity or with the Spaniard of his time.

Menéndez y Pelayo considers this chronicle "the most authentically American book ever written, and perhaps the only one in which a reflection of the soul of the conquered peoples has survived."

Title reinserted at some earlier time with faint rubber stamp on the verso, some leaves slightly toned, occasional spotting.

Provenance : faint rubber stamps on four leaves – Sunderland Library (book plate, indicating acquisition of the library by Bernard Quaritch in 1883).