El Universo Pintoresco, o Historia y Descripcion de Todos los Pueblos, de Sus Religiones, Costumbres, Usos, Industria, Etc. ... Estados Unidos de Norte America.
Mexico City: 1841. 389,[4]pp., plus folding map and ninety-six plates. Half title. Quarter sheep and mottled paper boards, spine gilt. Moderate spine wear; boards scuffed and front; paper detaching from front board; hinges cracked but solid. Light tanning and scattered foxing. Good plus. Item #2845
An unusual Mexican edition of the Univers Pittoresque, an attempted world history and encyclopedia first published in Paris in 1837. This "Segunda Parte" of the Universo Pintoresco gives a history and description of the United States that includes politics, geography, natural history, and much more. At the rear are a folding map and nearly 100 plates that depict Native Americans, American revolutionary figures and important events, plants and animals, views and points of geographic significance, and maps. The plates are captioned in French and Spanish, and were apparently sent from France for publication in Mexico -- an interesting bit of publishing history. The text itself seems to be the only part of the whole work that was meaningfully distributed anywhere.
OCLC locates copies of volumes one and three only at the national libraries of Spain and Israel; we locate a half dozen copies of the present volume.
Price: $300