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20.2x14.7 cm ; 7 7/8 x 5 3/4 inches (small quarto), three volumes: pp. [1-24], 1-240; [1-8], 1-564; [1-8], 1-436, historiated initial letters, head and tailpieces, four engraved folded maps (the first in volume one, the others in volume three), original full vellum, spine panels lettered by hand. First edition. "First attempt at a history of California. Based, by the anonymous editor, Father Andrés Marcos Burriel, on Venegas's 1739 MS., but incorporating information from other sources. Volume three of the original Spanish edition contains account of discoveries on the Northwest coast attacking, as fictitious, the then accepted voyages of de Fonte and de Fuca" (Howes). "This work is considered the foundation of a library of Californiana. Although his name does not appear, Padre Andrés Marcos Burriel was the editor. Other than Cabrera, Burriel was the first writer whose sound sense allowed him to reject the apocryphal voyages as unworthy of credit, restricting northern geography, which comprises one of the volumes, to actual discoveries, and to correctly define in print the peninsula of California and the regions of the Colorado and Gila as far as known. The first map contains a border of ten vignettes, within which is a map of California. The vignettes show inhabitants and animals of the country, and the martyrdoms of Padres Carranco and Tamaral. The second map is of lands adjacent to the upper part of the Gulf of California, 1747, after the Jesuit missionary Consag. The third is of the South sea or Pacific ocean between the equator and 39° 30 n. lat. This has been copied from Anson, by Joseph Gonzalez. The fourth is a general map of the North Pacific ocean showing Asia and America, being engraved by Manuel Rodriguez, 1756. The maps have historical value and represent surveys made down to 1754, although the MS. of the work itself was written in 1739. The text was supplemented by fresh information, sent home from the missions for that purpose, so that the matter is brought fully down to the date of publication" (Cowan). ". the most extensive account of Lower California of its period. Concluded in Mexico in 1739, the NOTICIA was extensively revised and brought up to 1750 in Spain by Fr. Andrés Marcos Burriel, who restricted the account to actual voyages, rejecting all apocryphal material. It was presumably allowed to be published to counteract anti-Jesuit statements in accounts of Anson's voyage. The first two volumes are concerned entirely with Lower California. Volume III contains extracts from Lopez de Gomara and Torquemada relating to early Northwest Coast explorations, including an account of the 1602-03 Vizcaino expedition, taken by Torquemada from the diary of Father Antonio de la Ascension" (Howell). "Venegas is the principal source of information about the explorations made by Father Consag in 1746 by which the question of the insularity of California was finally set at rest. Consag's description of the Gulf of California and the mouth of the Colorado River received wide publicity through the volumes of Venegas" (Farquhar). Cowan (1933), p. 659. Farquhar, The Books of the Colorado River & the Grand Canyon 5b. Graff 4470. Howell (50), 246. Howes V69 ("c"). Hill 1767. Lada-Mocarski 14. Medina 3855. Palau (1927 edition) VII, p. 146. Sabin 98848. Streeter sale 2433. Wagner, Spanish Southwest 132. Zamorano 78. Mild soiling to vellum, ties missing, some rippling to leaves; some wear and small chip from margin of fourth map, a fine copy. Housed in a custom quarter leather clamshell box with leather spine label. (#167007). Seller Inventory # 167007
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