Notes on the Bibliography of Yucatan and Central America / Comprising Yucatan, Chiapas, Guatemala (the Ruins of Palenque, Ocosingo, and Copan), and Oaxaca (Ruins of Mitla)

by Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier

Hernan Cortés. (His first letter is lost: in place of it the letter of the "Municipality of Vera Cruz," dated 10th July, 1519, contains a short statement about Yucatan. This letter is printed in Vol. I. of "Coleccion de Documentos inéditos para la historia de España," and in Vol. I. of "Historiadores primitivos de Indias," by Enrique de Vedia, Madrid, 1852.—Folsom's translation of 1843. "Despatches of Hernan Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico, &c." substitutes an Introduction by the translator himself.—The earliest mention of this report is found in Robertson: "History of America," Vol. III., p. 289, Edition of 1800, and an abstract is found in Prescott: "Conquest of Mexico," Appendix II., 3d Vol.) "Fifth letter to the Emperor Charles VII.," noticed by Robertson and Prescott; contained, in full, in "Historiadores primitivos de Indias," Vol. I., by Vedia. A full English translation, by Pascual de Gayangos, was published in 1868, by the "Hackluyt Society," vol. 40.

Juan Cristóbal Calvet de Estrella. "De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandii Cortèsii," written between 1548 and 1560, and printed with a Spanish translation: "Vida de Cortés," by Sr. Icazbalceta in Vol. I. of "Col. de Documentos para la Hist. de México."—Short and meagre.

Andrés de Tapia. "Relacion hecha por el Señor Andrés de Tapia, sobre la conquista de México." (Icazbalceta's "Coleccion de Documentos, &c." Vol. II. México, 1866.)

Benedetto Bordone. "Libro di Benedetto Bordone.—Nel qual si ragione tutte l'Isole del mondo con li loro nomi antichi e moderni," 1528.—Later editions also.

Girolamo Benzoni. "Historia del Mondo Nuovo," Venice, 1565.—Translated into German by Nicolaus Hoeniger: "Die Neue Welt und Indianischen Kônigreichs, neue und wahrhaffte geschichte, &c., &c.,' Basel, 1579.—Incorporated in Théodore De Bry "Grosse Reisen," Parts 4, 5, and 6.—Of other prints I but mention the latest English translation, published by the Hackluyt Society in 1857 (Vol. 21,) under the title of "History of the New World, by Girolamo Benzoni," edited as well as translated by Rear-Admiral W. H. Smyth. There are Italian versions of 1572, French of 1587, and Latin of 1600.

Bernal Diez del Castillo. "Historia verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva España," Madrid, 1632. (There may be two editions of the same year). Of the Spanish reprints I mention here (also contained in "Historiadores primitivos de Indias," Vedia, 1852, Vol. II.), the one of 1837, Paris, 4 Vols. 12^o, and the other of 1854, México, 4 vols. also.—Two English translations are known to me at present: "The True History of the Conquest of Mexico, by Captain Bernal Diez del Castillo," translated by Maurice Keatings, London, 1800.—"The Memoirs of the Conquistador, Bernal Diez del Castillo," translated by John Ingram Lockhart, London, 1844.—There is also a German translation, by P. J. Rehfuss, Bonn, 1838.—Bernal Diez (not Diaz) is very valuable as eye-witness, having been to Yucatan with Cordoba (1517), Grijalva (1518), Cortés (1519),—and finally with the latter to Honduras, passing through Peten.

Fray Lorenzo de Bienvida. Letter to the Infanto Philip (II.), dated Yucatan, 10 February, 1548. Original in MS. French translation by H. Ternaux-Compans in "1^er Recueil de Piéces concernant le Méxique," Vol. X. 1838, of his collection of "Mémoires et documents Originaux, &c., &c."

Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés. "Historia General y natural de las Indias," composed of 50 books.—The first 19 books, and part of the 50th, were published by the author as early as 1535,—and the first 20 books as early as 1557,—but the entire work has only been printed in 1851, at Madrid, 4 Vols. folio.—It is full of details concerning Yucatan.

Francisco Lopez de Gomara. "Historia general de las Indias, y todo lo acaescido en ellas dende que se ganaron hasta agora. Y la conquista de México, y de la nueva España, &c." Zaragoza, 1552.—Of this book I quote—e. g.—the following Spanish editions: Medina del Campo, 1553, Antwerp, 2 prints, 1554—Zaragoza, 1555,—and it is also contained in "Historiadores primitivos de Indias," by Andrés Gonzalez Barcia, Madrid, 1749, Vol. II.—and in "Historiadores primitivos de Indias," by Vedia, Madrid, 1852, Vol. I.—There is an Italian version, by Augustino de Cravaliz, Rome, 1556, ("La Histoirie generale delle Indie Occidentali. &c., &c."), and French translations published respectively in 1578, 1587, 1597, and 1605.—Finally, Juan Bautista de San Anton Muñoz Chimalpain Guauhtlehuanitzin made a translation into the Mexican, or "Nahuatl" language, which C. M. Bustamante published at Mexico, in 1826.—I know of no English translation of the work.—It actually consists of two parts, the "Historia General," and the "Conquista de México."—The former contains a short, but fair, description of Yucatan, and the latter a report on Cortés' doings there and matters relating thereto.

Bartolomé de las Casas. Of the numerous (over forty) writings of the Bishop of Chiapas, I select only "Historia de las Indias," published "at last," Madrid, 1875 and 1876, by the Marquis de la Fuensanta del Valle and Don José Sancho Rayon, in 5 vols. The 5th Vol. contains the famous "Apologética Historia."—Another publication of the "Historia de las Indias," though not as complete, has appeared in Mexico in 2 vols., as the first series of Sr. J. M. Vigel's "Biblioteca Mexicana," 1877 and 1878.—It does not contain the "Apologética."—Fragments of the latter are found in Lord Kingsborough's "Antiquities of Mexico," Vol. VIII.