The initial work of Sepulveda, Democrates Secundus, defending the rights of the Crown over the natives, was not published, though he printed his Apologia pro libro de justis belli causis, Rome, 1550 (two copies of which are known), of which there was a later edition in 1602; and some of his views may be found in it. Cf. Ticknor, Spanish Literature, ii. 37; Harrisse, Notes on Columbus, p. 24, and Bib. Amer. Vet., no. 303; and the general histories of Bancroft, Helps, and Prescott. The Carter-Brown Catalogue, no. 173, shows a MS. copy of Sepulveda’s book. It is also in Sepulveda’s Opera, Cologne, 1602, p. 423; Carter-Brown, vol. ii. no. 15.—Ed.]
[1031] [Sabin dates it in 1543. Cf. Field, nos. 866, 870, note; Sabin, no. 4; Carter-Brown, i. 170.—Ed.]
[1032] [Sabin says it was written in Spain in 1548 Cf. Field, nos. 867, 870, note; Sabin, no. 7; Carter-Brown, i. 171.—Ed.]
[1033] [Field, nos. 868, 870, note; Sabin, no. 9; Carter-Brown, i. 169.—Ed.]
[1034] [This is the longest and one of the rarest of the series. Sabin says it was written about 1543. There were two editions of the same date, having respectively 80 and 84 leaves; but it is uncertain which is the earlier, though Field supposes the fewer pages to indicate the first. Field, nos. 869, 870, note; Sabin, no. 5; Carter Brown, i. 172.—Ed.]
[1035] [It is only of late years that the entire series has been described. De Bure gives only five of the tracts; Dibdin enumerates but seven; and Llorente in his edition omits three, as was done in the edition of 1646. Rich in 1832 priced a set at £12 12s. A full set is now worth from $100 to $150; but Leclerc (nos. 327, 2,556) has recently priced a set of seven at 700 francs, and a full set at 1,000 francs. An English dealer has lately held one at £42. Quaritch has held four parts at £10, and a complete set at £40. Single tracts are usually priced at from £1 to £5. Recent sales have been shown in the Sunderland (no. 2,459, 9 parts); Field (no. 1,267); Cooke (vol. iii. no. 369, 7 parts); Stevens, Hist. Coll. (no. 311, 8 parts); Pinart (no. 536); and Murphy (no. 487) catalogues. The set in the Carter-Brown Library belonged to Ternaux; that belonging to Mr. Brevoort came from the Maximillian Library. The Lenox Library and Mr. Barlow’s Collection have sets. There are also sets in the Grenville and Huth collections.
The 1646 reprint, above referred to, has sometimes a collective title, Las Obras, etc., but most copies, like the Harvard College copy, lack it. As the titles of the separate tracts (printed in this edition in Roman) retained the original 1552 dates, this reprint is often called a spurious edition. It is usually priced at from $15 to $30. Cf. Sabin, no. 13; Field, p. 216; Quaritch, no. 11,856; Carter-Brown, i. 173; ii. 584; Stevens, Hist. Coll., i. 312; Cooke, iii. 370.
Some of the Tracts are included in the Obras escogidas de filósofos, etc. Madrid, 1873.—Ed.]
[1036] [Field, no. 870, and note; Sabin, no. 11; the Carter-Brown Collection lacks it. It was reprinted at Tübingen, and again at Jena, in 1678. It has never been reprinted in Spain, says Stevens (Bibl. Hist., no. 1,096).—Ed.]
[1037] [“Not absolutely proved to be his,” says Ticknor (Spanish Literature, ii. 37).—Ed.]