The Discovery and Conquest of Peru

First published in 1555, this chronicle by a royal auditor who served in Peru recounts the Spanish arrival in the Inca empire from Francisco Pizarro's expeditions through the capture of Atahualpa, the taking of Cuzco, and the civil wars among the conquerors. Zarate describes Inca customs, then the feud of Pizarro and Almagro, the coming of Viceroy Blasco Nunez Vela, and Gonzalo Pizarro's revolt, which the author partly witnessed, down to Gonzalo's death in 1548. The work is an eyewitness political history of conquest and rebellion, not a full ethnography of the Andes.

Bound in yellow-brown artificial canvas with a design in silver by Bawden. Map endleaves. Pale grey slipcase.