The History of the Conquest of Mexico

First published in 1843, this history recounts Hernan Cortes's expedition from Cuba to the Mexican highlands, the meeting with Motecuhzoma, the occupation of Tenochtitlan, the Noche Triste, and the final siege that destroyed the Mexica capital. Prescott uses Spanish chronicles and available native testimony to describe armies, diplomacy, religion, and the lake city itself. Tlaxcalan allies, interpreters, and rival Spanish factions shape the campaign as much as Cortes's will. The book is a narrative of the conquest, not an ethnography of later colonial Mexico and not a life of Motecuhzoma alone.

Bound in green buckram, blocked with a black and gold design by David Eccles. Black slipcase.