Historia de las Islas Philipinas

Impreso en Sampaloc : Por Fr. Pedro Arguelles de la Concepcion, Religioso Francisco, 1803. First edition. Quarto, modern tree calf, boards decorated in gilt, spine gilt and with contrasting title-piece in gilt, name label stamped in gilt ‘Al. Malavois’ at foot of spine; pp. [2], [7], 687; printed on rice paper; historiated initial, tail-piece; some insignificant worm holes (not affecting text) to first three leaves, else internally fresh and clean. A very fine copy.

The Augustinian missionary Martínez de Zuñiga served in the Philippines from 1786 until his death in 1818. He compiled his Historia from the extensive archive of records kept by the fathers of the mission in ‘volumenes grandes, y tomos en folio mayores’ (author’s prologue). The work contains a general description of the islands and their indigenous inhabitants, as well as a chronological history from their discovery by Magellan in 1519 to the English assault on Manila in 1762. There are also sections that focus on religious, political and economic developments in the islands. Under the immediate jurisdiction of the Mexican colonial administrators, the Philippines were for the Spanish, in effect, an extension of their American colonies.

Pardo de Tavera, Biblioteca Filipina, 1631; Palau, 156322; Medina, Manila, 390