Noticias Secretas de America
By ULLOA, Antonio de and JUAN Y SANTACILLA, Jorge.
4to. (205x305 mm) two parts in one vol. 2 engraved portraits. Bound in full contemporary brown calf, spine richly gilt, marbled end papers. In 1826 a work was published in London with the sensational title of secret news of America that reproduced a manuscript of 1749 in which Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, two sailors who had participated in the scientific expedition to measure the degree of the terrestrial meridian, denounced a series of vices of the colonial administration. What was no more than a diagnosis of specific problems, in a certain time and place, was used to spread a wrong view of the causes of the ruin of the empire, which were not the "cruel oppression and extortion of corregidores and priests ", But others of greater complexity. Taking into account the intentions with which they were written, the Secret News appears to us today as an internal document of criticism of the evils of colonialism of a sincerity and lucidity that we would not find in any other imperial tradition. Far from considering them as a contribution to the "black legend", they should be seen as a sample of the best enlightened reformism of their time. Sabin 36807; Palau 125486
Published by: R. Taylor, 1826
Vendor: Chaco 4ever Books
By ULLOA, Antonio de and JUAN Y SANTACILLA, Jorge.
4to. (205x305 mm) two parts in one vol. 2 engraved portraits. Bound in full contemporary brown calf, spine richly gilt, marbled end papers. In 1826 a work was published in London with the sensational title of secret news of America that reproduced a manuscript of 1749 in which Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, two sailors who had participated in the scientific expedition to measure the degree of the terrestrial meridian, denounced a series of vices of the colonial administration. What was no more than a diagnosis of specific problems, in a certain time and place, was used to spread a wrong view of the causes of the ruin of the empire, which were not the "cruel oppression and extortion of corregidores and priests ", But others of greater complexity. Taking into account the intentions with which they were written, the Secret News appears to us today as an internal document of criticism of the evils of colonialism of a sincerity and lucidity that we would not find in any other imperial tradition. Far from considering them as a contribution to the "black legend", they should be seen as a sample of the best enlightened reformism of their time. Sabin 36807; Palau 125486
Published by: R. Taylor, 1826
Vendor: Chaco 4ever Books
