"JUSTLY ESTEEMED… CITED AS A MODEL FOR HISTORICAL WORKS" (PALAU)

ZURITA, Jerónimo. Anales de la Corona de Aragon. Zaragoza: Diego Dormer; Herederos de Pedro Lanaja, y Lamarca, 1669-71. Seven volumes. Small thick folio (signatures in sixes), contemporary full limp vellum, manuscript titles in ink on spines, vellum ties. $6000.

Very scarce third edition of this monumental and scrupulous history of the country of Aragón, from the time of the Moorish invasion of Spain in the early 8th century, through the death of Ferdinand the Catholic in 1516. A most desirable set of this important work in seven folio volumes bound in contemporary vellum.

In 1548 Jerónimo Zurita was appointed Aragón's first chronicler. Zurita took a more scientific and investigative approach to historical narrative than his predecessors elsewhere in the peninsula: he pursued sources in different archives, including abroad to the Netherlands, Italy and France, and eliminated from his accounts the more fantastic elements present in earlier chronicles. His history covers Aragón's resistance to the Muslim invaders, its rivalry with neighbors Navarra, León and Castilla, the significant role it played in the centuries of reconquest, and the unification of the kingdom with the Kingdom of Castilla, brought about by the 1469 marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella I of Castilla—the birth of the country we now know as Spain. "Justly esteemed… cited as a model for historical works" (Palau). First published 1562-80; a second edition appeared in 1610. The index was first published in 1604. Text in Spanish. Woodcut initials and a larger woodcut on each title page.

Text blocks of several volumes expertly reinforced; text clean and fresh. Remnants of original vellum ties and cords at spines; original vellum in excellent condition. Very scarce.