Item #9244 Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America; Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of Two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste (Now Nearly Extinct), of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of That Country. Pedro Velasquez, John L. Stevens, trans.
Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America; Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of Two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste (Now Nearly Extinct), of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of That Country
Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America; Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of Two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste (Now Nearly Extinct), of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of That Country
"The most circumstantial fiction which the brain of an advertising agent ever conceived"

Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America; Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of Two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste (Now Nearly Extinct), of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of That Country

New York: E.F. Applegate, 1850. Very Good. Item #9244

New York: E.F. Applegate, 1850. First Edition. Octavo (21.5cm.); 35pp.; illus., title paged printed within decorative border. String binding disbound, with all sheets snugly nested and no tears at thread holes. Minor dust-soil and light wear from handling, else a Very Good, albeit imperfect copy, lacking original wrappers.

Bogus travelogue of high-stakes adventuring in Central America, featuring Pedro Velasquez of San Salvador and two unfortunate Americans who meet a violent end though not before procuring the two "remarkable Aztec children" mentioned in the title. The story was made up as part of an elaborate publicity campaign for an exhibition of those same children. As one bibliographer wrote as early as 1873: "It is the most circumstantial fiction which the brain of an advertising agent ever conceived" (Thomas Warren Field, An Essay Towards an Indian Bibliography 1598).

Price: $150.00

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