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Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo Fernández de
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1526 |
Dela natural hystoria delas Indias.
Toledo, Remón de Petras: leaves i-lii + 3. Feb. 15, 1526.
–Allen 3. Many later eds. & transls.; e.g., Univ. North Carolina Studs. Romance Langs. Lits. No. 32: xvii + 140, 1959 (Engl.). No. 85 in the same series (1969) is a facsimile of the 1526 ed. Often known as the "Sumario", this work is a sort of summary of the first part (the first 19 books) of the Historia General (Oviedo, 1535). This "brief description of America, which he wrote on a visit home in 1526, proved so good that he was made official chronicler of 'The Indies,' and in 1535 appeared the first volume of his Historia General y Natural de las Indias. Oviedo had uncommon powers of observation, and his descriptions of West Indian fauna and flora are illustrated by his own sketches" (Morison, 1942). He spent 34 years in different parts of the Caribbean, and his descriptions are evidently based on personal observation, unlike that of P. Martyr (1516); see Whitehead (1977: 168). However, the account of the manatee given here (leaf xlviii; 30 lines) is brief in comparison with that in Oviedo (1535). Durand (1983: 31) quotes the manatee passages from cap. lxxxiii of this ed.
For more on this and other eds. of Oviedo's works, see Daymond Turner, "Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés: an annotated bibliography", Univ. North Carolina Studs. Romance Langs. Lits. No. 66: xvii + 61, 1967.
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Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo Fernández de
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1535 |
La historia general delas Indias.
Seville, Juan Cromberger: leaves i-cxciii. Illus. Sept. 30, 1535.
–Allen 5. Many later eds., e.g., Madrid, Impr. Real Acad. de la Historia, 1851[-55] (manatee, Part I, Lib. XIII, Cap. IX, 433-436; no illustration; manatee material reprinted in Durand, 1983: 59-62, 85-88); also Asuncion (Paraguay), Editorial Guarania, 1944. Titles vary. See also Ramusio (1565); Purchas his pilgrimes, 1625, 3: 970-1000 (Allen 61; manatee, 987-989). See under Oviedo (1526) for a bibliography of Oviedo's works.
Manatee, leaves cvi-cviii, 1 fig.: "Capitulo x. Del Manati y de su grandeza & forma: & de la manera que algunas vezes los indios tomauan este grãde animal conel pexe reuerso: & otras particularidades." According to Allen, "The account occupies 5 pp., and is important as the source whence many later compilers drew their materials for the history of the Manatee, and is still historically of the highest interest. There is a small, very rude cut, bearing some likeness to the general form of the Manatee - the earliest figure of the animal published. In the edition of 1547 the text (ff. cvj-cvijj) is the same as the present, but the figure is slightly different, showing an attempt at artistic improvement." This altered version has been reproduced several times in the mistaken belief that it was the earliest figure published. To my knowledge, the original 1535 illustration has been republished only twice: in Durand (1983: 159), and as the frontispiece of the printed ed. of this bibliography (1996).
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Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 