Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/123

Rh that a certified copy by a notary public of the letter of the magistrates of Vera Cruz was discovered and, at the same time, the Fifth Letter of the Relaciones was also unearthed.

The letter of the magistrates of Vera Cruz supplies the place of the still missing First Letter of Cortes and serves to complete the series of five Relaciones. It was first published in the Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España of Navarrete, Salvá y Baranda, in 1844. Señor Alaman reproduced it in the first volume of his Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica Mexicana.

The Second Letter was dated from Segura de la Frontera, October 30, 1520. It contained the first account ever written of the wonders of Mexico and the adventures of the Spanish conquerors in the newly discovered countries, and awakened the liveliest interest in Spain, where it was first published by Juan Cronberger, a celebrated German printer in Seville, November 8, 1522. It was again printed the following year by another German, George Coci, in Saragossa.

The Third Letter was dated from Coyohuacan, May 15, 1522, and was likewise first printed in Seville by the same Juan Cronberger, March 30, 1523.

The Fourth Letter was dated from the city of Temixtitan (Mexico), October 15, 1524, and was first published in Toledo by Gaspar de Avila, and again in Saragossa, July 8, 1526.

All of these editions are folios in gothic lettering and are now extremely rare.

The Second, Third, and Fourth Letters, which were the only ones known until Dr. Robertson's fortunate discovery completed the series, have been translated into Latin, French, Italian, English, and German, at various times.

Of the Second and Third Letters a Latin translation made by Pietro Savorgnani of Forlì, secretary to the bishop of Vienne (Dauphiné), was dedicated to Pope Clement VII. and first published in Nuremberg in 1524. This translation was reproduced in the work entitled: De Insulis nuper inventis, which first appeared at Cologne in 1532 and was afterwards included in the Novus Orbis of Simon Grineo, of which one