Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, discovered near Palenque, in the Kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America: translated from the Original Manuscript Report..

London: Henry Berthoud, 1822. First. hardcover. good. followed by Teatro Critico Americano; or, a Critical Investigation and Research in into the History of the Americans. By Paul Felix Cabrera. 19 lithograph plates, one folding. xiii, 128pp. 4to, later 19th century 1/2 black morocco, morocco worn near spine ends and on front cover edges of boards lightly worn, very light foxing to some page margins, including margins of most plates, ex-lib. London, Henry Berthoud, 1822. First Edition<br/><br/> "Captain Del Rio examined the now famous ruins of Palenque in 1787, but his manuscript report remained in the provincial archives of Guatemala until a short time prior to their translation and publication in the present form. The translator gave so literal a version that he did not change the references in the body of the work which referred to drawings that had been irrecoverably lost. Captain Del Rio's Report occupies pp. 1 to 21, and in the remainder of the work Dr. Cabrera attempts to establish the theory that the figures upon the monuments of Palenque prove a connection between the Egyptians and the Aboriginal race which constructed them...From the occurrence of an eclipse recorded 291 years before Christ, corresponding with the same date in the Mexican calendar, he constructs a table of the Mexican years." Field 231. "The first published work on Mayan archaeology." Sabin 71446. The plates are by Jean Frederick Maximilien de Waldeck after Ricardo Almendariz. Ex libris from the Minnesota Historical Society with their rubberstamps on the bottom of the title page, including their withdrawal stamp.<br/><br/>