[CHAMPION (Pierre) and Joseph-Antoine-Toussaint DINOUART.] V - Lot 14

[CHAMPION (Pierre) and Joseph-Antoine-Toussaint DINOUART.] Vie du Vénérable Dom Jean de Palafox, évêque d'Angélopolis, & ensuite évêque d'Osme. À Cologne, & se trouve à Paris, chez Nyon, 1767. In-8, iv-lvi [miscalculated vli]-576 pp. in marbled brown calf, spine ribbed, cloisonné and fleuronné with brown title-piece, cold fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on the edges, red edges; binding a little rubbed with stained second board, marginal spotting (period binding). FIRST EDITION. Preacher, tutor, publicist and literary scholar, Joseph-Antoine-Toussaint Dinouart (1716-1786) relied heavily on a manuscript by Jesuit Pierre Champion (1632-1701), which he reworked and added to. ILLUSTRATION ENGRAVED ON COPPER outside the text by Louis Legrand: portrait-frontispiece after a painting, and 3 scenes after Hubert-François Bourguignon d'Anville dit GRAVELOT. ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGURES IN THE HISTORY OF COLONIAL MEXICO, JUAN DE PALAFOX Y MENDOZA (1600-1659) was the natural child of the Marquis of Ariza, and initially led a dazzling career: chaplain to Empress Maria of Austria, sister of Philip IV of Spain, he was appointed Bishop of Puebla de Los Angeles in New Spain (southeast of Mexico City) in 1639, with important civil oversight functions, including a spell as interim viceroy. He carried out a great deal of pastoral work (encouraging his clergy, for example, to learn native languages), architectural construction and Indian defence. However, his missionary zeal led him to destroy certain archeological objects referring to pre-Columbian beliefs, and above all, his generalized criticism of the situation prevailing in New Spain gave rise to violent conflicts with civil and religious authorities (Franciscans, Jesuits, the Inquisition...). He was recalled to Madrid in 1649, lived for a time at Court, and in 1653 was entrusted with the modest diocese of El Burgo d'Osma in Old Castile. AT THE TIME, NEW SPAIN, WHOSE CAPITAL WAS MEXICO CITY, ENCOMPASSED A LARGE PART OF CENTRAL AMERICA, AS WELL AS WHAT IS NOW THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES.