Ancien Mexico / Nouveau Mexico. Two handcolored, engraved prints from Antoine-Francois Prevost's "Histoire Generale des Voyages, Tome XII

Paris: Chez Didot, 1754. Unbound. Very good. Size of images: 19 cm high (platemark) x 28 cm wide (platemark). 25 cm high x 35 cm wide. Professionally matted and framed. Two original handcolored copperplate engravings of Mexico City. The first engraving is a bird's-eye view of Mexico City (Tenochtitlan) on Lake Texcoco, depicting the City as it was when the Spanish conquered it. The engraving shows the various islands and causeways or bridges which linked parts of the city. Also includes men on horseback, domestic animals, boats, churches, dwellings, wicker dams, and the main square. ¶ The second is a bird's-eye view of Mexico City as it appeared after (truncated) the Spanish destroyed and rebuilt it. Much of Lake Texcoco has been filled in, and there are many more buildings (it has been said that within a few months 100,000 houses had been built). The engraving depicts boats, palm trees, native Americans carrying burdens, and the dam. The probable source of the two images is Montanus's "De nieuwe en onbekende weereld" (Amsterdam, 1671). ¶ An item of considerable historic interest and visual appeal. (Inventory #: 516)