[Pichardo, Jose Antonio]; Hackett, Charles Wilson

Pichardo's Treatise on the Limits of Louisiana and Texas [Complete Four-Volume Set]

Austin: University of Texas, 1931-1946.

First Edition. Hardcover. Very good- in a good dust jacket. Title continues: An Argumentative Historical Treatise with Reference to the Verification of the True Limits of the Provinces of Louisiana and Texas written by Father Jose Antonio Pichardo, of the Congregation of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri, to Disprove the Claim of the United States that Texas was included in the Louisiana purchase of 1803; Published for the First Time from a Transcript of the Original Manuscript in the Mexican Archives; Translated into English by Charles Wilson Hackett, Charmion Clair Shelby, and Mary Ruth Splawn; and Edited and Annotated by Charles Wilson Hackett. Four volumes in original blue cloth, original dust jackets present on Volumes II-IV, prospectus for the full set laid in. Volume I: 630 pp, with four maps (three folding). Some scuffing to cloth, owner's name on front endpaper, significant soiling to fore edge of text block; text clean, binding sound. Volume II: 618 pp, with map in rear pocket. Previous owner's name on front endpaper, minor external wear; dust jacket toned at spine, chipped at corners and spine ends, and has some damage and losses to the spine, with internal archival tape repair. Volume III: 623 pp. Previous owner's name on front endpaper, minor spotting to fore edge; dust jacket toned at spine and lower front panel. Volume IV: 514 pp. Insect damage to front free endpaper, else fine. Dust jacket toned, with old splash stains. "When President Jefferson persisted in claiming that the territory included in the Louisiana Purchase extended to the Rio Grande, the Spanish government ordered that historical data be gathered to prove Spain's ownership of Texas. The result was that in 1808 Father Pichardo was named head of a commission to ascertain the historic boundary of Louisiana and Texas. Four years later, Pichardo delivered to the Viceroy in Mexico City a treatise of 3000 folio pages totalling a million words. When Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was later given the treatuse to study, he was forced to agree in the Treaty of 1819 that Texas indeed belonged to Spain. Few works of history have had a more direct effect on international diplomacy or law or on the subsequent history of the area involved" (Jenkins, Basic Texas Books, 160). In his introduction to Volume I, Hackett writes that Pichardo's "utilization of documentary source materials has been enormous; in fact, it is doubtful if any important event connected with the Louisiana-Texas area in the period before 1811 was studied by the author without reference to the basic primary sources relating to it." Clark (I, 23) comments that Hackett himself has done a similarly monumental job: "His editorial notes cover completely up to 1941 the existing monographic studfies in the field and contain voluminous references to archival source materials."

Item #22662

Price: $1,100.00