Lucas Fernández Piedrahita. Historia general de las conquistas del nuevo reyno de Granada. Amberes (Antwerp): Iuan Baptista Verdussen, 1688.
Fernández de Piedrahita was a writer and priest who became bishop of Panama. During his youth he wrote poetry and dramatic works, but the Historia general is considered his most important book.
The Viceroyalty of New Granada was provisionally instituted at the beginning of the 18th century and permanently constituted in 1740. Fernández de Piedrahita understood the importance of this vast region. His work, just like Alonso de Ovalle's, represented a new historiographical form interested in a harmonious narrative rather than merely the accumulation of facts. The author viewed history as magistra vitae, and included numerous sententious phrases.
The Durand Collection has two first editions, which are displayed here. They each have a different title page, one of which was probably printed and added in the nineteenth century when the book was rebound. This 19th century title page claims the book was printed at Madrid, in 1688. It bears the signature of the Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs (1837-1895), dated June 13, 1870.
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