Instruments of Empire: First Books of the Americas 

The first printing presses arrived in Mexico (1536) and Lima (1586) to aid Spanish missionaries in the Christianization of Native populations.  Multilingual catechisms, instructional religious tracts, grammars, and vocabularies of Amerindian languages were the main products of early colonial presses, especially during the first two centuries of Spanish rule.

As aids to religious conversion, these texts were instruments of European colonization. They are also invaluable sources for research today, providing unique insights into early cultural exchanges and Indigenous languages. In addition to providing a snapshot of Indigenous languages, some of which are no longer spoken, these works document how American flora, fauna, objects of daily use, and abstract concepts about deities, good and evil, were adapted and transformed in cross-cultural exchanges.

They also help us understand which Indigenous practices were of concern to religious authorities and, in turn, what European ideas, practices, and objects were deemed important to impart in the processes of colonization. Given the foundational focus at Tulane on the study of Amerindian societies, the library has extensive holdings of these early American texts.

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• Title: Rhetorica christiana
• Caption:
  Diego de Valadés (1533–1582) 
  Perugia: Pietro Giacomo Petrutio, 1579
  A history of early Franciscan missions in the New World and a treatise on methods of preaching that draws on Valadés’ own experience as a missionary in New Spain. The book includes extensive discussion and numerous illustrations, signed by the author, of Indigenous religious practices and didactic methods of conversion. Displayed is one of Valadés' most well-known images: A Franciscan missionary (perhaps Valadés himself) preaches from a Renaissance-inspired pulpit while Native students, elegantly dressed in Roman togas, listen attentively.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1579

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• Title: Gramatica en la lengua general del Nuevo Reyno, llamada Mosca
• Caption:
  Bernardo de Lugo
  Madrid: Bernardino de Guzmán, 1619
  A rare first edition of a Chibcha grammar with a priest's manual for conducting confessions with Natives. Chibcha is an almost extinct language spoken in the Colombian central highlands by the Muisca. It was the language spoken in Bogotá and environs when Europeans arrived in 1537. Displayed is a sonnet in Spanish on the Chibcha language, with a translation in Chibcha on the following page, a sign of the culturally hybrid nature of these works.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1619

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• Title: Gramatica en la lengua general del Nuevo Reyno, llamada Mosca
• Caption:
  Bernardo de Lugo
  Madrid: Bernardino de Guzmán, 1619
  A rare edition of a Chibcha grammar with a priest's manual for conducting confessions with natives. Chibcha is an almost extinct language spoken in the Colombian central highlands by the Muisca. It was the language spoken in Bogotá and environs when Europeans arrived in 1537. Displayed is a sonnet in Spanish on the Chibcha language, with a translation in Chibcha on the following page, a sign of the culturally hybrid nature of these works.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1619

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• Title: Vocabulario en lengua de Mechuacan
• Caption:
  Maturino Gilberti (1498–1585)
  Mexico: Juan Pablos Bressano, 1559
  This Mexican incunable was published by Juan Pablos, the first printer established in the New World. Maturino Gilberti, a Franciscan missionary, devoted his life to converting Native populations in the region of Michoacán.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1559

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• Title: Arte de la lengua mexicana
• Caption:
  Andrés de Olmos (c. 1485–1571)
  Manuscript
  The first known Nahuatl grammar, finished only 26 years after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlán. One of four known manuscript copies, it was written in Mexico in 1547, but remained unpublished until 1875, when French lexicographer Rémi Siméon printed a version in Paris. The passage illustrates how early grammarians tried to reconcile American languages within the linguistic matrix of Latin. Olmos points to his struggle to describe Nahuatl according to the grammatical structure of Latin developed by Spanish linguist Antonio de Nebrija. He exhorts the reader not to consider him “reprehensible if I don’t follow Antonio’s order to the letter.”  
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1547

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• Title: Tercero cathecismo y exposicion de la doctrina christiana, por sermones
• Caption:
  José de Acosta 
  Juan de Atienza (attributed authors)
  Ciudad de los Reyes [Lima]: Antonio Ricardo, 1585
  Tercero cathecismo is the third book printed in Lima. The printer, Antonio Ricardo, was the first in the city, as he proudly notes on the title page: "Antonio Ricardo, primer impressor en estos Reynos del Piru." This work was addressed mainly to priests and missionaries working among the Indigenous population whose command of Quechua or Aymara was not sufficient to indoctrinate in Christian ethics and practices.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1585

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• Title: Confesionario mayor en la lengua mexicana y castellana
• Caption:
  Alonso Molina (1510–1579)
  Mexico: Antonio de Espinosa, 1565
  An early manual for Catholic priests to conduct the sacrament of confession with native Nahuatl speakers by the first Spanish lexicographer of the Americas. Antonio de Molina was brought to New Spain as a child by his parents. Learning Nahuatl at a very early age, his linguistic skills were instrumental in the early decades of the Spanish arrival to America.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1565