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ANGLERIUS, Petrus Martyr (1455/59-1526). De orbe novo decades . Alcalá de Henares: Miguel de Eguía, December 1530. Chancery 2° (278 x 196mm). Collation: A-P 8 (A1r title, A1v verses by Anglerius, A2r preface by Aelio Antonio de Lebrija (Nebrissensis, 1442-1522), A2v dedication by Anglerius to Charles V dated 1516, A3r Decades , P6r Vocabula Barbara , P8r colophon, P8v blank). 120 leaves. Roman type, marginalia in gothic, verses and prefaces in italic. Woodcut borders to title and verses on A1v, woodcut initials. (D6 repaired at outer margin, repair to P8, light stain on I4.) Gold-tooled olive morocco over pasteboard, panelled sides with roll-tooled border, spine in compartments with gilt lettering, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, olive ribbon marker, by C. Smith RARE FIRST EDITION of the complete Decades , considered by Harrisse to be superior to Hakluyt's Paris edition of 1587. Peter Martyr, an Italian courtier attached to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, was a contemporary of the great navigators about whose explorations he wrote in the Decades : Columbus, Cortes, Cabot, Vespucci, and others. The first three Decades were printed at Alcalá in 1516 for Antonio Lebrija (Nebrissensis) by Arnald Guillén de Brocar. This complete edition of all eight Decades, adding the 4th on the New World and the 5th-8th on the conquest of Mexico, was published posthumously, printed by Guillén de Brocar's son-in-law, Miguel de Eguía. The preface by Lebrija and the dedication to Charles V, under whom Anglerius was appointed to the Council of the Indies, are reprinted from the 1516 edition. Individual Decades are dedicated as follows: Ascanio Sforza (I), Luigi d'Aragona (I:3), Pope Leo X (II-IV), Pope Adrian VI (V), Giovanni Ruffo di Forli, archbishop of Cosenza (VI), Francesco Maria Sforza (VII), Pope Clement VII (VIII). The border to the title-page, showing the labours of Hercules, was first used by Eguía one year earlier in his edition of Caesar's Commentarios . Harrisse cites two copies which contained a map printed at Antwerp by Pieter de Wale, but it does not belong to this edition. It is not in the present copy, nor is it in copies at the British Library, Cambridge University Library, or Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Adams M-752; Graesse I, 130; Harrisse I, 154; Sabin 1551, 45010; Palau 12592; Brunet I, 293; Martin Abad, Imprenta en Alcalá de Henares , 238; J.P.R. Lyell, Early Book Illustration in Spain (London 1926), pp.270-71