FRESH FROM THE FRONT:
SPANISH NEWS REPORT ON THE AUSTRO-TURKISH WAR IN 1687 COVERING STRONGHOLDS IN HUNGARY, CROATIA & SERBIA
ONE U.S. COPY

[AUSTRO-TURKISH WAR / NEWS REPORT].

ARMENDARIZ, Sebastian de.

Descripcion de las Plazas que possee el Turco, assi en la Ungria, como en la Esclavonia, en el principio desto año de 1687.

[Madrid, En la Imprenta de Antonio Roman, 1687.]

4to in 8’s, 16 pp., title in ornamental woodcut border. Stitched pamphlet, title foxed, with browning heavy at times on some leaves.

Rare first and sole edition (one U.S. copy: University of Pennsylvania) of this Spanish language news report on the Great Turkish Wars, of interest for showing the increasingly rapid communication networks of 17^th century Europe. As a Hapsburg possession, the combat theatre east of Vienna was a subject of interest at the court of Charles II, cousin to the Hapsburg Emperor Leopold I, though Spanish language reports on such distant politico-military events are generally extremely rare. Either they had limited circulation at court (Armendariz was the court printer) or they enjoyed a low rate of survival owing to the ephemeral nature of the contents.

The pamphlet, as the title states, is concerned with the last remaining strongholds of the Turkish Empire in Europe: it reports on cities and fortresses around Southeast Europe, including 13 from ‘Lower Hungary’ and 25 from ‘Upper Hungary’ laboring under Ottoman rule. The cities include Zagreb, and Belgrade, and recent history is detailed (such locales had changed hands frequently over the preceding century), as well as more general observations on their location and fortifications. Polish, Spanish, and Ottoman commanders involved in recent and historic skirmishes are referred to by name. Armendariz’s newsletter is not a translation, describing for example distances as “doze leguas nuestras de Buda”, but was certainly gleaned from other travel accounts. His report includes historical background as well as detailing the most recent swathe of Ottoman losses in 1686.

Sebastian de Armendariz was a bookseller, editor, and journalist responsible for printing and editing the earliest Spanish newspaper (Noticias Generales de las Cosas del Norte) .He published numerous newsletters, all of which survive in just a handful of copies. OCLC lists a single US copy if the present title, at Penn. The present work is not contained in the collection of Armendariz’s newsletters, Relacion historica del año 1686, published the same year (with thanks to Joel Silver of the Lilly Library for checking their copy of same).

* OCLC 80896710; not in Palau. Also BNE and Universidad de Sevilla.

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