8vo (200 x 146 mm). (Small corner tear to front free endpaper.) Title-page printed in red and black; copperplate engraving of Father Margil and the Native Americans, woodcut in the Dedication of Antonio de Padua, woodcut head- and tail-pieces. Contemporary limp vellum with ties, title in manuscript on spine, edges sprinkled red.

AN UNCENSORED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE "FIFTY TEXAS RARITIES." Father Margil, a Franciscan missionary in Mexico and Guatemala, spent three years (1716-1719) in Texas working with Native Americans and establishing missions in the northeast part of that territory for the first time. A French invasion in 1719 forced Margil and his colleagues to return to Mexico, where he died in 1726. Efforts to elevate him to sainthood continued into the nineteenth century. Father Espinosa accompanied Father Margil on the Texas journey and parts of the narrative were based on his first-hand observations.

This is the preferred variant with the title page printed in red and black. There are two settings of the title, the priority of which has not been determined. The present copy has the title as described and reproduced by Wagner, "Con Licencia" in the first line of the imprint but with "Sto" for "Santo" on line 10. Pages 426-427 are not censored, unlike most copies which were defaced by the Inquisition because of references to the apocalyptic cherub Uriel. Fifty Texas Rarities 5; Graff 1260; Harper, Americana Iberica 338 ("One of the most important books ever issued for the study of Southwestern history"); Howes E-184 ("c"); Jenkins, Basic Texas Books 59A; Medina, Mexico 3461; Palau 82703; Raines, p.78; Sabin 22898 (1742 edition); Wagner, Spanish Southwest 102.