Browse Items · Cabeza de Vaca

Cabeza de Vaca depicted as a healer on a mural in the town hall at Ojinaga, in Chihuahua, Mexico. It commemorates his stay at the junction of the rivers in the summer of 1535. From Conquistadors by Michael Wood. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Cabeza de Vaca in the Desert by Frederic Remington, 1905. First appeared in Collier's Weekly (October 14, 1905). Courtesy Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, NY

Cabeza de Vaca Performing the First Recorded Surgical Operation on the North American Continent by Tom Lea. Courtesy of the Moody Medical Library, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Cabeza de Vaca and a handful of other survivors wash ashore on what would later be known as Galveston Island. By Barbara Whitehead. Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas State University-San Marcos.

Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo, Esteban, and Dorantes meet the Spanish slave hunters. By Barbara Whitehead. Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas State University-San Marcos.

Photograph of Cabeza de Vaca's monumnet in Jerez de la Frontera by José Luis Jiménez.

Courtesy of José Luis Jiménez.

1625 Edition

In 1625 Englishman Samuel Purchas published an anthology of exploration literature titled Purchas: His Pilgrimage. Included in the pages was the first-ever English translation of Cabeza de Vaca's account:

"A Relation of Alvaro Nunez Called Capo di…

1555 Edition: Photos of Our Copy

The 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca's La relación y comentarios measures 5-3/8 inches across and 7-3/8 inches tall. The book contains 144 numbered leaves and was rebound with a leather cover sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s.

1542 Title Page Image

The 1542 edition title page is reproduced in The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. Translated by Fanny Bandelier and edited with an introduction by Ad. F. Bandelier. Allerton Book Co, NY. MCMXXII (copyright 1904 by Williams-Barker Co.)

La Relación - page 15

Lord deeply for having come to our aid when we were in such great need, for besides being very tired we were weakened by hunger. On the third day after our arrival, the Purser, the Inspector, the Commissary and I joined in asking the Governor to send…

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