Literary Program, Which Dr. Ivan de Soto Rector of the Royal College of Lima Ordered to be Published in [Preparation for the] Coming of His Excellency Sir Francisco de Borja

Ivsta literaria qve mando pvblicar el doctor Ivan de Soto rector dela real Vniversidad de Lima enla venida del Excelentissimo Señor Don Francisco de Boria(Literary Program, which Dr. Ivan de Soto rector of the Royal College of Lima ordered to be published in [preparation for the] coming of his excellency Sir Francisco de Borja) was published in Lima, Peru, in 1615. This one-page document is a program prepared in anticipation of the arrival in Lima of Francisco de Borja y Aragón, prince of Esquilache, the Spanish nobleman and official who became viceroy of Peru in 1615. The first printing press in South America was established in Lima by Antonio Ricardo (circa 1540−1606), an Italian who had worked for a time as a printer with the Jesuits in Mexico City. This book is part of a collection of 39 first editions in the National Library of Peru, produced at the press between 1584 and 1619. The collection was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2013. In Latin, Spanish, and several Amerindian languages, these books are an important part of the record of the encounter between two worlds: the Amerindian civilization of the Incas and the European culture represented by the Spanish conquistadors. They are important sources for the study of the dissemination of ideas in the Spanish Empire, including the evangelization process and the diffusion of Catholicism on the one hand and the debate over the indigenous peoples and their condition as human beings on the other. Several of the books provide insights into the political, cultural, and social organization of the vanquished Inca civilization, as well as a record of the Quechua and Aymara languages spoken by the Incas.