"Of the three extant illustrated manuscripts chronicling the history of the Inca empire and early Spanish rule in the Andes, two are by the Mercedarian friar Martin de Murua, who probably arrived in Peru in the 1570s. His Historia del origen, y genealogia real de los reyes ingas del Piru (1590) and Historia general del Piru (1616) drew on the author's experiences among the indigenous peoples and colonial officials of viceregal Peru as well as on accounts by other Spanish writers and the talents of several Andean illustrators. The Historia general - now known as the Getty Murua - comprises thirty-eight hand-colored images, most depicting Inca kings and queens, and nearly four hundred folios of beautifully calligraphed text. The essays gathered in this volume focus not only on the manuscript's physical components - quires and watermarks, scripts and pigments - but also on its relation to Inca textiles, European portraits, Murua's other manuscript, and the intellectual and social context that gave rise to but did not publish his Historia general. The Getty Murua provides a complex and original analysis of the creation and fate of this early modern historical and artistic treasure." --Book Jacket.