?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(BOLIVIA.) Constant Cordier. The Republic of Bolivia 1908: Its History and Government, Topography and Natural Resources. 15 maps, 164 other photographs and printed illustrations laid down. xxiii, 600 typed leaves. Folio, 13 x 7 3/4 inches, contemporary 1/2 morocco, moderate wear; hinges split, minimal wear to contents; military library and withdrawal stamps on front flyleaf and title page. Lima, 1909
This American military intelligence report was based on ten months of study in La Paz and a journey across the nation's central plain. The compiler was Lieutenant Constant Cordier (1878-1940) of the 4th United States Infantry, a Louisiana native who later reached the rank of colonel. His preface asserts his confidence that "it combines the most accurate and up-to-date information extant, under any one cover, on Bolivia." The illustrations are generally excised or reproduced from other publications, but some photographs appear to be original. The report covers geography, natural history, economy, and of course the Bolivian military (pages 483-527). His assessment of the Bolivian troops: "They appeared to march not only well, but better than the Peruvians. . . . He will march for days with a load upon his back, which any white man would grumble at, without the slightest murmur. With his coca, and very little more in the way of nourishment, he will outwalk any white foreign soldier" (pages 521-522). The report has a detailed bibliography and table of contents, and is well-indexed.
Lieutenant Cordier compiled this report while serving as an American military attaché in Lima for the Office of the Chief of Staff's Second Section, which supervised military intelligence operations. It was filed in the library of the Second Section with a "Confidential" stamp, but the Second Section soon abandoned its intelligence duties, which probably explains the "withdrawn from library" stamp on the title page. The rear flyleaf bears a pencil notation, "Bought City 1/18/47"; City Book Auction of New York held an auction that day. The report appears to be unpublished. No other examples are known; his similar report on Brazil in 4 volumes is held by the New York Public Library.
