By Right of Conquest; or, With Cortez in Mexico was published by Blackie and Son in 1891. Roger Dowell, a young English merchant, is shipwrecked on the coast of Mexico in 1518, the year before Hernán Cortés arrives with his expedition. Roger lives among the Aztecs, learns their language and customs, and is present in Tenochtitlan when Cortés arrives. The novel dramatizes the conquest from an unusual double perspective: Roger understands both the Spanish ambition and the Aztec civilization being destroyed.
Henty’s treatment of the Aztecs was more sympathetic than most Victorian accounts, though it inevitably reflected contemporary assumptions about “civilization” and “savagery.” His account of the military campaigns — the Noche Triste, the siege of Tenochtitlan — was detailed and drew on contemporary Spanish sources.
Collecting By Right of Conquest
First edition (Blackie and Son, London, 1891): Pictorial cloth.
Market values:
- Fine condition: $200–$400
- Very good: $75–$200
- Good: $25–$75
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Aztec Empire
Set during Cortés’s conquest of Mexico in 1519–1521, the novel follows a young Englishman who is shipwrecked on the Mexican coast and taken in by the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spanish. Henty’s depiction of Aztec civilization — its architecture, religion, and social organization — is drawn from William Hickling Prescott’s classic History of the Conquest of Mexico and is reasonably accurate for a Victorian children’s book. The moral complexities of the conquest (European diseases, Aztec human sacrifice, Spanish greed) are acknowledged, if not fully explored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Henty travel to all the places he wrote about? Many of them. As a war correspondent, Henty covered conflicts in the Crimea, Italy, Abyssinia, Ashanti, France, Spain, and elsewhere, giving him first-hand knowledge of diverse landscapes and military operations. For periods and places beyond his experience, he relied on historical research.