The Golden Man by Victor W. vonHagen

The Golden Man

The Quest for El Dorado

by Victor W. vonHagen

Saxon House, 1974, [First Edition], ISBN 0347000061, colour photographic plates, black and white photographs, photographic frontispiece, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing to edges and corners, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, creasing and discolouration (see photographs)

“El Dorado.  The Golden Man.  Those doughty adventurers who first began to probe the secrets of the New World were fascinated by whispers of treasure beyond belief somewhere in the mountains of Columbia.  There, said the native Indians, lived a people ‘rich in gold’ with a chief who once a year as part of a religious ritual covered himself with the precious metal’s dust.
So began an incredible saga of adventure – Spaniards, Germans, French, British, Dutch and Portuguese sprawled across an almost unknown continent in their search for a phantom.  The New World replaced the Old World’s mythology of unbounded riches in legendary places in the deserts and cities of the Mediterranean and Asia.  From a Golden Man, El Dorado grew into a city of gold and drew untold numbers to death.  It became the metaphor for the unattainable.”