Juan de Velasco's Historia del Reino de Quito (written 1789, printed Quito 1841): the exile's book that carried lost manuscripts into print, and the corrections its readers had to make

A Jesuit born in Riobamba, expelled to Italy in 1767, wrote there a history of his own country and dated it 1789. Quito's government press printed the ancient part in 1841, its editor admitting he had rewritten the language. Velasco opens by disclaiming warranty for the ancient chronology. Ecuador's first modern historian later corrected his conquest dates and still called the book uniquely valuable, because manuscripts it cites are lost.