 The work began in 1772 and was printed in the workshop of Joaquín Ibarra, although as a precaution, the author published the first two under an assumed name.According to his nephew Joseph Ponz this was, at the request of the Eugenio de Llaguno Duke of Almodóvar and Francisco Pérez Bayer among others.An eighteenth volume was printed posthumously in 1794 which referred to Cadiz, Málaga and other towns in Andalucia.