PORTUGAL \ PORTUGUESE

English Camões in Green Morocco

•  Fourth edition: Sonnets and canzones by the legendary Portuguese poet and playwright, translated into English by Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, Viscount Strangford, a notable Lusophile who served as a diplomat in Lisbon. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Binding:  Contemporary dark green straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped rules, rolls, and devices. Covers framed with a delicately curly gilt-rolled border; the center panels, within, accented by gilt-stamped corner fleurons. A bit of additional filigree in blind appears both within the rules of the gilt border and within the border on each center panel, to nice subtle effect. Gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC C355.   Binding as above, leather rubbed at edges and joints, spine a bit dimmed. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of John Allan Powell; front fly-leaf with inked inscription dated 1922. A few spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean. A pretty and very English production for this Portuguese poet.  A charming volume.  (23077)

A PortugueseAnti-Church Law Explained

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•  In the form of a letter from one friend to another, this publication seeks to explain “the end and the logic” of the law of 1 August 1774 prohibiting citizens who have attained the age of 60 from selling or mortgaging their real property to/with the Catholic Church.

No copy located via NUC Pre-1956 or WorldCat.  PROBASE locates only one copy in the more than 170 Portuguese libraries that participate; no copy found in the OPAC of the Portuguese National Library.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Slim short wormtrack in lower margin of last leaves; light soiling to edges. A nice copy indeed of a rarity.  (28603)

Bagster'sNine-Language NT

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•  First edition of Bagster's impressive New Testament, “the most inclusive since the London Polyglot” according to Darlow and Moule. This hefty volume offers the text in Greek, Latin,Portuguese, and English on facing pages, followed by French, Italian, Spanish and German likewise, and then by Syriac in a separate section printed from right to left. This was thefirst published portion of the Biblia Polyglotta, Bagster's great accomplishment, published from 1829 through 1831; the Hebrew text here is W. Greenfield's, the Greek is the Textus Receptus, the Latin is the Sixtine–Clementine, the English is the King James, the German (printed in blackletter) is Luther's, the French is Ostervald's, the Italian is Diodati's, the Spanish is Scio's, and the Syriac N.T. is from the Vienne, 1555 edition. Samuel Lee wrote the Prolegomena, which in this particular example are bound in after the (incorrectly placed) first eight pages of the French/Italian/Spanish/German section.

Bagster first attempted to publish a part of his massive feat in 1822, but virtually all of that edition (in four languages only) was destroyed in a warehouse fire.

•  Darlow & Moule 1456; Rumball-Petre 52.   Publisher's dark green ribbed cloth, covers framed in blind with large, elegant blind-stamped floriate devices in the corners; spine with gilt-stamped title and list of languages, this rebacked preserving the majority of the original spine and lettering, corners refurbished. Lower page edges (closed), title-page, and final page each with an old institutional rubber-stamp, title-page and one sectional title pressure-stamped, first preface page with inked numeral in lower margin, no other markings. Two leaves each with short tear from upper inner margin, not touching text; a scattering of very light spots in first and final sections, central portion with more consistent but still extremely faint spotting in lower margins; overall a strong, clean, attractive volume.  (30972)

Curbing Contraband

Brazil

•  Document summary, found below "REY": "Alvará com força de Ley, porque V. Magestade he servido ampliar os Paragrafos quinto, sexto, e setimo do Capitulo decimo setimo dos Estatutos da Junta do Commercio destes Reynos, e seus Dominios, para mais efficazmente se evitarem os contrabandos. . . . "

•  Quarter green cloth with marbled paper sides, and red leather cover label with gilt-stamped title and gilt ruling.

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With aJAUNTY Woodcut Bull at Top

•  Program for a bullfight in Porto at the new bull-ring; with a woodcut of a bull above the drop-title.

Rare.  No copies traced via the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal’s online catalogue, nor via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.

•  A little light spotting and soiling. Inked numeral on first page.

A Jewish Convert Testifies

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•  Francisco de Faria was born in Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1653, the son of John de Faria, a Jew, of Belgium, but Francisco had converted to Catholicism in 1675. At the time of the Popish Plot he was living in St. Giles and acting as the “interpreter and secretary of languages unto Gasper de Abreu de Freitas,” the “late ambassador in ordinary from the crown of Portugal.”

In English, here, he claims to have been approached about becoming involved with the Popish Plot and, naming names, he gives dates and places of meetings and conversations.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) F425; ESTC R16386.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32251)

A Fidalgo Gets HisCoat of Arms

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•  Patents of nobility and grants of coats of arms were important for legal and social reasons in Luso-Hispanic society of early modern Europe. Establishing one’s status as a fidalgo (hidalgo) carried with it certain legal exemptions and privileges, as well as social cachet.

In this manuscript we learn that Leç. Galvão is a native of Campo Maior, Portugal, and a resident in Arahal, Spain, and that he has petitioned for the granting to him of a coat of arms and recognition of his status as a fidalgo. He presents numerous witnesses from the town of Campo Maior in support of his claim, who all testify that his parents (João Gonçalves Galvão and Maria Mexia), paternal grandparents (Pedro Affonso Galvão and Leonor Gonçalves), and paternal great-grandparents (Francisco Vaz and Margaida Annes) were/are all legitimately married and that their first-born males were legitimate children and that the leçençeado is also a legitimate child of a legitimate marriage. The witnesses further state that all the individuals are all free of Moorish and/or Jewish blood.

The manuscript begins with a full-page accomplishment on vellum of the coat of arms that has been granted. It is finely painted in red, black, blue, and silver and illuminated. The “title-page” is indited in black ink within a highly decorative border of grotesques, urns, flowers, and architectural elements in sepia, the whole within an outer frame of black and red rules. Each page of the text is contained in a similar black and red frame and is accomplished in an exquisite hand that replicates printing from a common press! That is, rather than being a manuscript showing off one of the classic calligraphic “hands,” it is a manuscript attempting to appear to be (or at least evoke the aesthetic of) a fine printed book!

One line of text is written large in gilt on a field of dark red and with an initial in gilt with gilt filigree.

The Portugal Rey de Armas does grant the petitioner’s claim and issues detailed instructions as to the coat of arms and its colors. The signatures and certifications on the final two pages of the manuscript are written in fine, flourishing, official styles.

Provenance:  Early 20th-century English bookseller’s description glued to front free endpaper; bookseller price code of Sessler’s (Philadelphia firm 19th-century to 1984) in pencil on front pastedown; bookplate of Philadelphia collector Herman Blum (1885–1973).

•  Contemporary limp vellum, lacking the ties. Vellum repaired at top of spine and top and inner area of rear cover; old stain in green to one corner of front cover Some glue-staining to the bookseller’s description; old cello tape stains on front and rear pastedowns. Text and illuminated coat of arms, excellent.  (31080)

“We Shall LoseOur Whole Income of Mony from Abroad”

[Hare, Francis].

•  Generally attributed to Francis Hare, Bishop of Chichester, this anonymously published political analysis expresses concern not only that putting the Duke of Anjou on the Spanish throne would tilt the balance of power in Europe too far towards France, but also that such action would greatly damage the livelihoods of English textile workers, among others dependent on international commerce; also questioned areSwift’s views on the ramifications of trade with Portuguese America. This is the second, expanded edition.

•  ESTC T58140; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 711/126; Teerink-Scouten 1034. Blue-green paper wrappers, old style. Title-page with small numeric stamp, faint traces of other annotations. Small area of worming in inner margins, touching a very few letters. A few scattered spots, otherwise clean; edges untrimmed.

Dealing Judicially withContraband Smugglers

•  By this Alvará (13 September 1764) the king addresses matters of jurisdiction in cases against dealers in contraband sugar. (“Alvará, porque V. Magestade ha por bem ordenar que as diligencias preparatorias dos processos verbaes dos Contrabandos, apprehendidos na Alfandegado do assucar da cidade de Lisboa, se fação per ante o Juiz Conservador geral do Commercio. . . . ”)

There are two issues: in this issue on p. [1], the catchword is “hendidos,” and in the other catchword is “hendi-.”

WorldCat locates only the copy at the John Carter Brown Library.

•  Removed from a volume. Light brown stain in lower margin and an even lighter stain in top one; old foliation number neatly inked in upper outer corner of recto. A good exemplar.  (28246)

Hospital Reform forthe Benefit of Orphans

•  The king has decided that reform and improvement aere needed at the Orphans' Hospital (Hospital dos Expostos) in Lisbon and here issues the decree specifying the changes. (“Alvará, por que Vossa Magestade he servido occorrer com as providencias necessarias para fazer em cessar os inconvenientes, que até agora se praticavam no Hospital dos Expostos: Dando nova forma para as creações, entregas, e educações delles . . . “).

No copies found via WorldCat or COPAC.

•  Removed from a bound volume; now in modern wrappers. Old foliation neatly inked in upper outer corners; clean, with wide margins.  (28222)

REFORMING the Queen'sHydrotheraphy Hospital at Caldas

•  The Portuguese king decides to reform and reorganize the Hospital Real das Caldas (a thermal springs treatment center) that Queen Leonor established in 1484. The details of the innovations are detailed here. (“Alvará de Regimento, por que Vossa Magestade, annullando, cassando, e abolindo o antigo Regimento, chamado Compromisso do Hospital Real das Caldas . . . que depois delle se expediram; fazendo cessar a Inspecção, que sobre elle até agora teve a Meza da Consciencia, e Ordens; e separando-o da Adminstração dos Conegos Seculares de S. João Evangelista”).

No copy traced via WorldCat or COPAC.

•  Removed from a volume and laid into modern wrappers. Light stain in outer margin of last leaf with a trace of same showing on a few more inward; old foliation neatly inked in upper outer corners; generally clean, with good margins. One inked, contemporary marginal note.  (28234)

Santarem, Manuel Francisco de Barros, 2. visconde de. Inéditos (Miscellanea). Comp. & ed. by Jordáo de Freitas. Lisboa: Impr. Libanio da Silva, 1914. Small folio. 582 pp.
$150.00

•  Tan sheep, tooled in blind on spine and covers. Some worming, exclusively in margins.

How WouldExpulsion “Go” in Portugal?

•  Seabra da Silva (1732–1813) was a fidalgo and close ally of Pombal in his war on the Jesuits. The present work is a translation of his 1768 work in Portuguese of Petiçaö de recurso apresentada em audiencia publica a Sua Magestade, sobre o ultimo e critico estado desta monarchia, depois que a Sociedade chamada de Jesus, foi desnaturalisada e proscripta dos dominios des França e Hispana. Click the interior image for enlargements.

It is a study of the Society of Jesus and its expulsion from Spain and France and the consequences thereof, and it was presented to Joseph of Portugal so that he might anticipate similar consequences following his order of expulsion.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, XI, 1205.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards. Blackened area on spine; bookplate. A clean copy. (20462)

Can’t TrustThose Spaniards

•  During the Seven Years War, Portugal gave support to her traditional ally Great Britain, especially the use of her ports, and with the entry of Spain into the war, the Spanish tried to put a stop to it. First they tried diplomacy, and when that failed they invaded their neighbor, as is here documented. They were beaten off by the Portuguese with British assistance, thus reinforcing Portuguese distrust of their Castilian neighbors and their close ties with Great Britain.

•  Palau 307020. Wrappers stencilled in green with manuscript title on paper label affixed to front wrapper; all edges speckled red. Wrappers with a few tears and a little tattering. Small wormhole in front fly-leaf. A few pencil marks. Inked number on verso of front fly-leaf.

Rare1705 Newsletter

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•  A rare Portuguese newsletter on the dynastic wars in Spain with highly detailed descriptions of the war in Barcelona, and with a list of prisoners, among whom are many Neapolitan nobles faithful to the Aragonese dynasty. Covers events in September and October of 1705.

•  Not in Palau. Fold of outer bifolium mended with tissue. Disbound. (3656)

& Another of1710

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•  This very rare newsletter describes the victory of Count Guidobald von Starhemberg, Austrian field marshal, over the forces of Philip V (referred to here as the Duke of Anjou) at Almenara in July 1710. Woodcut coat of arms of Portugal on title-page, woodcut head- and tailpieces.

•  Palau 256896. Fold of outer bifolium mended with tissue. (3655)

UncommonSpanish-Language Edition

Vertot, René Aubert de.

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•  First Spanish edition of this important Portuguese history by the Abbé de Vertot, focusing on the 1640 revolution in which the "Spanish captivity" was ended and the house of Braganza brought to power. Jefferson's library contained a copy in the original French, and, following its first printing in that language in 1689, the work was translated into a number of other tongues, with the present Spanish rendition being now significantly less common than most others.

Provenance: With the armorial bookplate of D. Feliciano Ramirez de Arellano, Marqués de la Fuensanta del Valle, and bookseller's ticket from a Lisboa dealer.

•  Palau 361040. Contemporary treed calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title label, covers showing only light wear; joints and board edges rubbed, leather lost over spine head and cracking over foot, spine also with small traces of paper label. Hinges slightly tender. (4260)

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BAD Earthquake / Beautiful Book — Deluxe Copy
Hecht Translation & Lynd Ward Illustrations — Penmaen Press

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•  Voltaire's poem on the 1755 earthquake that destroyed much of Lisbon is here translated into English by Anthony Hecht (1923–2004) and illustrated with six wood engravings by Lynd Ward (1905–85). The text and translation are on facing pages, the French in Monotype Blado italic and the English in Poliphilus roman type. There is an introduction by Arthur Wilson.

Hecht was the 1982–84 Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and winner of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the 1983 Bollingen Prize, the 1988 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the 1997 Wallace Stevens Award, the 1999 Frost Medal, and the Tanning Prize.

Limited to 500 copies comprising a deluxe issue on French Rives paper, signed by Hecht, Ward, and Wilson, being 100 copies numbered in roman numerals; a special issue, on Ragston paper, of 200 copies, signed and numbered 1 to 200; and an ordinary issue of 200 copies, also on Ragston paper, unnumbered and unsigned. All issues are printed on double leaves; all copies were hand-printed by Michael McCurdy and Evelyn Clarke, the engravings struck from the blocks.

This is number XXXI of the celuxe issue, hand-bound at the Harcourt Bindery, in black quarter cloth with French combed swirl paper on the boards and with a black cloth slipcase.

•  Fine copy in a fine slipcase.  (30515)

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