Historia Geral De Ethiopia A Alta Ou Preste Ioam , E Do Que Nella Obraram Os Padres Da Companhia De Iesus: Composta Na Mesma Ethiopia [Association Copy, 1st Edition]

Em Coimbra: Manoel Dias / Manuel Dias, 1660 Includes the additional hand colored decorative title page by P. Van Lisebetten & Ph. Fruytiers, [36], 736pp, [2 which includes the Errata], printed on laid paper, bound in half leather and cloth, raised bands on gilt decorated spine, marbled endpapers, page edges are red, binding tight. Title page is in red and black in a double ruled border, text is in double column format, set in roman and italic type, woodcut decorative initials, side notes, head-pieces with device of the Soc. of Jesus, along with tail-pieces. A ROYAL CYPHER is stamped on pages 73, 423 & 511, in royal blue ink, belonging to the Duke of Palmela, a Portuguese title granted by royal decree of Queen Maria II of Portugal, issued to Dom Pedro de Sousa Holstein [1781-1850], a Portuguese politician during the first half of the 19th Century. He was also the Head of the Portuguese Government and an Ambassador to London, as well as to the Congress of Vienna. [Our thanks to Philip Oldfield of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto for identifying this Royal Cypher]. Includes the full page map facing pp 14,, lacks the folding map and half title page, a signature has been trimmed off of the top edge of the decorative title page [not affecting the illustration], occasional neat paper repairs, occasional lower edge small worn hole [not affecting the text]. OCLC lists that some copies contain three leaves of plates in the back, but most copies do not contain plates. This copy does not have the plates in back. Manuel de Almeida [1580-1646] was a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary, who traveled to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Lake Tana, building a number of Churches and Monasteries in Ethiopia and Eritrea, before the Jesuits were expelled in 1633. Although Almeida wrote a history of Ethiopia, it was never published in his lifetime. This 1660 Coimbra edition is an abridgment and partial revision of Almeida's original work, done by Balthazar Tellez, which includes the accounts of Pedro Pays and Alfonso Mendes. The scarcity of this work has been attributed by some scholars as being due to James Bruce of Kinnaird destroying any copies he could find, so as to pass off the descriptions as his own. From the personal collection of Dr. Brooks Ryder (1918-1995), graduate of Harvard College, Harvard School of Public Health, and Tufts Medical School. Known for his Public Health expertise overseas, throughout East Africa and Indonesia.