Nine Autograph Postcards Signed ("A.S.") to Fernando Romero. by SÉRGIO, António

, , 1935-1936.. , In very good condition. *** These nine postcards, eight of which are closely written in a small but legible hand (ca. 20+ lines each), are full of interesting information. Fernando Romero appears to have worked for Seara Nova, one of the most long-lived and important Portuguese periodicals of the twentieth century, to which Sérgio was a contributor. All were sent from Madrid. The eight most interesting are all addressed to Romero at "Seara Nova" Travessa da Boa Hora, 43, 1.º, Lisboa. The only perfunctory postcard, with New Year's greetings, postmarked 30 December 1935, is addressed to Romero at "Seara Nova" R. Nova da Almada, 89, Lisboa. Other dates, gleaned from the postmarks, are 5 May 1835, 24 February 1836, 25 March 1836, 8 April 1836, 13 April 1836, 18 April 1836, and 20 May 1836. For one postcard the complete date is not decipherable, but it is clearly from 1836. Curiously, none of the brief accounts of Sérgio's life and work cited below deal at all with this period of at least a year and a half when he was in Madrid.Sérgio (Damão, India, 1883-Lisbon, 1969) was "o mais importante pensador português do seu tempo" (Saraiva & Lopes, História da literatura portuguesa [1976] p. 1065). In his 60-year career he wrote on history, economics, education, sociology, literary criticism, politics and philosophy. He was one of the founders of the "Renascença Portuguesa" (along with Jaime Cortesão, Raúl Proença, Pascoais and others) and a member of the "Grupo da Biblioteca Nacional," which included Cortesão, Proença, Aquilino Ribeiro, Lopes Vieira and Raúl Brandão. His portrait appeared on both sides of the 5.000$00 Escudo note prior to the introduction of the Euro.*** For Sérgio, see Sérgio Campos Matos in Machado, ed., Dicionário de literatura portuguesa, pp. 446-9; António Pedro Pita in Biblos, IV, 1268-72; Dicionário cronológico de autores portugueses, III, 284-8. See also Campos Matos, Bibliografia de António Sérgio.