A Real Biblioteca e os seus criadores: em Lisboa, 1755-1803. Estudos.

Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, 2014.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Large 8°, original illustrated wrappers. As new. 534 pp., folding illustrated chronological table, diagrams, illustrations, tables, footnotes, bibliography, index of names. One of 300 copies. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Ana Isabel Buescu [pp. 15-17] and Francisco António Lourenço Vaz [pp. 19-27] provide short introductions. The basis of this fascinating and exhaustive study is the doctoral thesis of Maria Luísa Cabral, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Centro de História da Cultura. The author provides a brief discussion of libraries and schools in the 18th century, including reflections on Portuguese libraries by foreigners and the impressions of foreign libraries on Portuguese travelers. She discusses several notable libraries of the period: Biblioteca Joanina da Universidade de Coimbra, Biblioteca do Colégio do Espírito Santo (Évora), Biblioteca do Convento de Nossa Senhora e Santo António de Mafra, Biblioteca da Congregação do Oratório (Lisboa), Livraria do Mosteiro de São Martinho de Tibães, and Livraria Real e Real Biblioteca (Lisboa). The present volume constitutes a comprehensive early history of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal from its days of inception with the creation of the Real Biblioteca Pública da Corte in 1796. Also fascinating are the biographical discussions of the central protagonists of the library's early history: Frei Manuel do Cenáculo Vilas Boas, Manuel da Maia, António Ribeiro dos Santos, and D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho. ***