Sermam do Dia de Cinza que pregou o P. Antonio de Saa da Companhia de Iesu, & Prègador de Sua Magestade, na Capella Real.

Coimbra, Na Officina de Rodrigo de Carvalho Coutinho Impressor da Universidade, 1673.. 4°, twentieth century (final quarter) antique sheep; spine gilt with raised bands in six compartments (some wear, especially near foot), red morocco lettering piece in second compartment from head with gilt author and short title, text block edges rouged. Woodcut vignette of a rose with Jesuit initials on title page. Typographical headpiece and woodcut initial on p. 1. In good to very good condition. (1 l.), 22 pp. [ ]1, A-C4. *** Second edition [?] of this Ash Wednesday sermon preached at the Royal Chapel in Lisbon. Sacramento Blake notes that J.C. Fernandes Pinheiro believed this sermon was only rivaled by Vieira's best work. There are at least three different editions with the imprint Coimbra: Rodrigo de Carvalho Coutinho, 1673. We have not been able to find any source which distinguishes them. The edition described by Arouca, and the one in the John Carter Brown Library have their titles as follows: "Sermam // do // Dia de Cinza // que pregou // o P. Antonio de Saa // Da Companhia de Jesu, & Prégador de Sua // Magestade, na Cappella Real." Another edition reads ""Sermam // do // Dia de Cinza // que pregou // o P. Antonio de Saa Da // Companhai de Jesu, & Prega- //dor de S. Magestade, na // Capella Real." The woodcut vignette on the title page is similar, but from a different block. The typographical headpiece and woodcut initial on p. 1 are different. The rest of the text follows, but the type is slightly different. This present edition would appear to be later, based on the more regular setting of the title, and may be later than that of the JCB. The title page is divided in the same way as the JCB copy, but in a different setting of type. The vignette on the title page is slightly different, and very different from that of the copy with the less regular setting of the title, while the typographical headpiece and woodcut initial are different from both the JCB copy and the presumed earlier one. Moreover, the signatures are signed A-C4, while the other two 1673 editions are signed [ ]1, A-B4, C3. Again, the rest of the text follows, but in a different setting of type. Arouca cites two editions [or issues?] of 1669. We have noted a variance between words in the title in two different editions with the imprint Coimbra: Rodrigo de Carvalho Coutinho, 1673. The titles of each item read "Companhia de Jesus" versus "Companhia de Jesu" respectively.The Jesuit P. António de Sáa (1627-1678), a native of Rio de Janeiro, is acknowledged to have been one of the best orators of his time and the most worthy successor to his mentor, P. António Vieira. Innocêncio comments, "Todos os criticos são concordes em consideral-o como orador de linguagem mui pura, de estylo correcto e elegante, e finalmente como um dos que mais se approximaram de Vieira, ou antes como seu melhor discipulo." He worked primarily in Bahia and Recife, although after spending a few years in Portugal, he became so popular there that he was almost forbidden permission to return to Brazil. His sermons were often collected and reprinted, but the separate editions are of considerable rarity: none are listed in the Bosch catalogue, Azevedo-Samodães, or Ameal. Palha, Monteverde and Avila-Perez list only one each, and BMC lists only three sermons in a total of five editions. *** Arouca S5. Borba de Moraes II, 757; Périodo Colonial, p. 313. Barbosa Machado I, 380. Morais Rocha de Almeida, Dicionário de autores no Brasil colonial (2010) p. 453. Backer-Sommervogel VII, 355. Leite, História da Companhia de Jesus no Brasil, IX, 108. Not in JCB, Portuguese and Brazilian Books; see 673/1 for another edition in a different setting of type. J.C. Rodrigues 2164: "rarissimo". This edition not in Sacramento Blake; see I, 306 for the Lisbon, 1669 edition only. This edition not in Innocêncio who only cites the first edition; on the author, see I, 262, and VIII, 302. Not in Landis, European Americana. Porbase locates twenty-two copies without noting any differences, and (questionably) identifying all as Arouca S5). Jisc locates a single copy of the present edition only, at British Library. KVK (51 databases searched), locates the records cited by Porbase, and a different 1673 edition at Biblioteca provinciale - Salerno (giving the collation by signatures as A-C4); it should have but does not locate British Library's variant edition.