Vida de Dom João de Castro, Quarto Visorey da India.

Lisbon, Na Officina Craesbeeckiana, 1651.. FIRST EDITION. Folio (27 x 19 cm.), late-nineteenth-century green quarter morocco over marbled boards (a few tiny wormholes at joints), spine gilt with raised bands in five compartments (spine slightly faded, some wear to head and foot, raised bands), short author-title gilt in second compartment from head, gilt tooling to leather at marbled paper on boards, marbled endleaves, text-block edges sprinkled red and green. Some minor marginal soiling, but generally crisp and clean. In very good to fine condition. Bookplate of A. Moreira Cabral, and with his inscription on the flyleaf, noting that it was given to him by Eduardo da Cunha Rego in 1874. Monogram in ink on blank portion of title page. Engraved title, engraved portrait, (4 ll.), 443, (1 blank) pp., (24 ll.), with full-page woodcut on p. 59. *** FIRST EDITION of this vital source for the history of Portuguese expansion in India, and the most famous biography in the Portuguese language; it has been translated into Latin as well as English (by Sir Peter Wyche, published in 1664), and has gone through a multitude of editions.D. João de Castro was a sailor, soldier, colonial administrator, scientist and cartographer. Born in Lisbon in 1500, he became at an early age a brilliant humanist, studying mathematics under Pedro Núñez. At age eighteen he went to Tangiers, where he was dubbed knight by the governor, D. Duarte de Menezes. In 1535 he accompanied D. Luis, son of King Manuel I, to the siege of Tunis. D. João left for the Indies soon after 1538 and enlisted among the aventureiros, "the bravest of the brave," who were sent to relieve Diu. Upon his return to Portugal in 1543, he was named commander of a fleet sent to clear the European seas of pirates. Two years later he was sent with a fleet of six ships back to the Indies. By his overthrow of Mahmud, King of Gujarat, by the relief of Diu and by the defeat of the great army of Adil Khan, D. João achieved such popularity that the merchants of Goa were willing to make him a substantial loan with only his moustache as security. Castro soon captured Broach, completely subjugated Malacca, and sent António Moniz into Ceylon. Also included here is an account of the battles at Ormuz between the Turks and the Arabs. In 1547 Castro was appointed viceroy of India by D. João III, but died in 1548, in the arms of his friend St. Francis Xavier. (See Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., V, 484.) D. João de Castro is without doubt the man of greatest stature among the Portuguese who governed India.Jacinto Freire de Andrada, an ecclesiastic gifted in writing both prose and verse, was born in Beja in 1597 and died in Lisbon in 1657. Before the Restauração he was suspected of nationalist tendencies, and retired to his cure in the diocese of Viseu. His Vida de D. João de Castro has sometimes been regarded as the model of Portuguese prose, and at other times has been roundly criticized for its style; see, for example, the critics quoted in Innocêncio III, 240-2. One of Freire de Andrada's most remarkable literary devices was the use of imaginary letters from D. João de Castro concerning problems such as the Turkish threat and attacks on missionaries.The finely engraved title-page and the portrait of D. João de Castro are both signed with the monogram "LV," i.e., Lucas Vorsterman. Vorsterman was born in Antwerp ca. 1624, the son of the famous engraver Lucas Emile Vorsterman, from whom he learned the art. The son lived in Portugal from 1645 to 1648 and was a friend of D. Francisco Manuel de Mello. Soares comments, "Ainda que as suas obras não sejam comparáveis as de seu pai e mestre, tem, todavia, o merecimento da correcção e do manejo do buril, distinguindo-se das executadas no século XVII pela vida e movimento das suas figuras."*** There appear to be two distinct issues, one with 24 unnumbered leaves in the final section, the other with 25, but no bibliographer has called attention to this. Arouca A352 (calls for 50 unnumbered pages at end). Cruz, Tipografia portuguesa do séc. XVII: A colecção da Biblioteca Nacional, I (all published) 186 (citing a single copy which lacks the engraved title, otherwise with the same collation as the present copy). Innocêncio III, 239-42: without mention of the portrait; giving same pagination as our copy. Barbosa Machado II, 465. Brunet I, 263 (no collation given). Figanière 1142. Pinto de Matos (1970) p. 25 (without collation). Soares, História da gravura artística em Portugal II, 655-9 and no. 2220. Bibliotheca Boxeriana 12. JFB (1994) F1228. Biblioteca Central da Marinha, Catálogo das obras impressas no séc. XVII 19 (the Gago Coutinho copy, lacking the engraved title page as well as pp. 58-60). Goldsmith, Short Title Catalogue of Spanish and Portuguese Books 1601-1700 in the Library of the British Museum F309. Palha 4156 (with 24 leaves at the end, as in our copy). Salvá 3448 (citing the second edition, 1671). Moreira Cabral 3668: the present copy. Azambuja 1006 (same collation as our copy). Monteverde 2494 (same collation as the present copy). Ameal 988 and Azevedo-Samodães 1305: both calling for 50 pp. in the index. Rodrigo Veloso II, 3202 (describing a copy lacking the engraved portrait, but otherwise with the same collation as our copy). Sucena 475 (same as our copy). Avila Perez 3075 (same collation as our copy). Bell, Portuguese Literature pp. 266-7. Atabey 464. Porbase provides the same collation as that of our copy, citing two complete and two incomplete copies in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, and another copy in the Biblioteca Central da Marinha. Jisc repeats National Library of Scotland and adds British Library. NUC: NN, CU, ICN, MH, MnU.