Lisbon, Por Pedro Craesbeeck, 1627.. First Edition. 4°, later mottled calf (quite rubbed, head and foot of spine slightly defective), spine gilt, edges sprinkled red. Woodcut initials. Crude triangular repair on title-page, not touching text, about 4 x 5.5 cm. Minor soiling, some dampstains, some early notes. In somewhat less than good condition. Small oval stamp on title-page and two early notes at foot. (2), 167 ll., (1 l. errata). Several leaves numbered incorrectly: 18 wrongly numbered 12, 53 wrongly numbered 48, 60 wrongly numbered 59, 62 wrongly numbered 61, 74 wrongly numbered 65, 91 wrongly numbered 61, 93 wrongly numbered 63, 106 wrongly numbered 103, 108 wrongly numbered 107, and 163 wrongly numbered 193. *** FIRST EDITION. This classic biography of Dom Duarte de Meneses deals at great length with the campaigns in North Africa of D. João I, D. Duarte and D. Affonso V. After the capture of Alcácer-Ceguir in 1458, the stronghold was placed under the command of D. Duarte de Meneses, under whom it withstood two sieges. The Vida also has much information on the unsuccessful attempts of the Portuguese against Tangier, 1463-64. As Oliveira Marques points out in his History of Portugal (I, 88), the Meneses family was one of the most powerful in Portugal during the fifteenth century, comparable in wealth, prestige and power to some of the typical feudal lords of France and Germany. Although the author of this work proclaimed his support for the House of Bragança, he was nevertheless executed in the Rossio Square in 1641, accused of being a conspirator against the person and government of D. João IV. Innocêncio felt that his works were of such merit and importance that it would have been a great injustice to exclude them from the Diccionário on the basis of their having been written in Spanish. *** Arouca V28. Innocêncio I, 18. Barbosa Machado I, 68. Antonio I, 136. Pinto de Mattos p. 607. Garcia Perez p. 560. Biblioteca Central da Marinha, Catálogo das obras impressas no séc. XVII, 896 ("mutilado"). Salvá 3469. Heredia 7652. Azambuja 2638. Monteverde 5462. Azevedo-Samodães 3435. Not in HSA or Palha (which cites 2 other works by the author). NUC: DLC-P4, WU, ICN, MH, NBuG, NjP.
