O Arco de Vandôma, romance.

Lisbon, Guimarães & Cª, 1916.. FIRST EDITION. 8°, recent quarter crimson sheep over machine marbled boards (very slight wear at corners), spine with raised bands in five compartments, gilt letter, decorated endleaves, top edge rouged, other edges uncut, silk place marker (wrappers gone). Light browning and occasional very minor dampstaining, becoming more pronounced in the last few leaves, with a bit of red dye in the lower and inner margins. Still, overall in good condition. Author's five-line presentation inscription on half title [to Acúrcio Pereira]: "Ao distinto redactor da // secção bibliografica do // Diário de Notícias // of // o autor". 344 pp., (1 l.). *** FIRST EDITION; this novel, displaying the author's affection for his native Porto, a recurring theme in his work, was published again in 1945 and 1972. Alberto [Augusto de Almeida] Pimentel (Porto 1849-Queluz, 1925), journalist, biographer, essayist, dramatist, poet and novelist, was a great admirer as well as an intimate friend of Camilo Castelo Branco. Provenance: Acúrcio Pereira (1891-1977) was considered the dean of Portuguese journalists; he wrote for practically every daily newspaper published in Lisbon and Porto during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, as well as for literary reviews and magazines. In 1911 he joined the Diário de notícias, then headed by Alfredo da Cunha, rising rapidly from reporter to important editorial positions, serving 27 years as editor-in-chief. In addition to several books on diverse subjects, he collaborated on a number of theatrical pieces. See Grande enciclopédia XXI, 110; Actualização IX, 187. Also Dicionário cronológico de autores portugueses, III, 431. *** Marques, Bibliographia pimenteliana 176, calling this the author's best and most beloved novel. Martinho da Fonseca, Aditamentos, [to Innocêncio] p. 7. See Grande enciclopédia XXI, 664-5; Álvaro Manuel Machado in Dicionário de literatura portuguesa, pp. 380-1; Maria Eduarda Borges dos Santos in Biblos, IV, 152-5; Dicionário cronológico de autores portugueses, II, 322-3, and Saraiva and Lopes, História da literatura portuguesa (16th ed.), p. 775. Porbase lists a single copy only, at the Universidade Católica, Lisboa. Jisc repeats British Library. KVK (51 databases searched) repeats Porbase and locates a the copies at Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek and Düsseldorf, Universität Bibliothek Trier.