Memorias para a historia da Capitania de S. Vicente, hoje chamada de S. Paulo do estado do Brasil ….

Lisbon, Na Typografia da Academia [Real das Sciencias], 1797.. FIRST EDITION. 4°, mid-nineteenth-century tree sheep some wear to corners, outer joints), smooth spine gilt in romantic style (worn at head), black leather lettering-piece with short author-title gilt, marbled endleaves). Woodcut device of Academia Real das Sciencias on title-page. In good condition; very good internally. Later ink signature of Joaquim Pedro Celestino Soares on title page. Stamp of Librairie Ch. Chadenat, 17, Quai des Grands Augustins, Paris, on verso of front free endleaf. (4 ll.), 242 pp., (1 integral l. advertisement). *** FIRST EDITION of this basic history for what is the present state of São Paulo. Known in secular life as Gaspar Teixeira de Azevedo, the author (São Vicente, Santos, São Paulo, 1715-Santos, 1800), a member of the Benedictine Order who had studied with the Jesuits at Santos, wrote this work after a diligent study of contemporary documents. A corresponding member of the Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, he refutes a number of erroneous statements about the Paulistas made by Vaisette in his Historia geographica, Paris 1755, and by Charlevoix in his History of Paraguay, 1718. Frei Gaspar was a member of the Bahian "Academia Brasílica dos Renascidos". He became Abbot of his order's house in Rio de Janeiro in 1763, and served as Provincial for the order in Brazil from 1766 to 1769. In later life he devoted himself to his studies as Cronista-mor of his order in Brazil, while serving as Visitador of the monasteries of his native Capitania, declining the bishopric of Funchal, and returning to Rio in 1780 as master of novices before retuning to Santos a few years later. A number of other writings remained unpublished during his lifetime. Provenance: Joaquim Pedro Celestino Soares (1793-1870), a native of Lisbon, distinguished naval officer, political figure, and author. See João Braz d'Oliveira, O contra-almirante Joaquim Pedro Celestino Soares: estudo biographico. Also Innocêncio IV, 143, 454; XII, 123; Aditamentos p. 218; and Grande enciclopédia, XXIX, 328-9.*** Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 507: "This classic work is becoming scarce"; Período colonial p. 22. Sacramento Blake III, 172-4. Innocêncio III, 131. Sabin 43753. Streit III, 1299. Bosch 253. JCB II, ii, 3877. JCB Portuguese and Brazilian Books, 797/4. Rodrigues 1080. Welsh 4439. Azevedo-Samodães 1928. See also Palmira Morais Rocha de Ameida, Dicionário de authores no Brasil colonial (2nd ed., revised and augmented, 2010), pp. 324-5.