Oração gratulatoria á Serenissima Princeza do Brasil a Senhora Dona Maria Francisca Benedicta; mandado fundar hum sumptuoso edificio, para Hospital de Inválidos, no lugar de Runa, junto á Villa de Torres Vedras ….

Lisbon, Na Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1793.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. 4°, contemporary "Dutch paper" gilt wrappers with lovely floral design (small defects to spine), text block edges sprinkled red. Woodcut royal arms of Portugal on title page. Typographical headpiece and woodcut initial on second leaf recto. In very fine condition. (12 ll.) *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION. D. Maria Francisca Benedita (b. 1746) was the youngest child of D. José I (d. 1777) and the widow and aunt of D. Maria I's eldest son, D. José, Duque de Bragança and Príncipe do Brasil. In 1788 her husband died of smallpox at age 27, without issue. His wife, styled the dowager princess of Brazil, lived until 1829. Rather than founding convents or churches, in the tradition of most dowagers, D. Maria Francisca Benedita founded a military hospital, the Asilo de Inválidos Militares de Runa (in Torres Vedras). The hospital was dedicated in 1827, on the dowager princess's eighty-first birthday. Today it is a home for retired military personnel, the Centro de Apoio Social de Runa. Roque Ferreira Lobo (1742-1828) was a native of Torres Vedras. He worked in the postal administration and then served in the secretariat of the Senado da Camara de Lisboa. In 1826, just before the hospital was completed, Lobo published Panegyrico em louvor da Serenissima Princeza do Brasil a Senhora D. Maria Francisca Benedicta, pela sua fundação de hum hospital para militares invalidos. *** Innocêncio VII, 187, 459: calling for 23 pp. rather than 12 ll.; noting that this should not be confused with a work of similar title by Ferreira Lobo, Panegyrico em louvor da Serma. Princeza do Brasil a Sra. D. Maria Francisca Benedicta, Lisbon, 1826. Porbase locates a single copy, at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Not located in Jisc. KVK (51 databases searched) locates only the copy cited by Porbase.