Os Machabeos: tragedia ... traduzida em verso portuguez por João Baptista Gomes.

Porto, Na Officina de Antonio Alvarez Ribeiro, 1803.. First Edition in Portuguese. Tall 12º, early light brown wrappers (two short tears on spine). Woodcut vignette of lyre pierced by an arrow, with laurel wreath, on title page. Typographical headpieces for each act. In very good condition. Old red-bordered paper tag with ink manuscript shelfmark ("3093 / e") tipped on to upper inner corner of front wrapper. In corner of half-title verso is small paper tag with note in early ink manuscript: "833 Duz.º / A.M.001". (5 ll.), 79 pp., (1 blank l.). *** First edition in Portuguese; it appeared again in Lisbon, 1813, 1830, and 1832. The volume includes a dedication to Francisco de Almada e Mendonça written in verse, by the translator. The play takes place in Antioch.Antoine Houdar de la Motte (Paris, 1672-1731) wrote texts for operas and ballets, including the enormously popular Inès de Castro, 1723. In the battle of the ancients vs. moderns, he was a champion of the moderns.Before he died at an early age in 1803, João Baptista Gomes Junior, a native of Porto, published two translations of tragedies and composed Nova Castro, an enormously popular drama that went through many editions. The first, judging from Porbase, was published in Lisbon, 1806. Innocêncio notes that Gomes is sometimes called the first Portuguese tragedian: "porém este conceito accusa ou notavel parcialidade, ou mui pouca intelligencia e conhecimento da arte em quem o aventou." Almeida Garrett considered that Nova Castro that "D'entre os bastos defeitos d'essa tragedia sobresaem muitas bellezas."*** Gonçalves Rodrigues, A Tradução em Portugal 2494: not calling for any preliminary leaves. Innocêncio III, 305: listing editions of Porto, 1803 and Lisbon, 1813; on the author, see also X, 174. Porbase locates two copies, both at Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Not located in Jisc, which cites one copy of the 1830 edition, at British Library. KVK (51 databases searched) locates only the copies cited by Porbase.