Viagem de hum peregrino a Jerusalem, e a visita que fez aos lugares santos. Por hum indigno filho do Serafico Patriarcha S. Francisco, F.I.D.I.C.

Lisbon, Impressão Regia, 1819.. FIRST EDITION. 8°, contemporary quarter straight-grained crimson morocco over orange pebbled cloth boards (some wear at corners, slight chip near head of spine), smooth spine, gilt, gilt letter. Woodcut Portuguese royal arms on title-page. Finely engraved folding plate. Very minor occasional soiling. Overall in very good condition. Old ink inscription "Bastos" in lower blank margin of title-page. 292 pp., folding engraved plate. *** FIRST EDITION. In his visit to the Holy Land, Fr. João toured all the major sites in Jerusalem, as well as the Sea of Galilee, Bethlehem, Mt. Zion, and a few other places outside the city. At the end (pp. 233-71) he gives an account of the persecution suffered by the religious orders there since the mid-seventeenth century. Fr. João mentions, for example, an uprising of the people in 1756 when, in order to keep the members of several religious orders safe, the governor of the area had to lock them in the church of the Holy Sepulchre for seven months, where they lived on bread, water and herbs (p. 247). In 1799, when Bonaparte was invading Egypt, about 3,000 Turks attacked a monastery, shouting "Death to the Franks, who are spies for the French" (p. 251). Fr. João argues that it is Portugal's duty to support the religious orders in Palestine, because the Spanish have been seriously weakened by the recent war.The engraved frontispiece (unsigned) shows scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin, the resurrection, and two Franciscans kneeling outside the Holy Sepulchre. The Viagem appeared in at least three later editions: Lisbon 1822, 1831 and 1837.*** Innocêncio III, 387: without collation. Fonseca, Pseudónimos p. 113. Not in Palha. Not in Monteverde, which lists the second edition (2953). Not in Azevedo-Samodães, Ameal or Avila-Perez. Porbase locates two copies at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and one at the Biblioteca Municipal de Elvas; calls for 292 pp., without mention of the plate. Jisc repeats the British Library. NUC: DHN.