Constituicoens do Arcebispado de Lixboa.

[Colophon] Lisbon, per Germão Galharde, 1537.. FIRST EDITION. Folio (26.4 x 19 cm.), late twentieth-century red morocco, spine with raised bands in six compartments, short title lettered gilt in second compartment from head, date numbered gilt at foot, gilt fillets on bands, covers with triple gilt ruled borders, inner dentelles gilt, red silk endleaves, all text block edges gilt. A lovely specimen of printing, with woodcut title page (arms of the Cardinal Infante Dom Afonso, Archbishop of Lisbon, within an elaborate architectural border). Numerous woodcut initials, some rather large. Gothic letter. Title page severely cropped, as in most copies. Outer margins of the following 8 leaves also cropped, affecting side notes. Remaining text with sufficient margins. Final preliminary leaf with spotting to outer blank margin. Overall in good condition. (10), lxxxv, (1). ll. 10, A-K8, L6. Leaf H4 incorrectly signed G4. *** FIRST EDITION. These Constituiçoens do Arcebispado de Lixboa were drawn up at a synod held in the year 1536 under the auspices of the Archbishop, the Cardinal Infante D. Afonso (1509-1540), son of King D. Manuel I and brother of King D. João III. Educated at the Portuguese court; the Infante studied humanities, Greek and Latin directed by two masters, Aires de Figueiredo Barbosa and André de Resende. One of the most important provisions of these Constituiçoens was the establishment of the uniform use of the Roman Rite throughout the archdiocese. This was in substitution of the Salisbury Rite, which had been established by Gilbert of Hastings, first Bishop of Lisbon following the 1147 conquest. Another important rule was the institution in the archdiocese of a registry for baptisms, something that was later promulgated in the Council of Trent. These Constituiçoens overall exhibit the reforming spirit which eventually resulted in that Council.Germão Galharde, of French origins, was the successor to the printer Valentim Fernandes, with whose typographical materials he began printing in Lisbon in 1519. From 1530 to 1531 he was in Coimbra, where he taught the art of printing to the Canons of Santa Cruz, and under his direction the first six books printed at Coimbra were produced. Returning to Lisbon, he continued to print until 1560.*** Anselmo 613. King Manuel 35 (2 copies; one incomplete, the other, the Nepomuceno copy, complete). Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional, Catálogo dos impressos de tipografia portuguesa do século XVI, 418 (3 copies: the first with title page reinforced; second lacking leaf 81 and colophon; the third with title page reinforced and cropped). Barbosa Machado IV, 1. Innocêncio II, 104. Pinto de Mattos, pp. 177-9: "muito rara" (mentions that a copy in the Gubian sale had fetched 9$800 reis, an astronomical sum at the time). Gusmão, Livros impressos no século XVI existentes na Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Distrital de Évora, I, Tipografia portuguesa 279. Sousa Viterbo, O movimento tipográfico em Portugal no século XVI, p. 128. British Museum, Pre-1601 Portuguese STC, p. 11. Sir Gubian 227. Nepomuceno 534. Palha 328 and 332. Not in Adams, which lists only one earlier Lisbon imprint, and nothing by this printer. Not in Lisbon, Academia das Ciências, Livros quinhentistas portugueses.