Verdadeira, e exacta noticia dos progressos de Thamas Kouli Khan Schach da Persia no Imperio do Gram Mogôr, escrita na lingua Persiana em Belhy em 21 de Abril de 1739 e mandada a Roma por Mons. Voulton. Acrecentada com outras chegadas por varias partes, com hum mapa do Thesouro do Gram Mogôr levado a Hispahan pelo mesmo Schach. Dadas á luz na lingua portugueza.

Lisboa Occidental, Officina de Antonio Correa Lemos, 1740.. First Edition in Portuguese. 4°, twentieth-century (final quarter) period sheep (some wear), spine with raised bands in five compartments, gilt fillets, crimson leather lettering piece in second compartment from head, short title lettered gilt, date numbered gilt at foot. Woodcut floral vignette on title page. Woodcut headpiece and initial on p. 3. Large woodcut tailpiece on p. 19. Washed. Light soiling and creases on final leaf. In good to very good condition overall. 19 pp., bound as a single quire; pagination and text follows but quire signatures are erratic. *** First Edition in Portuguese of this lively, eyewitness account of the shah of Persia’s campaign against the Mughal Empire, with a reference to the diamond-studded Peacock Throne. A Spanish translation was also published in 1740, but it lacks the list of booty and the letters at the end that appear in this version.Nader Shah (Tahmasp Qoli Khan), ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, was known as the second Alexander due to his military genius. This account describes his greatest campaign, against the Mughal Empire. Picking up after the Battle of Karnal in February 1739, Voulton describes how Nader Shah starved the Mughal army into submission, then gives a lively account (with much indirect discourse) of the treaty negotiations, polite exchanges of gifts, the failure of negotiations, and the peaceful occupation of Delhi by Nader Shah, with Mohammad Shah as his prisoner. Soon thereafter a rumor spread that Mohammad Shah had killed Nader Shah, and in a popular uprising some Persian soldiers were killed. Nader Shah, enraged, loosed his troops to sack the city. (Some sources reported that 200,000 residents were killed in a single day.) The account continues with the devastating effects of the massacre and Mohammad Shah’s capitulation to Nader Shah’s terms.A list of the spoils gathered in India by Nader Shah (pp. 16-17) includes “O Trono Imperial todo guarnecido de diamantes avaliado em 9 [courons].” This is the famous Peacock Throne of the Mughal rulers, which now became the famous Peacock Throne of the shahs of Persia. One of its diamonds was the Koh-i-Noor, which according to legend was named by Nader Shah, who exclaimed “koh-i-noor!” (“mountain of light”) when he saw it. The earliest known reference to the jewel by that name dates to 1739. An estimate of the total of Nader Shah’s booty is given on p. 17. Lockhart, writing ca. 1926, estimated the total value at £87,500,000.The volume ends with letters by Voulton of late 1739 that relay information from a Russian diplomat in Isfahan, reporting on Nader Shah’s failed siege of Babylonia (Baghdad), his embassy to Russia, his attempts to establish trade with Europe, and his promises to the pope that Christians in Isfahan and Yerevan (Armenia) will not be persecuted.As a military leader under Sultan Husayn, last of the Safavid rulers of Persia, Nader Shah (1688 or 1698-1747) drove out invading Russians and Turks; then he deposed Husayn and reigned as shah himself. Having conquered enormous territories in the Middle East, he was briefly the most powerful ruler in the region, but notorious for his despotism, cruelty, and paranoia. He was assassinated in 1747 by Persian nobles, and his empire disintegrated.Voulton, a deserter from the French army at Pondicherry, fled to the court of the Mughal Emperor, where he became court physician and a member of the privy council. He was apparently with the army after the Battle of Karnal and then in Delhi. The Verdadeira e exacta noticia includes some details that do not appear in other contemporary accounts, such as the description of Nader Shah eating sweetmeats while he watched the massacre at Delhi.Lockhart points out that the errors of the Portuguese edition are reproduced and magnified in the Spanish, suggesting that the Portuguese edition is earlier. He speculated that the Portuguese was translated from Latin or Italian, but was unable to find a version in any other language; nor does OCLC list any.*** Gonçalves Rodrigues, A tradução em Portugal 717. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Das relações entre Portugal e a Pérsia, 1500-1758, p. 360: mentions the combats [actually, battles aren't described in this work], a banquet given by the King of Persia for the Mughal emperor [it was the other way about] with famous Persian dancers, and the negotiations for a peace treaty. Not in Innocêncio or Fonseca, Pseudónimos. See Laurence Lockhart, "De Voulton's Noticia," Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London 4:2 (1926), pp. 223-45. Porbase locates a single copy at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Jisc repeats British Library only. Not located in Hollis or Orbis. KVK (51 databases searched) only repeats the copy in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. The European Library (72 databases searched), repeats the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and British Library copies only. NUC: ICN.