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LOPES DE CASTANHEDA, Fernan (c.1501-1560). The fi

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London: Thomas East, 1582. 4to (192 x 135 mm). 164pp., Translated by Nicholas Lichefield, dedicated to Sir Francis Drake. Woodcut title border, woodcut initials, many with historiation, woodcut printer's device to colophon verso, printed marginalia. Nineteenth century calf by the Inner Temple Library with gilt stamped centerpiece of Pegasus in a cinquefoil medallion, marbled endpapers, edges stained red. Condition: small tear to title head, occasional spotting, some stains slightly affecting text; calf lightly scuffed, extremities rubbed. Provenance: few contemporary or near contemporary notes in margins between U2-Y3; Herbert Jacob Esqr. of St. Stephens in Kent (armorial bookplate); Inner Temple Library (bookplate to front pastedown and library stamps to title, opening leaf, chapter I opening leaf, final blank verso); sale, Sotheby's, 26 November 1996, lot 206. Acquisition: purchased Hordern House Rare Books (1998), $15,000 first english edition. "Although relating principally to the Portuguese in India, China, and the East Indies (where Lopes de Castanheda lived for twenty years), this work contains interesting particulars of the Portuguese conquest of Brazil. The first book [all that was published] treats only the early part of Lopes de Castanheda's history, but it is the part most important in American history, as it includes Cabral's voyage [his discovery of Brazil in 1500] and others. Nothing more was ever printed in English or Spanish. Nicholas Lichfield, who dedicated the book to Sir Francis Drake... probably was Thomas Nicholas, the well-known translator of the Tudor era. This English edition is very rare..." -- Hill 1035. Auctions records record 5 copies in the market over the last 30 years (The Wibraham-Streeter copy coming up twice). European Americana 582/54; Borba de Moraes I:166; Hill 1035; Palau IV:262; "A most interesting and rare book." -- Sabin 11391; Stevens Nuggets I:123; STC 16806; Streeter sale I: 26.

AE Footnotes [4]