OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de). MEMÓRIAS das Viagens de Francisco Xavier de Oliveira. A Mesterdam. 1741.

OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de). MEMÓRIAS das Viagens de Francisco Xavier de Oliveira. A Mesterdam. 1741.
OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de)
MEMÓRIAS das Viagens de Francisco Xavier de Oliveira. A Mesterdam: s.n., 1741.

*7 [de 8], A-Z8, Aa-Bb8, Cc7 [de 8]; [14 de 16], 397, [17 de 19] pp.; 145 mm.Half calf in bad condition; trimmed; wormholes on margins, sometimes affecting the text; lacking title page and last leaf of index.

FIRST EDITION, RARE. Inocêncio only knew two copies. According to António Gonçalves, Memórias das Viagesn is “a revolutionary book: the book by the first author after the Renaissance and the Reformation [who] sympathetically opened our eyes to Europe.” [P. 100] The work describes “the state of the roads, the category of the inns or the community of the posts. But it is when you free yourself from the worry of being helpful to the inexperienced traveler that it becomes more delicious for the modern reader”. [P. 101] The work writes about everything: people, things, religion, uses and customs, art, politics, commerce, etc. According to Inocêncio, the author had designed a set of seven volumes for the work, but these were never published.

¶ Inocêncio, v. 3, p.93; RODRIGUES, António Gonçalves, O Protestante Lusitano, Estudo Biográfico e Crítico sobre o Cavaleiro de Oliveira, Coimbra, 1940