GODINHO, Manuel.
Relação do novo caminho que fez por terra, e mar, vindo da India para Portugal no anno de 1663.
Lisbon, Henrique Valente de Oliveira, 1665. 4to (19.5 x 14.5). With an engraved coat of arms of the dedicatee Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa (1636-1720), 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor, at the head of the dedication, and with numerous woodcut decorated initials. 20th-century gold-tooled sprinkled brown calf, bound by the Lisbon bookbinder Frederico de Almeida. [1], [1 blank], [10], 188 pp.
€ 25,000
Scarce first and only early edition of Manuel Godinho's account of his return trip from India to Portugal in 1664, particularly important for its observations on India and the Middle East. The present copy is bound by the important Lisbon-based bookbinder Frederico d'Almeida, "... Frederico de Almeida que foi o melhor encadernador do século XX" (Frederico de Almeida who was the best [Portuguese] bookbinder of the 20th century; M.C.G. Esteves, O ofício da encadernação ..., p. 90).
"Leaving Bassein in 1663, Godinho travelled to Daman and Surat, then sailed to Bandar Abbas, travelled overland to Kung, and then by sea to Basra. Rather than wait for a boat to Baghdad, or a desert caravan, he set off by horse with three companions and three Arabs to Baghdad, then to Ana, Rahab, Thaibe, Aleppo and Alexandretta. After taking a boat to Marseille, he proceeded overland to La Rochelle and there caught another boat to Cascais, at the mouth of the Tagus. His entertaining account of his rush to Europe contains observations of the customs of the Hindus and Muslims, as well as descriptions of the places visited" (Howgego).
With the label of bookbinder Frederico d'Almeida mounted on the recto of the final free endpaper, a near contemporary(?) annotation ("Disoroy(?) violante de Saõ Bras") on the title page, and a late 19th- or early 20th-century manuscript slip bound at the end of the work ("Si este livro por achado onde quer dique por perdodo pa. S. Leon Conhecido L....(?) done a Signore D. Leocadia"). The edges of the boards are somewhat scuffed, the boards are somewhat scratched. The work is slightly browned throughout, with a water stain on the outer margin of the first few leaves and in the lower outer corner of the last few leaves, a small repaired hole in the bottom margin of the first two leaves, not affecting any text. Otherwise in good condition. Barbosa Machado, Bibliotheca lusitana 3, p. 274; Brunet II, col. 1639; De Backer & Sommervogel III, cols. 1522-1523; Howgego, to 1800, G54; Iberian Books C12141; Inocêncio 5, p. 442 (no. 650) and 16, p. 219; Lach & Van Kley III, p. 354; Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula 1048, p. 30; Marinha Impr. séc. XVII 334 ("1a ed. muito rara"); Palau 103032; PorBase 367324 (6 copies); Salvá 2, 3777; Slot, The Arabs of the Gulf, p. 414; USTC 5056724; WorldCat 7545794 (11 copies); cf. for the binder M.C.G. Esteves, O ofício da encadernação: estudo sobre a actualidade da encadernação portuguesa (Universidade do Porto, September 2019), p. 90.
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