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Joćo de Castro (1500-1548) was a Portuguese humanist, nobleman, and the fourth viceroy of Portuguese India. In 1543 he was named commander of a fleet and ordered to clear the Atlantic European seas of pirates. He became the Viceroy of Portuguese India in 1547, but died a year later and was buried in Goa by St. Francis Xavier. Bouterwek, in History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (1823), claims in relation to the book that no biographical work, deserving to be ranked on a level with this, had hitherto appeared either in Portuguese or any other modern language. Andrada is reproached with a certain degree of far-fetched elegance and refi ned subtlety; and certainly his historical style might often, with advantage, be more simple. But that this ingenious writer upon the whole entertained the most correct notion of the rhetorical cultivation of historical prose, and that his intention was to write an energetic style appropriate to his subject, but by no means to make an ostentatious display of elegant phrases, would be sufficiently evident from the character of the whole work, even though the author had not, in his brief preface, explained himself with sufficient clearness on this point. He observes, that he has written his book in the language of truth, and according to credible authorities . The fi rst edition of this early example of Portuguese prose, complete with a full-page woodcut on p.59, a beautifully engraved title page, and a portrait of Castro. Presumed original boards, a little worn and scraped but in nice condition for age. Small crack to hinge of upper board. Loss to spine and endpapers due to wormholing. Slight wormholing to first and last few leaves also, mostly contained to margins. Light stain to first 20 or so leaves, including illustrations and title, as well as to a few leaves in chapter four and the index. Text itself in surprisingly nice condition for age. Overall very good. 1 v., complete. 6 leaves, 444 p., 24 leaves of index. 27.2 x 19 cm. Text in Portuguese. Seller Inventory # 725
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