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Rare Spanish newsletter reporting on recent victories by the Portuguese against the Dutch, the Persians, and others throughout Asia in 1624. The early 17th century saw the Dutch begin to present a serious threat to Portuguese power and commerce in the East, and by the mid-1620s the Portuguese were beleaguered by constant attacks by the Dutch navy and its various Asian allies. The present Spanish newsletter celebrates one of the last great series of Dutch defeats by the Portuguese, who are lauded here by their Iberian partners as worldwide defenders of the Catholic faith holding their ground against overwhelming odds. Within a few years the Dutch would clearly gain the upper hand in Asia, both militarily and commercially, and by 1663 would control much of the Malabar Coast, Ceylon, Indonesia, Malacca, and European trade with Japan, leaving Portugal only with bases at Macao, East Timor, and Portuguese India. The newsletter discusses several naval battles off the coast of Persia, down the Malabar Coast to Ceylon, to Malacca, China, and Macao. A significant portion of the pamphlet describes the heavy Portuguese losses sustained by repeated attacks on Macao by the Dutch, who by this time had established a base in the Pescadores Islands. In the last paragraph attention is turned to the activities of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (described here as the "Realm of Prester John") and the recent conversion of Ethiopian King Suseynos to Roman Catholicism. Palau records four printings of the text, assigning priority to the present document and locating one copy at the National Library in Madrid. Palau also notes that a copy of this printing was sold by Maggs Bros. for £5 5s in 1927 and by Melchor García for 35 pesetas in 1934. OCLC locates four copies, at the Bavarian State Library in Germany, the University of Amsterdam, the Newberry Library, and the University of Chicago. PALAU 257729. Decorative woodcut initial on first page. Small folio. Dbd. Light contemporary annotations in margins of each page. Early folds. Loss, repaired in silk, to gutter and outer margins and along one fold, affecting a few characters of text on p.[4]. Overall very good.
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