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4°, early nineteenth-century speckled sheep, spine gilt with raised bands in six compartments, crimson leather lettering piece in second compartment from head, short title lettered gilt, date numbered gilt at foot (partly rubbed), marbled endleaves, text block edges sprinkled red. Title page printed in red & black with large cross of the Order of Christ in red. Several large and elegant woodcut initials. Large woodcut of a monk within a typographical border on leaf 6 verso. Small woodcut oval Papal insignia in lower inner corner of final leaf verso. Small repair to upper outer blank portion of final leaf. Occasional small, light stains, larger and more pronounced in final 7 leaves. Overall in good condition. Cipher of Frey Mathias de Aguiar below his printed signature on final leaf verso. A few old ink manuscript annotations. (6), 44 (i.e., 43) ll. 6, A-I4, K3, L4. There is no leaf 39, which would have been K3; leaf 40 is therefor the third leaf in quire K. However, the text follows, and catchwords match. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of this very rare compendium of the rules and privileges of the knights of the Order of Christ, an order of chivalry which played a pivotal role in the early Portuguese discoveries and expansion. Prince Henry the Navigator was master of the order; its wealth financed many of the early voyages. We have only handled this work once before; that was the only copy we have previously seen on the market since beginning to take note of such matters in 1969.Frey Damião das Neves, Prior of the Order's seat at Thomar, edited this volume. Little else is known about him. Beginning on leaf 32 recto and continuing to the end are a series of Papal Bulls relating to the Order.*** Arouca N48. Barbosa Machado I, 610 (gives the date of publication as 1606). Innocêncio II, 125-6 (stating that Barbosa Machado was wrong, and that the date of publication was 1607): D'este livro, que é raro, vi um exemplar na livraria de Jesus." Pinto de Mattos, p. 422 "É livro raro." Martins Carvalho, Diccionario bibliographico militar portuguez (1891), p. 184 (without collation): "É livro raro." Iberian Books B69577 [26459]. Azevedo-Samodães 2206 (with only 5 unnumbered preliminary leaves; lacks 6, with the woodcut image). Porbase locates a single copy, in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Jisc locates the British Library copy only. KVK (51 databases searched) locates the British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal copies. Seller Inventory # 44678
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