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8°, original printed wrappers (back somewhat defective, small tear at outer edge; light spotting on covers). Spine somewhat defective, so that most of the front cover is detached. Tear of 2 cm. at outer margin of front cover. In good condition. Author's signed five-line presentation inscription on recto of first [blank] leaf: "Ao Álvaro Taveira, // o meu verdadeiro Amigo // Adolpho Rocha // Coimbra // 1931". (1 blank l.), pp. [3]-43, (1 p. blank, 1 l. colophon [verso blank], 1 blank l.). *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of one of Torga's earliest (his fourth) and rarest books, one of the few early works published under his real name. Among the most important Portuguese authors of the twentieth century (?figura cimeira das Letras portuguesas? - Grande enciclopédia, Actualização, X, 397), the physician Adolfo Rocha was at the center of the "Grupo Presença". "Em 1930 dá luz Rampa, padrão de arrojo literário seguido de Tributo (1931), Abismo (1932) e O outro livro de Job (1936, 3.ª ed. 1951), todos de grande audácia formal e revelando um pensamento agreste e inconformista que chamou sobre si a atenção dos críticos e do público, uns e outro divididos quanto à adesão aos cânones literários impostos pelo autor, mas todos, unânimemente, reconhecendo o valor ímpar que se revelava na sua obra dentro da moderna literatura portuguesa." - Grande enciclopedia. His poetry is said to reflect "ainda as apreensões, esperanças e angústias do seu tempo, dentro de um ângulo individualista e, no fundo, religioso de visão, e a sua pureza e originalidade rítmicas, a coerência orgânica das suas imagens impõem-se (Tributo, 1931; O outro livro de Job, 1936); Libertação, 1944; Odes, 1946 .)" - Saraiva & Lopes, p. 1061.Provenance: Álvaro Taveira was one of Torga's closest friends. He was publisher of the important review Manifesto, which appeared in Coimbra in five issues, from January 1936 to July 1938, edited by Torga and Albano Nogueira.*** Almeida Marques 2279 (copy in foxed wrappers, without a presentation inscription, purchased by us at this sale on behalf of a client for the equivalent of $1,400 plus commissions in January 1996). Serpa 1270. On Torga see Fernando Guimarães in Machado, Dicionário de literatura portuguesa, pp. 476-7; Saraiva & Lopes, História da literatura portuguesa (16th ed.), pp. 1057, 1060-1, 1065-6, 1086, 1097, 1160, 1169, and 1189; and Grande enciclopédia XXXII, 105. Porbase locates one copy each at Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and Universidade de Coimbra. Not located in Jisc. KVK (51 databases searched) repeats Porbase. Not located in NUC.
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