Description

With magnificent engraved frontispiece by Peter van Lisebetten & 2 maps (1 folding). Recent calf (spine gilt). Lower margin of half-title p. & frontispiece repaired, with 4 letters of last line of frontispiece supplied in manuscript, ownership signature on title p. & on verso of title p. (deleted), repairs to folding map, mainly confined to margins, outer margin of f. (20) strengthened, end f. repaired with loss of a few letters, marginal repairs to 20 pp., slit repaired in p. 733/4. Copy washed & resized.

A very important and rare book concerning the work of the Jesuit missions in Ethiopia in the early 17th century and the regime, people, manners and customs of that country. Telles took six years to write this work, studying all the detailed documentation available, and adding further information which had recently come to light. More detailed than the histories written by the Jesuits and more reliable than Jerónimo Lobo’s Travels, the work is a compendium of the knowledge acquired by the Jesuits. Ludolf (History of Ethiopia) praised his candour and sincerity. The work is based on documents which have now disappeared, and traditional information which is no longer available for study (E.A. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia, p. 181). The famous Scottish explorer, James Bruce, is reputed to have destroyed a large part of the edition in order to be able to claim as his own the discoveries described by Telles.

This copy is complete with the large folding map of Ethiopia which is the first exact depiction of the country and which is frequently lacking, and a map of the course of the Blue Nile.

Innocêncio I, 329 & VIII, 360.

Sommervogel VII, 1909.

Streit XVI, 42264.

Welsh 5247.

Azevedo-Samodães 3338, uma obra de altíssimo valor tanto para o estudo do governo, policia, caracteres, usos e costumes dos etiopes como para a antiga geografia da Etiopia, e particularmente para a historia das Missões Jesuiticas que propagaram a Religião Cristã nesse pais durante a primeira metade do seculo XVII . . os exemplares são actualmente muito raros, sobretudo quando completos e acompanhados da elegante portada alegórica e dos dois mapas.

Barbosa Machado I, 450.

Palha 4224, livre rarissime et très recherché.

Pinto de Mattos 546, obra estimada.

Figanière 997.

Ameal 2378.

Soares, Gravura Artística em Portugal, 1268.

Palau 329456, rarísimo.

Salvá 3411, es casi imposible encontrarlos con el fróntis grabado, y sobre todo con el mapa.

Brunet V, 693, on trouve difficilement des exemplaires.

Gay, Bibl. des ouvrages relatifs à l’Afrique et l’Arabie, 2689, on trouve beaucoup de candeur et de partialité.

Goldsmith A-169.

Forjaz de Sampaio III, 192 rarissima . . (Telles é) com justiça considerado um dos bons escritores da nossa língua.