Collecção de Genealogias reaes, em que el rei D. João I, X. Rei de Portugal, se vê por cento e huma linhas genealogicas ascendente del Rei Fidelissimo nosso senhor Dom José I, XXV. Rei de Portugal.

Lisbon, Na Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, 1754.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Large folio (42.4 x 27.8 cm.), contemporary sheep (corners worn and foot of spine defective; two small holes in front cover; other minor wear to binding), spine gilt with raised bands in seven compartments (spine label missing), edges sprinkled red. Elegantly printed on paper of excellent quality. Title page printed in red and black. Two fine vignettes and an engraved initial by Debrie (see below). Each page (except the half-title) within quadruple woodcut border, and with woodcuts top and bottom (see below). Some small, light, minor mold stains, becoming more pronounced and larger in the final dozen or so leaves. Very minor worming in lower inner margins of final two leaves, not affecting the text. Overall in good condition. (4 ll.), 101 pp. *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of this work dedicated to the recently crowned D. José I (r. 1750-1777), outlining the king's genealogy as far back as D. João I (1385-1433).The title page, printed in red and black, has a fine small allegorical engraving (5 x 6.6 cm.) by Debrie, which shows a celestial scene in which a putto has just been crowned by three other putti, one bearing a laurel branch, one a shield, one two trumpets. The recto of third leaf has another fine engraving by Debrie, dated 1754 (10.7 x 19.3 cm.). The portrait of D. José I is within oval frame, with the legend "Joseph I. Rex Portug." inscribed on its pedestal. The king is flanked by Minerva and History (with a pen and a large book). The whole is set within a landscape and an elaborate frame of strapwork and floral elements. On the same page is a fine engraved initial "A", also by Debrie. Guilherme Francisco Lourenço Debrie was one of the most skilled and most prolific engravers in Portugal under D. João V.Within the main text, each of the 101 pages has a genealogical table topped with a woodcut royal crown. At the foot of each page, putti flank the roots and trunk of a tree, one holding a crown, the other a trumpet. Each name in the genealogical table is set within a double rectangular woodcut border.The author was born in 1728 in Penella (bishopric of Coimbra), and served as infantry lieutenant in the regiment of the Marques das Minas. He married in 1770.*** Innocêncio IV, 215 (without mention of the preliminary leaves); see also IV, 461; XII, 203. Soares, História da gravura artística em Portugal I, 209, nº 633. Porbase locates three copies at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and one at Exército-Biblioteca. Jisc repeats the British Library and Victoria & Albert.