Raphaelis Thori de paeto seu tabaco carminum libri duo, in paetisugorum gratiam, aeque ac praecipue colentium soteropolitanis Brasiliae in arvis, denuo typis commissi, curatne Fr. Josepho Mariano Velloso.

Lisbon, Typographia Domus Chalcographicae, ac Litterariae ad Arcum Caeci, 1800.. 4°, contemporary marbled wrappers (spine worn; two small holes in front wrapper). Woodcut Portuguese royal arms on title page. A few small, light waterstains. Overall in very good condition. Small circular paper ticket with number "364" tipped on to outer upper corner of front free endleaf recto. Finely engraved title-page, (4 ll.), 1-46, 57-58 pp. [pp.47-56 skipped in numbering; collation by signatures and catchwords is correct], 4 finely engraved plates. *** Nicely printed Arco do Cego Press edition of this famous poem in praise of tobacco, first published as Hymnus tabaci, Leyden 1625. Thorius (d. 1625) was born in France and received his medical training in Holland and England, where he later practiced. The Hymnus tabaci was written prior to 1610 and circulated widely in manuscript before its first publication. This edition omits some of the prefatory and concluding matter, as well as the "Ejusdem Hyems," but adds the poem "Threnodia nicotianae" from Johann Neander's Tabacologia (Leyden, 1622).Borba de Moraes writes, "This poem was already well known in the seventeenth century. The Elzevir edition of Leyden 1628 is famous. It bears an engraved allegoric frontispiece which was copied for this 1800 edition by Romão Eloy, the renowned Portuguese engraver employed at the 'Oficina do Arco do Cego' who later moved to Brazil to work at the Imprensa Regia. His signature is at the foot of the plate. The plate of the tobacco plant is numbered 'Est. 7'. Veloso made use of the plates that had already belonged to the 'Oficina', and which had been utilized earlier in the Fazendeiro do Brasil. There are three other plates at the end illustrating the notes to the poem. The first of these three represents three pipes, and is signed 'Santos. No Arco do Cego.' The same engraver signs the third plate representing a 'nargileg' or water pipe. The second of these plates, representing details of the water pipe, is signed 'Correa Vieira. No Arco do Cego.' It should be noted that the poem's sub-title is: 'in paetisugorum gratiam, aeque ac praecipue colentium soterpolitanis Brasiliae in arvis ….' This text was published at the Arco do Cego press (officially the Tipografia Chalcografica, Tipoplastica e Literaria, located in Lisbon at the Arco do Cego), established in 1800 at the insistence of D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, Minister of State, who realized the need to spread information on new techniques in the arts, industry and agriculture in Portugal and Brazil. The director of the press was Fr. José Mariano da Conceição Veloso (1742?-1811), a native of Minas Geraes and a noted botanist; he was assisted by many young Brazilians living in Lisbon. In 1801 the Arco do Cego press was incorporated into the Regia Oficina Typografica, later known as the Impressão Regia and then the Imprensa Nacional.*** Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional, A Casa Literária do Arco do Cego 76. Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 862: "one of the most beautiful books printed by Veloso and [it] is rare."; Período colonial, p. 403. Arents II, 157-d. JCB Portuguese and Brazilian Books 800/11. Porbase locates three copies, all in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Jisc repeats British Library only. NUC: KyU, MH (calling for 58 pp. and no plates).