OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de). MEMOIRES Historiques, Politiques, et Litteraires, concernant le Portugal, et toutes ...

OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de). MEMOIRES Historiques, Politiques, et Litteraires, concernant le Portugal, et toutes ses dependances. A la Haie. 1743.
OLIVEIRA (Francisco Xavier de)
MEMOIRES Historiques, Politiques, et Litteraires, concernant le Portugal, et toutes ses dependances. Avec la Bibliotheque des ecrivains et des historiens de ces etats par Mr. le Chevalier d’ Oliveyra. A la Haie: Chés Adrien Moetjens, 1743.

2 v., 1.º: †/4, */8, **/4, A-Z, Aa/8, X, [22], 384 pp.; 2.º: *, A-Z, Aa/8, [16], 384 pp.; 150 mm.

VARIANT of the First edition, of this important work by Francisco Xavier de Oliveira, only one copy of the first variant (Amsterdão, 1741) is known and the biographer Antóio Gonçalves Rodrigues never got a frontispiece to illustrate his work. This variant, with the exception of the “Advertissement de l'Editeur”, is exactly the same as the first. According to what we can read in the biography of Gonçalves Rodrigues [p. 299], transcribing Joaquim de Araújo, “It is the unfounded saying of Inocêncio, the first edition of this book, which in fact never had a second. Compared to no. 159 by Fernandes Tomás, it appears to be the same print, altering and replacing the frontispiece in that case because the bookseller Moetjens, from Haya, bought the edition's stocks from Francisco Xavier de Oliveira”. This work is part of a project prepared by Xavier de Oliveira that is much larger and which, according to him, could “form twelve volumes to date” [p. 96]. “More than creating a work of pure erudition, Oliveira proposed organizing the defense of national prestige in the face of criticism from foreigners who throughout the ages had spoken out about Portugal and its domains” [p.95], a work of enormous scope, already that Oliveira wanted to criticize each of these statements contrary to Portugal, whether due to contradictions or criticism of their authors, in addition to wanting to compile, in the end, an Index that “would become a vast dictionary of the country's general history” [p. 97]. From this project, he outlined only what is presented in these volumes, compiling numerous national and foreign authors dealing with kings, queens, princes and princesses of the royal family, saints, cardinals, prelates, great captains, governors and ministers, military orders and illustrious families of the kingdom, military, diplomatic, ecclesiastical and secular history, peace and trade treaties, metropolitan territory, discoveries and conquests, Inquisition in Portugal and India, etc. At the end of each volume, a list of Portuguese and foreign works is included, accompanied by some (few) comments. RODRIGUES, António Gonçalves, O Protestante Lusitano, Biographical and Critical Study on the Knight of Oliveira, Coimbra, 1940; Samodães, 3596; Barbosa, II, p. 296;