MARIZ CARNEIRO, ANTONIO DE.

REGIMENTO DE PILOTOS, E ROTEIRO DAS NAVEGACOENS DA INDIA ORIENTAL. AGORA NOVAMENTE EMENDADO & ACRESENTADO CON O ROTEIRO DA COSTA DE SOFALA, ATE MONBACA, & COM OS PORTOS, & BARRAS DO CABO DE FINIS TAERRA ATE' O ESTREITO DE GIBRALTAR, COM SUAS DERROTAS, SONDAS, & DEMONSTRACOENS. LISBON, LOURENCO DE ANVERES, 1642.

      2 parts in one vol. Sm. 4to. Contemporary vellum. With two woodcuts, many printed tables, woodcut tailpieces and initials in the first, and 11 folded woodcut maps of coastlines (9 measuring ca. 150 x 200 mm. and 2 ca. 250 x 180 mm.) with text printed on the versos. Part 1: 40 lvs. (many mistakes in numb.: (4), 1-2, (4), 11-40 lvs.; Part 2: 78, (2) pp. Extremely rare and complete issue of the first edition of this travel guide for sailing to and in the East Indies. The guide gives extensive instructions to the captains of the ships travelling from Portugal via Cape of Good Hope, Goa and Mozambique to Cochin-China and Malacca. Descriptions of places like Ilha de Sao Lourenco, Ilhas de Querimba, Mombassa, Ilhas de Maldiva, Pulopinao and Puloparcenat are included, as well as references to the east coast of South America and Brazil.After the title (verso blank), the 8 Licencas, dated from 27 January till 12 December 1642, and the dedication to King Joao IV of Portugal, dated 21 January 1642, follow: 'Da arte navegacam, eseus fundamentos' on ff. 1-2, (1-4), 11-40; 'Partindo de Lisboa para a ilha da Madeira, ou Porto Sancto, & Canarias'on pp. 1-78; the title and introduction to the 11 maps: 'Estampas, e demarcacoens da costa de Espanha, do Cabo de Finis Terra, te' o Estreito de Gibraltar, com a arrumacao dos Rumos baixos, sondas, & alturas'on pp. (79-80), followed by the 11 folding maps."It is obvious that the book is a true bibliographical puzzle" (Borba de Moraes). Title as well as collation and contents differ from one bibliography to the other. Hardly two descriptions are similar, also due to the confusion with another guide by Mariz Carneiro, the one for Brazil, issued by the same printer in the same year, both works sharing some elements. The many mistakes in the pagination may be due to this. There are at least three different issues of the work printed by Lourence de Anvers in the same year. Further editions followed in 1655 and 1666.Our copy is perfectly complete and belongs to one of the three issues of the first edition, of which there is only one other copy known to be complete (Cat. Reiss & Auverman, Travel and exploration. Portugal and Spain. Auction 40 (1989), no. 645; other incomplete and damaged copies in the Biblioteca Maritima and the National Library in Lisbon, lacking the maps).Antonio de Mariz Carneiro, Vicomte de Azevedo, born at the end of the sixteenth century, probably died in December 1642, although there are reasons to assume that he was still alive in 1666. He was a mathematician and the cosmographer of the Portuguese king Joao IV to whom the work is dedicated. Very good copy of this extremely rare work.- (Written ownership's entry on title, library stamp on f. 1). Gay 3195; Innocencio I, 203-4 and VIII, 250-1 (variant title); Fontoura da Costa, Bibliogr. nautica portug. ate 1700, 129A, see also 128A; Reiss & Auvermann, Cat. 40, 645; Barbosa Machado I, 321; Biblitheca Boxeriana 406 ("Extremely rare"); Pinto de Matos (1970), p. 416-17; Avila Perez 4648; cf. Sabin 44607; cf. Borba de Moraes, p. 154; no copies mentioned in NUC.