SILVA, Elias Alexandre e.

Relação, ou noticia particular da infeliz viagem da não de Sua Magestade Fidelissima, Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, e S. Pedro de Alcantara, do Rio de Janeiro para a Cidade de Lisboa neste presente anno.

      Lisbon, na Regia Officina Typografica, 1778. - Woodcut initial. (3 ll.), 72 pp. 4°, mid–nineteenth–century quarter sheep over decorated boards (slight wear to extremities; lacking front free endleaf), flat spine, gilt letter, edges sprinkled red. Minor spotting and soiling to title page; otherwise clean and crisp. Overall a very good copy. FIRST EDITION. An account of the terrible voyage Alexandre e Silva made from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon in the company of some 600 others on a single ship. The passengers included the Captain General of Mozambique, Captain General of Goiás José de Almeida Vasconcelos, and the famous judge of the Court of Appeals José Mascarenhas Pacheco Coelho e Melo, who was imprisoned in Brazil for twenty years by order of the Marques de Pombal. The voyage lasted 216 days, for 46 of which the ship sailed without masts or a rudder. The author wrote this account to call attention to the need for more adequate fitting of the ships used for Atlantic crossings. At the end is a poem celebrating the return of Judge Mascarenhas to Portugal. The work appeared again at Lisbon, 1869. Elias Alexandre e Silva, or Elias Alexandre da Silva Correa, was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1753 and began a military career in Santa Catarina. Having survived this hazardous voyage, he served for four years in the Portuguese infantry, then seven years in Angola (1782-1789), and later served in Rio de Janeiro. His @Historia de Angola, only published in 1937, is described by Borba as "a remarkable work." Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 801: "interesting and rare"; @Período colonial 357-8: "rarissima e notavel relação." Blake II, 261. Innocêncio II, 225. Schäffer, @Portuguese Exploration to the West and the Formation of Brazil 8. Welsh 3590. Palha 2317. Not in Rodrigues. NUC: DCU-IA, MH, ICN. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]