GOUVEIA, Francisco Velasco de.

Iusta acclamação do Serenissimo Rey de Portugal Dom João o IV. Tratado analytico dividido em tres partes

      Lisbon, Na Officina de Lourenço de Anveres, A custa dos tres Estados do Reino, 1644. - Engraved allegorical frontisportrait. Title page in red and black. Woodcut initials, headpieces and tailpieces, some rather large and elegant. (12 ll.), 456 [i.e. 458; numbers 407–8 repeated on leaves Ll 6 and Mm1]. Pp. (pp. 391–[392, blank] bound before 389–390). The numbered pages in two columns. Folio, nineteenth–century speckled calf (very minor wear), spine gilt with raised bands in six compartments, black leather lettering piece, gilt letter, marbled endleaves, textblock edges rouged. Hole on 2N4 affecting several letters on each side. Three rectangular pieces (1 x 5.9 cm., 1.2 x 8 cm., and 1.3 x 5.4 cm.) cut from title page and repaired, apparently to remove old signatures; lower third of title page backed. Otherwise a very good to fine copy; overall a good copy. FIRST EDITION of this fundamental work on the restoration of Portuguese independence. The work was associated with the Jesuits, and was ordered suppressed by the Marques de Pombal after the expulsion of the Jesuit Order from Portugal. The engraving, signed by Cristiano Lobo, is of a Renaissance–style architectural frontispiece with broken pediment supported on each side by double Corinthian columns. In the center of the architecture is an oval cartouche with a three–quarter–length portrait of D. João IV (labeled within a frame "JOANNES IIII D.G. REX PORTVGALIÆ ET ALGARBIORVM ÆTATIS SVÆ XXXX 1644"). The ruler is shown standing in three–quarter view, wearing a suit of armor; his right hand rests on a table and clutches a baton; his helmet is placed on the same table. Directly below the portrait, in an imitation of bas–relief, is a scene of the Portuguese army facing that of Spain. Above the portrait, two putti recline on the broken pediment while holding the Portuguese royal arms topped by a royal crown and the Bragança dragon. At left and right of the portrait are the figures Mars and Minerva, who stand on pedestals bearing emblems: under Mars, one serpent bites the tail of another with the motto "Depositis novvs exvviis", while Minerva's pedestal depicts a chain with the motto "Arcerant vincula palmas". Velasco de Gouveia (d. 1659), a native of Lisbon and professor of canon law at Coimbra, was imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1636 on charges of judaizing, but was released after the auto-da-fé. Arouca G124. Visconde de Trindade 196: (describing an engraving which appears to be identical to ours, observing that it is absent from the majority of copies). Barbosa Machado II, 256. Innocêncio III, 78. Pinto de Mattos (1970) pp. 346–7. @Exposição bibliográfica da Restauração 1572. Coimbra @Reservados 1171 (citing only 10 unnumbered preliminary leaves + 1 blank leaf before main text). Welsh 20. @Greenlee Catalogue II, 681. Palha 2957 (describing a different engraving). Gubian 740. Azambuja 2650. Monteverde 5508. Azevedo–Samodães 3475. Ameal 2464. Avila Perez 7915. Regarding the engraving, Soares, @História da gravura artística em Portugal 1237 describes the frontispiece and reproduces the oval portrait of D. João IV; however, he fails to mention the signature of Cristiano Lobo, and on the basis of style and iconography attributes the engraving to Michel Lasne; cf. 1269, signed by Lobo (giving a description of the engraving which differs somewhat from the present one, calling for a label reading "JOANNES EX DUCE BRIGANTINO. PORTUGALLÆ D.G. REX hoc Nomine IV."). See also Soares & Campos Ferreira Lima, @Dicionário II, 198–9 (giving a description of the engraving which differs significantly both from the present one as well as from those described in @História da gravura artística em Portugal). NUC: CtY, NjP. [Attributes: First Edition; Signed Copy; Hard Cover]