GALVÃO, Lourenço Anastasio Mexia.

Vida do famoso heróe Luiz de Loureiro, Commendador de S. Thomé de Penella, da Ordem de Christo, do Conselho do Senhor Rei D. João III, Governador e Capitão General das Praças de Santa Cruz de Cabo de Aguer, Çafim, Mazagão, Arzilla, e Tangere, Adail Mór deste Reino ….

      Lisbon, Na Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1782. Printed on excellent quality, thick paper. Four large and very finely engraved initials. Three finely engraved headpieces (from the same plate), and one large finely engraved tailpiece. (4 ll.), 256, xiv pp., (1 l. errata). 4º, contemporary mottled sheep (rather worn at corners, head and foot of spine, front cover scraped), spine richly gilt with raised bands in six compartments (lettering piece gone, with some damage to second compartment from head; third compartment from head also damaged), covers with gilt borders, gilt floral tooling at each corner, and gilt Portuguese royal arms at center, covers with milled edges (considerable wear), marbled endleaves, all text block edges gilt and gauffered. Binding "tired" and worn; internally in fine to very fine condition. Overall a good to very good copy. FIRST EDITION. The author, a native of Tomar (1739-1796), wrote of a number of biographical works, the present one being his most important and most interesting. Luís de Loureiro was a notable Portuguese captain who fought in Morocco against the Moors for over 40 years. He appeared for the first time in Morocco in 1510, serving under Nuno Fernandes de Ataíde. He was at the seige of Safim in December of that year. In 1511 he was Adaíl of that North African city. In 1515 he took part in an expedition to Mamora, and in the following year was among the defenders of Arzila during a seige by the King of Fez. In 1534 he obtained his first captaincy. After a brief rest in Portugal, he returned to Morocco in 1537 as governor of Mazagão. D. João III decided to abandon some of the Portuguese forts in Morocco and concentrate his forces at Mazagão, where Luís de Loureiro remained until 1548. He died fighting near Tanger in 1553.The present work is a crucial source for the history of the Portuguese in Morocco during the first half of the sixteenth century. It contains transcriptions of a number of letters written from this theater of warfare to the Portuguese king.Innocêncio V, 194 (calling this the author's most important work): "Todos as obras d'este nosso biographo são pouco vulgares no mercado, talvez porque d'ellas se imprimissem oucos exemplares." Figaniere 1175. Avila Perez 4961. Sousa da Câmara 1932. On Luís de Loureiro, se @Grande enciclopédia, XV, 494-5. Porbase locates two copies, both in the Biblioteca Nacional, Lisboa (but with only 5 preliminary pp.). WorldCat cites the work twice, but does not provide any locations. Library of Congress Online Catalog cites the 1946 edition only. Hollis locates a copy in the Houghton Library. Not in Orbis. Melvyl cites the 1946 edition only, in a single copy at the NRLF.