Miranda, Francisco de Sá de | First edition of the collected works of the renaissance Portuguese poet

Miranda, Francisco de Sá de

As Obras do Celebrado Luistano, o doutour Frãcisco de Sá de Mirãda. [Lisbon: Manoel de Lyra], 1595

4to (178 x 125 mm). Woodcut arms of dedicatee D. Joeronymo de Castro and contemporary signature on title page, woodcut and typographical tailpieces, engravings; a few spots and light staining, minor rippling to middle gatherings, error in foliation with page skip 176 to 179 and lacking final blank. Bound in twentieth-century full crimson morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in triple-ruled borders with tooled corners, spine gilt with raised bands in six compartments, spine label in second gilt-lettered, date and place lettered in gilt at foot, text block edges gilt, spine slightly scuffed and worn at extremities. Red morocco slipcase.

First edition of the collected works of the renaissance Portuguese poet, and the only edition to include "Estrangeiros."

Noted by Bell as the "champion of humanism in Portugal," Miranda spent a five-year tour in Italy that greatly influenced the content and form of his works. He was the first Portuguese poet to write in Italian hendecasyllabics rather than octosyllablic redondilas. Returning to Lisbon in 1526, Miranda was graciously welcomed into the court of King D. João III, a relationship that would grant the poet an estate in Minho, where the author's best work was produced.

“Os Estrangeiros” (or “The Foreigners”) is recognized as the first Portuguese comedy written in classical prose. 

REFERENCES

Pina Martins, Sá de Miranda e a cultura do Renascimento 19/6; Anselmo 764; King Manuel 294; Barbosa Machado II, 251-5; Nicolau Antonio I, 471; Ticknor p. 315; Palha 796; Bell, Portuguese Literature pp. 139-45. Not in Salvá or Heredia

PROVENANCE

Walter Corrêa de Sá e Benevides (bookplate to front pastedown)