Sardinha Mimoso, João | First edition of this tragicomedy, performed in front of Prince Phillip II

Sardinha Mimoso, João

Relacion de la real tragicomedia con que los Padres de la Compania de Jesus en su Colegio de S. Anton de Lisboa recibieron a la Magestad Catolica de Felipe II de Portugal, y de su entrada en este Reino, cõ lo que se hizo en las Villas, y Ciudades en que entrò. Lisbon: Jorge Rodrigues, 1620

4to (170 x 100 mm). Text within double-ruled woodcut borders, woodcut initials, engravings of Bragança ducal arms on title page, engraving of Portuguese royal arms on ¶5 recto; minor repair on verso and following leaf not affecting text, minor worming to the primary gatherings in lower margins, light repair of leaf A8 not affecting text, few holes and marginal spotting throughout. Late seventeenth or eighteenth-century specked sheepskin, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second gilt lettered, others with repeat decoration in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges speckled red; extremities lightly rubbed, few scuffs, slight split 4 cm from upper joints.

Fine first edition of a play performed in front of Prince Philip II in 1619.

Mimiso’s tragicomedy was staged and presented in a newly built court at the Jesuit College of San Anton, in honor of Phillip II of Spain’s arrival to Portugal. Centered on the discovery of Brazil and India, the play features 350 animals, birds, and marine creatures, some of which sing in a “Chorus brasilicus” in Tupi, the native language of the indigenous Brazilians. Details of the set design, stage entrances, and curtain colors are included by Mimoso within the preliminary matter (ff.1v-4r).

REFERENCES

Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 571-2; Bibliographica Brasiliana, 571-2; Sabin 69184; Innocêncio X, 346; Palha 2939; not in Rodrigues