LIFE OF PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL (THE)

MAJOR (Richard Henry).— THE LIFE OF PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL, Surnamed The Navigator and its results: Comprising the discovery, within one century, of half the world. With new facts in the discovery of the Atlantic Islands. A refutation of French claims to priority in discovery. Portuguese Knowledge (subsequently lost) of the Nile lakes; and the history of the naming of America. 1.ª edição. London and Berlin. A. Asher & Co. 1868. 16x24,5 cm. LII-487 págs. E.

“It may perhaps be fairly regarded as a matter of surprise that no Englishman has hitherto attempted to prepare a monograph of the life of Prince Henry the Navigator. If a phenomenom without example in the world’s history, resulting from the thought and preserverance of one man, might be supposed of interest enough to tempt the pen of the biographer, assuredly that inducement was not wanting.
When we see the small population of a narrow strip of the Spanish Peninsula, limited both in means and men, become, in an incredibly short space of time, a mighty maritime nation, not only conquering the islands and Western Coasts of Africa and rounding its Southern Cape, but creating empires and founding capital cities at a distance of two tousand leagues from their own homesteads, we are tempted to suppose thar such results must have been brought about by some freak of fortune, some happy struck of luck. Not so: they were the effects of the patience, wisdom, intellectual labour, and example of one man, backed by the pluck of a race of sailors who, when we consider the means at their disposal, have been unsurpassed as adventurers in any country or any age.”

Extensa biografia de Dom Henrique, o Navegador, da autoria de Richard Henry Major, geógrafo e cartógrafo britânico, notável investigador sobre a era das Descobertas e curador da colecção de cartografia do Museu Britânico entre 1844 e 1880, ano da sua morte.

Inclui uma bela gravura a cores com retrato do Infante D. Henrique no frontispício e, em extra-texto, duas cartas desdobráveis a cores, uma da Austrália (reprodução do mapa Dauphin, de c. 1530 e mapa de África com as viagens dos portugueses no século XVI).

Encadernação editorial da época, em percalina e ferros a ouro, desgastada pelo tempo. Miolo exibindo picos de acidez e algumas anotações manuscritas a lápis.