BOXER (Charles R.)

Asia Portuguesa no Tempo do Vice-Rei Conde da Ericeira (1718-1720).

Second edition. One plate. 4to. Original red cloth, a very good copy. 112, [vi]pp. Macau, Imprensa Nacional, 1970.

£180.00

Boxer edited the correspondence of Dom Luis de Menezes, the 5th Conde de Ericeira (1689-1742) and Viceroy of India. The present book deals with his first tenure as Viceroy from 1717-1720. It includes correspondence with various Governors of Macao including the noted Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho (1682-1745), a number of Jesuits stationed in Peking (incl. Stumpf), as well as members of the senate in Macao. “Dom Luis de Menezes certainly compares favourably with most 18th century Europeans in Asia, and took a scholarly interest in the native civilizations of India and China which few of his contemporaries evinced. Only 27 years old when appointed Viceroy of India in 1717, he busied himself by collecting Asiatic manuscripts and books in his leisure hours, many of which he had translated for the benefit of his friends in Portugal, - who it is to be feared probably never read them. He bombarded the Peking Padres with requests for information, asking Father Mourao to find out whether there were any Jews in Tartary…” (Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 213). The first edition was printed in the previous year. West 233.

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