Beschreibung des Portugiesischen Amerika vom Cudena. Ein Spanisches Manuskript in der Wolfenbüttelschen Bibliothek, herausgegeben von Herrn Hofrath Lessing. Mit Anmerkungen und Zusätzen begleitet von Christian Leiste. Rektor de herzoglichen grossen Schule zu Wolfenbüttel.
Braunschweig: in der Buchhandlung des Fürstl. Waysenhauses, 1780. First edition. The original Spanish text is reproduced throughout with facing German translation. Later morocco, covers panelled in blind and gilt, spine lettered in gilt. 160 pp. Outer margin of the final leaf skilfully restored. Overall in very good condition.
A rare pre-Humboldt German Braziliana; the first publication of a 1634 survey of Portuguese America’s geography, commerce, and colonial administration, issued by Lessing.
One of the most significant German publications on Brazil of the eighteenth century, containing the first appearance in print of a manuscript survey of Portuguese America written in 1634 by Pedro Cadena de Vilhasanti. The manuscript was discovered in the ducal library at Wolfenbüttel by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who published it together with a German translation and an extensive commentary by Christian Leiste. At a time when reliable German-language information on South America remained scarce, the volume became one of the principal German sources on Brazil before the appearance of Humboldt’s works.
The author, Pedro Cadena de Vilhasanti, served as provedor-mor of the Royal Treasury in Brazil and is best known for his Relação diária do cerco da Bahia de 1638, one of the principal contemporary accounts of the Dutch siege of Salvador, first published only in the twentieth century. Written for the Count-Duke of Olivares, chief minister of the Spanish monarchy, the present work reflects Cadena’s direct experience of colonial administration and constitutes a detailed administrative, economic, and geographical survey of Portuguese Brazil during the period of Dutch expansion in northeastern South America. Proceeding systematically along the coast from the mouth of the Amazon southwards, he describes the principal captaincies, including Maranhão, Pará, Rio Grande, Paraíba, and Pernambuco, recording settlements, fortifications, ports, rivers, and administrative divisions while providing extensive information on trade, taxation, sugar production, shipbuilding resources, and strategic infrastructure. Particular attention is given to exports of sugar, tobacco, cotton, brazilwood, and other commodities, the revenues they generated, the number of sugar mills in operation, navigational conditions, and the availability of timber suitable for the construction of large ocean-going vessels. The work preserves an unusually detailed snapshot of the economic and administrative structure of Portuguese Brazil in the early seventeenth century and offers a rare contemporary assessment of the colony’s strategic and commercial value.
The publication originated in Lessing’s investigation into the origin of the name of the Amazon (Marañón) River. Misinterpreting the phrase “Marañón y Gran Pará” as referring to a Spanish captain rather than to a geographical designation, he believed the manuscript provided evidence for the origin of the river’s name and therefore arranged for its publication, prefacing it with a substantial introduction. Although this interpretation was later shown to be mistaken, Leiste sought to support Lessing’s reading of “Marañón y Gran Pará” before ultimately supplementing the manuscript with additional material drawn from more authoritative sources, particularly Dutch works on Brazil, thereby providing a broader account of the colony’s geography and history. His commentary reflects the growing German scholarly interest in South America during the late eighteenth century.
Borba de Moraes regarded the volume as one of the most significant German publications on Brazil of the eighteenth century, noting the scarcity of original German works on the subject during that period. The edition attracted sufficient attention to be reprinted, with corrections and additional commentary, in C. G. von Murr’s Reisen einiger Missionarien der Gesellschaft Jesu in Amerika (1785).
References: Borba de Moraes, Bibliographia Brasiliana, I, pp. 141–142; Sabin 17830
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Price: €15,000.00