‎José Alencar‎
‎Iracema or Honey-Lips: A Legend of Brazil‎

‎London: Bickers & Son, 1886. First English edition of this acclaimed Brazilian romance. Translated by Isabel Burton. Slim in-12 volume. 179 x 125 mm, (vii) 101 pp. Bound in half algae green morocco, two raised bands, five gilded bands, name printed vertically in gilt print letters, date on the bottom. Marbled papers with a touch of bright copper on covers, multiple white pages on both ends. White and green headbands. Title page, Translator's preface, Historical argument by the author. Each chapter is merely "Chapter XX", no table of contents. "I cannot allow my readers to remain ignorant of the name of Senhor J. de Alencar, the author of this and several other works; for he deserves to be as well known in England as in Brazil, and it must be the result of the usual modesty of a really clever man that he is not so. He is their first prose and romance writer." (Translator's preface) "In 1603, Pero Coelho, a gentleman of Parahyba, then already belonging to the Portuguese, arrived at the mouth of the river Jaguaribe in Ceará, with a command of 80 colonists and 800 Indians. He there founded the first settlement in Ceará, and called it Nova Lisboa. He was abandoned by his comrades when a certain João Soromenho was sent to him with reinforcements... He did not respect even the Indians of the Jaguaribe river, who were friendly to the Portuguese. This proved the downfall of the growing settlement: the natives resented such tyranny. Pero Coelho, with his wife and young children, was compelled to fly by land to his own province." (Alencar's Historical argument) Pristine and artful recent binding. Pages are clean and bright. A very good copy.‎

Reference : 01002

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