"One of the noblest of epics" - Boies Penrose
With a Double-Hemisphere World Map
This 1639 Madrid edition of the famous epic poem Os Lusíadas, originally published in Portuguese by Luís Vaz de Camões in 1572, is a notable early Spanish translation which includes the original Portuguese text as well as additional prose commentary in Spanish. The world map is interesting as a 17th-century Spanish world map purporting to show early Portuguese voyages of discovery.
The Lusiads is indeed the national poem par excellence and the supreme epic of Portugal's conquests in the East. Critics have remarked that Camoens is an entire literature in himself... For the purposes of geographical literature, it may be observed that the voyage of Vasco de Gama occasioned its composition and formed the skeleton around which it grew, and the magnificent Tenth Canto relates the deeds of the Portuguese in India up to the days of Camoens himself - Penrose.
The double-hemisphere woodcut world map is found on two facing pages within part 4. The map identifies the discoveries of explorers Magellan and Ludovico di Varthema (Lud. Vartomano). While the geography is fairly crude with exaggerated features such as an oversized Tierra del Fuego, distorted river systems in North and South America, and a prominently drawn Niger River in Africa, the map is nevertheless curious, with the seas stippled. A massive Southern Continent dominates the lower portion of the map, incorporating New Guinea (Nueva Guinea) and featuring coastal names like Beach and Lucach, drawn from Marco Polo’s travel memoirs.
Among the illustrations in the text is an impressive full-page standing portrait of the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.
In the final canto, Camoens invokes a prophetic vision of future Portuguese navigators and conquests, delivered by the sea nymph Thetis to the hero Vasco da Gama. Camões looks ahead beyond the scope of the 15th - 16th century voyages, offering praise for explorers who would come after da Gama - including Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães), even though Magellan eventually sailed under the Spanish flag.
Camões refers to Magellan (though not always by name) as one of the great navigators descended from Portuguese stock who would achieve fame through daring exploration. The tone is somewhat ambivalent because Magellan's service to Spain was politically controversial in Portugal.
Rarity
Quite rare in commerce. Only one complete set noted as sold in RBH during the last 40 years.