GALVÂO, Antonio 1503-1557

[2548] THE | DISCOVERIES | of the World from their | first originall vnto the | yeere of our Lord | 1555. | Briefly written in the Por- | tugall tongue by ANTONIE | GALVANO, Gouernour of | Ternate, the chiefe Island | of the Malucos: | Corrected, quoted, and now | published in English by Richard | Hacluyt, sometimes student | of Christchurch in | Oxford.

LONDINI, | Impensis G. Bishop. | 1601.

18 x 12 cms. 6 hs. s/n. 98 pp. Letras redondas, cursivas y góticas. A línea tirada. Textos en inglés. Apostillada. Viñetas e iniciales grabadas en madera. Signs. A4-B4-C4-N4-O3 [$2 (-A1)].

A1r: Portada ut supra, orlada en una ancha banda afiligranada. V. en bl. A2r-A4r: (Viñeta, inicial que sangra diez líneas) TO THE RIGHT | HONORABLE, SIR | Robert Cecill Knight, principall Se- | cretaire to her Maiestie, Master of the Court of | Wards and Liueries, the woorthy Chancellour of | the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, and one of | her Maiesties most honorable | priuie Counsell. =: From London | this 29. of October | 1061 (sic). | Your Honors Chaplein, in all dutie | most readie to be commanded, | RICHARD HAKLUYT. A4v: bl. B1r-B2v: (Inicial que sangra siete líneas) Francis de Sousa Tauare unto the | high and mightie Prince Don | IOHN Duke of | Aueiro. Págs. 1-97, B3r-O3r: (Viñeta e inicial que sangra once líneas) An excellent Treatise of ANTONIE | GALVANO Portugall, containing the | most ancient and moderne discoueries of the | world especially by nauigation, according to | the course of times from the flood | untill the yeere of grace | 1555. O3v: bl. Entre las págs. 33 y 34 dice: In the yeere 1497. ”The king of Spaine Don Fernando sent out Christopher Columbus with five ships, and he himself prouided two ships at his owne cost, and sending his brother before, he made saile from the Bay of Cadiz, carrying with hims his sonne Don Diego Colon. It was then reported that he went to take the Island of Madera, because he mistrusted the French men, and therefore sent thither three ships: others say it was to the Canaries. But howsoever it was this is true, that he and three more went unto the Islands of Cape Verde, and ran along by the line finding great calmes and raine, and the first land which they came unto of the Antiles was an Island standing in 9. degrees of latitude towards the north ioining fast unto the maine land, which they called La Trinidad; and so he entred into the Gulfe of Paria, and came out of the mouth which they name Bocca de Dragone, or the Dragons mouth: and they tooke their course hard by the coast, where they found three small Islands, which they named Los Testigos, that is to say, The Witnesses, beyond which standeth the Island of Cubagua, where is great fishing of muscle pearles: where also, as they say, there springeth a Well of oile: and beyond that Island they came to the Isles of Frailes, Roques, Aruba, and Curaçao,with other small ones all along the Bay: and they came to the point of Cabo de Vela, and discouered along the coast almost 200. leagues, from whence they crossed ouer to Hispaniola, hauing had also sight of the Island called Beata.”

BN ZA-1254. JCBL C601 G182d. Sabin 26469. Colección del autor (Edición facsimilar, World Publishing Company, 1966. Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.) Borba de Moraes I, 289. La edición facsimilar trae algunas notas escritas por A. L. Rowse y Robert O. Dougan. De ellas extractamos los siguientes datos: Antonio Galvâo nació en Lisboa en 1503. En 1527 fue a la India para desempeñar cargos administrativos y asegurar para la corona portuguesa el monopolio de especies. Regresó a Portugal hacia 1540 en estado de suma pobreza, y muere en un hospital 17 años después en 1557. En estos años escribió esta rara obra, muy completa y precisa, y que lo hace considerar como el fundador de la geografía histórica. Richard Hakluyt apreció el valor de esta obra y la editó en inglés en 1601. La edición original en portugués fue publicada en Lisboa por J. de Barreira en 1563 y se tituló: Tratado. Que compôs o nobre & notauel capitâo Antonio Galuâo, dos diuersos & desuayrados caminhos, por onde nos tempos passados a pimenta & especearia veyo da India ás nossas partes, & assi de todos os descobrimentos antigos & modernos, que sâo feitos ate a era de mil & quinhentos & cincoenta. Es una obra muy rara y sólo hay copias en la BL y la John Carter Brown Library en Providence, Rhode Island. Este texto portugués fue reimpreso en Lisboa en 1731 con el título: Tratado dos Descobrimentos antigos, e modernos, feitos até a Era de 1550. Los textos en inglés y en portugués fueron también editados juntos por la Hakluyt Society en 1862.

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