Relação, ou noticia particular da infeliz viagem da não de Sua Magestade Fidelissima, Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, e S. Pedro de Alcantara, do Rio de Janeiro para a Cidade de Lisboa neste presente anno.

Lisbon, Na Regia Officina Typografica, 1778.. First Edition. 4°, recent full crimson Oasis morocco, double border in gilt on covers, spine with raised bands in six compartments, gilt-lettered, inner dentelles gilt, silk pastedowns and flyleaves, all edges gilt; in a slipcase. Woodcut initial. Clean, crisp. Overall in fine condition. (3 ll.), 72 pp. *** FIRST EDITION. An account of the terrible voyage Alexandre e Silva made from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon in the company of some 600 others on a single ship. The passengers included the captain-general of Mozambique, Captain-General of Goiás José de Almeida Vasconcelos, and the famous judge of the Court of Appeals José Mascarenhas Pacheco Coelho e Melo, who was imprisoned in Brazil for twenty years by order of the Marquês de Pombal. The voyage lasted 216 days, for 46 of which the ship sailed without masts or a rudder. The author wrote this account to call attention to the need for more adequate fitting of the ships used for Atlantic crossings. At the end is a poem celebrating the return of Judge Mascarenhas to Portugal. The work appeared again at Lisbon, 1869.Elias Alexandre e Silva, later known as Elias Alexandre da Silva Correa, was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1753 and began a military career in Santa Catarina. Having survived this hazardous voyage, he served for four years in the Portuguese infantry, then seven years in Angola (1782-1789), and later served in Rio de Janeiro. His Historia de Angola, only published in 1937, is described by Borba as "a remarkable work."*** Borba de Moraes (1983) II, 801: "interesting and rare"; Período colonial 357-8: "rarissima e notavel relação." Blake II, 261. Innocêncio II, 225. Imprensa Nacional p. 336. Schäffer, Portuguese Exploration to the West and the Formation of Brazil 8. JCB, Portuguese and Brazilian Books 778/6. Welsh 3590. Palha 2317. Not in Rodrigues. Porbase locates 2 copies of this edition at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, plus a single copy of the second, Lisbon 1869 (at the Biblioteca Nacional). Jisc repeats British Library. NUC: DCU-IA, MH, ICN.