PACHECO, Diogo.- EMANVELIS LVSITAN: AL - GARBIOR. AFRICAE AETHI - OPIAE ARABIAE PERSIAE - INDIAE REG

PACHECO, Diogo.- EMANVELIS LVSITAN: AL | GARBIOR. AFRICAE AETHI | OPIAE ARABIAE PERSIAE | INDIAE REG. INVICTISS: | OBEDIENTIA. [gravura xilográfica com as armas de Portugal].- S.l. [Roma]: s.n., s.d. [1514].- [16] p.; 18 cm.- E, Rare edition of the prayer of obedience addressed to Pope Leo X by Diogo Pacheco, on behalf of the King of Portugal, in the context of the sumptuous embassy sent to Rome in 1514 by King Manuel I, which featured the famous elephant Hanno. Diogo Pacheco (fl. 16th century), an erudite jurist, was court magistrate, chancellor of the Casa do Cível and secretary to the bishop of Porto, D. Diogo de Sousa. Pacheco accompanied this prelate in 1505 on the embassy sent to Rome to greet the new pope Julius II, having already uttered the prayer of obedience to the pope. The 1514 embassy was headed by the navigator and naval commander Tristan da Cunha (ca.1460-ca.1540), with the poet and chronicler Garcia de Resende (1470-1536) as secretary. The prayers of obedience, in use since the middle of the fourteenth century, were speeches pronounced on behalf of Christian sovereigns, usually on the occasion of the accession to the throne of a new pope. Two variants of this prayer are known, this one being distinguished by having the coat of arms of Portugal in the title page. The prayer itself occupies 10 pages (fol. a2r to b4v), the remaining four filled with traditional eulogies and praises, by the humanists Marcantonio Casanova, Joachim Cipellus, Blosius, Pietro Curzio, Lancellotus Politus, B. Dardanus, Janus Vitalis and Camillo Portio. The edition, without date or place of printing, was certainly printed in Rome, on the occasion of the visit of the embassy, that is, in 1514. Ex-libris of leather, pasted on the back cover: Ex Mvsæo Hvthii (Library of Henry Huth, 1815- 1878, banker and prominent bibliophile, settled in London, member of the famous Roxburghe Club). 19th century fine calf binding signed by the London bookbinder F.[Francis] Bedford (1799-1883) with elaborate gold tooling on the spine, roll on the squares and gilt edges. Palha, 2880. Leite de Faria (Damião de Góis), 262. Orações de obediência (Lisbon, Inapa, 1988), 6.