The first Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East Indias, enterprised by the Portingales, in their daungerous Navigations, in the time of King Don John, the second of that name. Which Historie containeth much varietie of matter, very profitable for all Navigators, and not unpleasaunt to the Readers. Set foorth in the Portingale language. And now translated into English, by N.L. Gentleman

Small quarto, title page printed within a typographical border, with woodcut tailpieces and historiated initials; early 19th-century russia leather binding, neatly rebacked to style, sides with blind decorative panels, gilt edges. First edition in English, dedicated to Sir Francis Drake, of one of the great narratives of the first age of discovery and among the rarest contemporary English accounts of Portuguese expansion in Asia. It is one of the essential English sources for the history of European expansion in the East and, through its account of Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage of 1500, one of the earliest authorities in English for the discovery of Brazil. Nicholas Lichefield's "florid but energetic" translation of the first book of Castanheda's História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses (Coimbra, 1551) introduced English readers to the formative history of the Portuguese maritime empire at precisely the moment when England itself was beginning to contemplate overseas expansion. Although Castanheda ultimately published eight books between 1551 and 1561, it was this foundational first volume that appeared in English. As Hill observes, "the English edition is very rare." Dedicated to Drake and published during England's emergence as a maritime power, the translation offered English readers their first sustained account of the navigations, commerce, diplomacy and military campaigns through which Portugal had established its eastern empire, providing a practical as well as historical model of overseas expansion. Lopes de Castanheda (c.1500-1559) accompanied his father to India with the fleet of Nuno da Cunha in 1528 and spent almost a decade in Asia, travelling widely while assembling the materials for what became the first comprehensive history of Portuguese expansion in the East. Drawing upon official records, eyewitness testimony and his own experience of the Estado da Índia, he produced a work distinguished by both its accuracy and breadth. Returning to Coimbra in poor health, he devoted the next two decades to refining his history, which Donald Lach praised for its remarkable success in establishing "a factual record" from such varied evidence. At a time when many chronicles blended hearsay with legend, Castanheda consciously compared documentary evidence with personal testimony, establishing a standard of historical method that gave his work an authority recognised for centuries thereafter. The original Portuguese version appears to have been withdrawn shortly after publication, probably because it offended influential interests, making surviving copies exceptionally rare. The work traces the creation of Portuguese power from Vasco da Gama's first voyage onwards, drawing upon such fundamental sources as the anonymous Roteiro, Tomé Pires, Francisco Rodrigues and Duarte Barbosa. Through Lichefield's translation, English readers encountered the exploits of Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Afonso de Albuquerque and the other architects of the Portuguese empire in Asia for the first time. At the same time, the account of Cabral's accidental landfall in Brazil ensured that the volume assumed an important place in the literature of the Americas, preserving for English readers one of the earliest substantial printed narratives of the Portuguese discovery of South America. Castanheda's importance rests not simply upon chronology but upon method. Unlike many sixteenth-century chroniclers, he consciously sought to compare official documentation with eyewitness testimony, supplementing both by his own experience acquired during a decade in Asia. The resulting history possesses an authority recognised by later historians. Raymond Beazley regarded it as one of the indispensable narratives of Portuguese discovery, while Boies Penrose described it as "an impartial book of outspoken sincerity which was the fruit of years of residence in the East." The English translation occupies an equally signifi.…