Arte, e diccionario do commercio, e economia portugueza, para que todos negoceem, e governem os seus bens por calculo, e não por conjectura; ou para que todos lucrem mais com menos risco.

Lisbon, Na Offic. de Domingos Gonsalves, 1784.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. 8°, contemporary mottled calf, spine with raised bands in five compartments, green label in second compartment from head, short-title gilt-lettered (some rubbing). Title page dampstained, light dampstaining elsewhere. In good condition. 215 pp., (1 p. errata). *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION of this handbook listing the prices of commodities traded by Portugal with Europe, Africa and the Americas, with evaluations of Portugal's status in the international economy. "The statistics show, for example, that rice had become a profit-yielding item. Nevertheless, the author recommended that the export trade be expanded, finding that the Portuguese empire had a negative trade balance in 1777, and that the economy diversify instead of relying on gold mines, with all the income being spent during the 'fat' years" (Schäffer).Brazil is mentioned as the source for over thirty products (often with a specific region, such as Pará or Maranhão), including indigo, coffee, copper, ginger, sponges, silk, wheat and linen. It is also mentioned ten or more times when the author feels a product could be grown there rather than imported, e.g., boar bristles, feathers, cloves, and cochineal.Among the other commodities listed are cotton, coca, gum, ipecacuana, clocks and guns. Often there is a short dissertation on the product, e.g., on sugar (p. 52), fish oil (pp. 55-6), and cacao (pp. 65-6). The author is not averse to adding his own astringent comments; he is, for instance, upset that Portugal imports tartaruga emcascos (tortoise-shell) when "nôs temos pelas costas, e lagoas do Brasil cascos tam grandes de tartarugas, que servem de bacias" (p. 199).Lima de Mello Bacellar, a Franciscan, also wrote Diccionario da lingua portugueza, Lisbon 1783.*** Borba de Moraes (1983) I, 50. Innocêncio I, 379. Not in Kress; Luso-Brazilian Economic Literature before 1850 lists only a microfilm copy (p. 3). Schäffer, Portuguese Exploration to the West and the Formation of Brazil 78. JCB, Portuguese and Brazilian Books 784/1. Not in JFB (1994) or Ticknor Catalogue. Goldsmiths' Library 12603. Porbase locates four copies, all at Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. Not located in NUC.