Fabulario composto e dedicado a Sua Alteza Real o Principe D. Carlos ....

Lisbon, Livraria Ferreira, 1885.. FIRST EDITION. 8°, contemporary crimson morocco with design of strapwork and stars on covers, spine gilt with raised bands in five compartments, inner dentelles gilt, decorated endleaves, all edges gilt, signed in gilt on the lower outer corner of the front cover "P. Ferreira". In very fine condition. Author's four-line presentation inscription on half-title: "Ao M.R.N. [?] // Conde da Praia // e de Monforte //offerece o escritor." (6 ll.), 1075, (1) pp. *** FIRST EDITION of this interesting volume of 366 fables in verse, including extensive notes and indices. The author also published a Portuguese version of Lessing's fables.Henrique O’Neill (1821-1889), descendant of an Irish family that arrived in Portugal during the eighteenth century, was a distinguished and literate man. After receiving his degree in law from Coimbra he taught Portuguese at Göttingen, then returned to Lisbon to enter the judiciary. O’Neill counted among his acquaintances Alexandre Herculano and Antonio Feliciano de Castilho, and belonged to the Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa and the Instituto de Coimbra. In 1873 he became perceptor of D. Carlos and D. Afonso, the sons of D. Luis I, and veador of Maria Pia of Savoy, D. Luis’s consort. For these services he was named Visconde de Santa Monica. Innocêncio notes that O'Neill seldom published his works with his name on them: "Cultivando as letras com íntimo amor, poucas vezes tem dado ao prelo, sob o seu nome, producções suas." On the binder Paulino Ferreira (b. 1861), see Matias Lima, Encadernadores portugueses. pp. 104-5.Provenance: António Borges de Medeiros Dias da Câmara e Sousa (Ponta Delgada, São José, 1829-Lisbon, 1913), 2.º Visconde da Praia, 1.º Conde da Praia e Monforte e 1.º Marquês da Praia e Monforte, was a great landed agricultural magnate and political figure. A typical enlightened, liberal aristocrat, he and his family formed a significant library, supported cultural projects, and patronized a number of authors, especially in the Açores.*** Martinho da Fonseca, Aditamentos, p. 184; see also Innocêncio X, 391-2. Not in Hollis. Porbase locates three copieseach at Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and Biblioteca João Paulo II-Universidade Católica Portuguesa, plus one at Escola Superior Educação-Lisboa. Not located in Jisc. KVK (51 databases searched) repeats Porbase and Sainte-Geneviève. NUC: DLC