THE ENGLISH ENLIGHTENMENT COMES TO RIO DE JANEIRO: THE FIRST ENGLISH BOOK PRINTED IN BRAZIL, WITH AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF BRAZILIAN ENGRAVING. NO COPY IN AUCTION RECORDS OF THE LAST 50 YEARS. Large 8vo. (1) f, XIII pp, (3), 175 pp, (9), plus engr. frontispiece signed by “R. E. Almeida, Dez. e Grav., Rio de Janeiro”. Printed throughout in parallel English-Portuguese translation. Bound in early 20th century gilt calf with handsome gilt-and-red title label on spine. Printed on thick paper; washed and pressed, with slight traces of dampstaining to inner corner of first few leaves; but well-preserved for an early Brazilian imprint. Extremely early example not only of printing in Brazil, but of early engraved illustration, and certainly the first example of English printing in Brazil recorded in Borba de Moraes. This is the rare first and only Brazil printing of an influential ‘essay’ by Alexandre Pope, the source of the famous quotations “To err is human; to forgive, divine” and “A little learning is a dangerous thing”. Printed on unusually thick paper and illustrated by a local engraver, the present work was among the earliest productions of the first authorized press established in Brazil, brought by the Portuguese court in 1808. The vast majority of items printed between 1808-1810 were leaflets or proclamations rather than substantive literary works, as here. The thick Holland paper suggests that the work was a lavish production for an educated elite audience; and the presence of an engraved illustration is certainly unusual in Brazilian imprints during this era. The engraver Romão Eloy de Almeida had also arrived in Brazil in 1808 and was responsible for engraving the first Brazilian banknotes. Borba de Moraes is extremely complimentary of the quality of this ‘Brazilian incunable’: “the printing is neat and clear, the distribution of text and notes in the pages, the proportion of the margins, all of it is perfect. Nothing was made better in Europe.” (“A Impressão Régia do Rio de Janeiro: origens e difusão”, p. XVII); and elsewhere he calls it “one of the most beautiful books published by the Royal Press” (Bibliografia da Impressão Régia do Rio de Janeiro, p. 45). Brazil had attracted the interest of numerous English travelers and merchants around the turn of the 19th century including John Luccock and George, Earl Macartney. This was reciprocated to some extent by Brazilian interest in English taste and fashion, the latter reaching the apex of its reputation in Europe around 1800. The exiled Conde de Aguiar, formerly Governor of Bahia, here seeks to embrace the values of the Enlightenment philosopher and poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Although the book is held in a number of institutions worldwide, it is very rare in the trade. The last copy in auction records was offered more than 50 years ago, at Sotheby’s in 1964 – a rather poor copy, with tears and some loss of text to several leaves. * Hallewell, O livro no Brasil: sua história (2005), p. 112; Almeida Camargo & Borba de Moraes, Bibliografia da Impressão Régia do Rio de Janeiro I, no. 127, p. 45: “um dos mais belos livros publicados pela Impressão Régia.” Innocêncio II, 274. JCB, Portuguese and Brazilian Books 810/10. Lilly Library, Brazil from Discovery to Independence 72: “one of the finer products of the Impressão Regia.”