Author: [RODRIGUES, José Francisco and João RODRIGUES] ("Cesar Fiosconi, e Jordam GUSERIO").
Title: Espingarda perfeyta, & regras para a sua operaçam . . .Lisbon, António Pedroso Galrão, 1718. 4to. With full-page frontispiece showing the crowned Portuguese coat of arms, title-page with engraved decorative cartouche, 12 engraved plates (including 4 folding) by Manuel Freire and 1 engraved illustration in the text. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment.
Description: [31], [1 blank], 183, [1 blank] pp.First (and only early) edition of a rare Portuguese manual devoted primarily to gun smithing, but also discussing the use of guns in hunting. It gives detailed instructions and excellent illustrations concerning the techniques of gunsmithing ca. 1700, with views of men at work at the forge, with many tools in view, a man using a lathe, men using several other tools, decorated gunlocks and other decorative elements. One plate shows a man shooting a bird. Written by two brothers, the Lisbon gunsmiths José Fransisco and João Rodrigues, it is "the most remarkable treatise on the subject of gunmaking of this period'' (Daehnhardt in the introduction of the 1974 reprint). The Rodrigues brothers broke with tradition by setting down in print knowledge that had previously been passed down from master to apprentice within the closed circles of the trade guilds.With 1 plate detached, a few minor tears, and an occasional stain (mostly in the gutter margin), otherwise in very good condition. A rare and well-illustrated practical manual of gunsmithing.l Innocencio IV, 1250; KVK & WorldCat (7 copies); Schwerdt I, p. 174; cf. Daehnhardt, Espingarda Perfeita or The Perfect Gun (1974).

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