4to. 72, (14), VIII pp.; (2) ff. with engravings. Text set in roman, Hebrew, Greek and Arabic type. With a small Portuguese woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and 4 engraved plates on 2 leaves bound at the end of the book. Later blue paper wrappers. First and only edition of an instruction manual for the compositors of the Portuguese Impressão Regia on the proper setting of Greek, Hebrew and Arabic type. It was written by Custodio José de Oliveira (d. 1812), professor of Greek at the Colégio Real dos Nobres in Lisbon and one of the Directores Litterarios of the Impressão Regia, serving until 1807, for which he wrote the present work. The present work is identified as "very useful" by Innocencio and according to him, it was the only Portuguese manual on typesetting he knew so far ("Trabalho mui aproveitavel, para o tempo em que sahiu, e o unico que sobre o assumpto temos até agora escripto orginalmente em portuguez"). Oliveira shows in both the tables and inserts within the text the alphabets and numbers in Greek, Hebrew and Arabic with their roman equivalents. The last four plates (printed on both sides of two leaves) show common ligatures and abbreviations in Greek. The present copy of this very rare work is complete with all plates, the "Prefação aos compositores typograficos" (numbered I-VIII) and the seven-leaf dedication, all bound at the end of the book. An important work on the subject of typesetting and the only work on this topic known in Portuguese. - With the bookplate of Américo Cortez Pinto (1896-1979) on the front wrapper, a Portuguese physician, writer, poet and historian who also wrote some works on the art of printing. Front wrapper half loose and back wrapper loose, spine partly gone, wrappers a little frayed, discoloured and slightly stained. Paper edges slightly frayed as it is an untrimmed copy, sometimes with the bolts unopened. Some marginal staining, very minor foxing, but overall a very rare work on printing and typography which is still in fine condition. Bigmore/Wyman II, 90. Innocencio II, 461. The literature of printing: a catalogue of the library illustrative of the history and art of typography, calcography and lithography of Richard M. Hoe, p. 85. Not in Porbase.
