OR, THE DISCOVERY OF INDIA. AN EPIC POEM. TRANSLATED FROM The Original Portuguese of Luis de Camöens. By WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. THE SECOND EDITION. OXFORD, PRINTED BY JACKSON AND LISTER; For J. Bew [etc, etc.] London. M.DCC.LXXVIII. [1778].

In 4º (de 29x32 cm) com ccxxxvi, 496 pgs.

Encadernação da época com lombada em pele.

Ilustrado com anterrosto alegórico e um mapa mundi (de 38x28 cm) desdobrável com a rota da Viagem da Gama e dos Descobrimentos Portugueses.

Exemplar com título de posse na folha de rosto, assinado: 'Sousa Viterbo'.

 Binding: contemporary half calf. Illustrated with an alegorical stamp an a folding map with the Portuguese voyages of Discovery.

Copy with ownership at title page, signed: 'Sousa Viterbo'.

The author, Luis de Camöens, is considered the Portuguese Shakespeare, and the Lusiads the Portuguese national epic. Although there have been several attempts to translate the Lusiads into English, none have been very successful until the 20th century. Mickle employs ABAB couplets, whereas Camõens used ottava rima, an ABABABCC form. He also took a few liberties with the text. Mickle's footnotes are worth consulting for the wealth of information on the classical references, as well as Portuguese history. Written in Homeric fashion, the poem focuses mainly on a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese voyages of Discovery during the 15th and 16th Centuries. Os Lusíadas is often regarded as Portugal's national epic, much in the way as Virgil's Aeneid was for the Ancient Romans, as well as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for the Ancient Greeks. It was first printed in 1572, three years after the author returned from the Indies.