Lavanha, Joao Baptista - Naufragio da Nao Santo Alberto e itenerario da gente que delle se salvou - 1597

A volume in 4º (20 x 13.6 cm), half leather binding (with corners) from the 19th century, golden title on the spine.

Title page with wood-engraved print depicting the shipwreck, 2 preliminary sheets, 65 pp.

Azevedo, I-393; Anselmo, 1065.

In 1593, the ship Santo Alberto faced a tragic end when it was shipwrecked off the coast of southeastern Africa. The book offers a complete insight into the maritime tragedy and the journey of the survivors through the land then called by the Portuguese Cafraria. The author devotes most of the text to the description of the interior and the numerous southern Bantu communities. The castaways interacted with them along a forced pilgrimage between the beach of Kwelera, south of the Kei, to the kingdom of Inhaca, in the current Bay of Maputo.

Lavanha used the anonymous manuscript entitled ‘Perdição da nao Santo Alberto, y las cosas de Cafraria, custome de las que abitão hasta Cabo das Correntes’ (BnP, Cod. 639), of great historical and literary value. It provides essential information for the study of maritime voyages, the encounter with different geographies, peoples and cultures...

The author, Joao Baptista Lavanha, was a mathematician and historian. It is not known for sure whether Spanish or Portuguese. He was born in the second half of the 16th century. He was a chronicler and cosmographer of Philip III.

Reinforcement on the outer side margin of page 63, without loss of text.

It could be a pirate edition from the 18th century.
It's a very very rare work.