Description

This is the rare second edition of the most important work of the leading 19^th century Brazilian historian João Manuel Pereira da Silva, the foremost chronicler of his country’s Imperial Era.  The work focusses upon the critical period from 1808 to 1825, when Brazil was transformed from being an underdeveloped Portuguese colony trapped in a mercantilist system, to being the epicentre of the entire Portuguese Empire, to gaining its independence as a vast empire with its own sophisticated national institutions, with a global outlook. 

The work benefits from João Manuel Pereira da Silva’s stellar sources, as he was able to interview some of those who were active at the time, while having access to many stellar primary sources, some of which are now thought lost.  An engaging and lively read, it is an invaluable source for anyone seeking to understand the birth of modern Brazil, being just as relevant today as it was during its time.

Volume I, after providing a summary of Brazil’s history from the Portuguese Restoration of 1640 to the beginning of the 19^th century, focusses upon the period when the Portuguese royal family moved to Rio de Janeiro (in 1808) upon the French invasion of their homeland; it also features a portrait of the author.  Volume II takes up the story from 1810 and notes the creation of many of national institutions while the Braganças were resident in Rio and continues to cover the early period of Dom Pedro I’s role as both the King of Portugal and Brazil from 1816.

Volume III covers the period of the Brazilian War of Independence (1821-4) and ends with Portugal’s acceptance of the sovereignly of the Empire of Brazil at the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825.  The tome concludes with the full texts of 10 seminal documents of Brazilian history, some highlights of which include the Carta Regia (January 28, 1808), which opened Brazil to international trade; the Declaração da província de Montevideo par sua união com O Brasil (July 31, 1821), whereby Uruguay declared is desire to be a part of Brazil (it would later succeeded to become its own independent nation in 1828); and the Resumo de algumas actas das sessões do Grande Oriente Maçónico do Brasil (May 13, 1822), which saw the formation of the Grande Oriente do Brasil masonic movement in Brazil, with Dom Pedro I elected as its Grand Master.

The first edition of the História da Fundação do Império Brazileiro was issued in 7 volumes (Rio de Janeiro: B.L. Garnier, 1864-68).  While a great triumph of scholarship, its format and style were considered verbose and not particularly well edited.  For the second edition, which is billed as being “revistam, correcta e accrescentada” (“revised, corrected and augmented”), Pereira da Silva repaired many errors, tightened the prose and added some important new details, such that, in many ways, it is a different book from the first edition.  The second edition was reissued verbatim (save for the change of the imprint date) by B.L. Garnier in 1877.

João Manuel Pereira da Silva: Leading Chronicler of the Brazilian Imperial Era

João Manuel Pereira da Silva (1817 – 1898) was one of the most prominent Brazilian historians of the 19^th century.  Born in the village of Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro Province, the son of a wealthy merchant, he studied law in Paris, graduating in 1838.

Returning to Brazil and establishing himself in Rio de Janeiro as writer, his first published works were the historical novels, Religião, Amor e Pátria and O Aniversário de D. Miguel em 1828, both issued serially, in 1839, in the Jornal do Commercio.  Along with his friends, Pedro de Alcântara Bellegarde and Josino do Nascimento Silva, he founded and edited the periodical, Revista Nacional e Estrangeira, which ran from 1839 to 1841.

Pereira da Silva then spent the rest of his long writing career crafting grand works of contemporary history, chronicling the Brazilian Imperial Era, that are today considered great classics.  These monuments include Parnaso brasileiro, 2 vols. (1843-8); Obras literárias e políticas, 2 vols. (1862); História da fundação do Império Brazileiro, 7 vols. (1864-8) [the first edition of the present work]; Segundo período do Reinado de D. Pedro I no Brasil, (1871); História do Brasil de 1831 a 1840 (1879); and Nacionalidade da língua e literatura de Portugal e do Brasil (1884).

Running parallel to his literary life, Pereira da Silva was a prominent member of the Conservative Party, serving intermittently in the Câmara dos Deputados from 1843-87, and then briefly as member of the Imperial Senate from 1888 to 1889.  After the downfall of Emperor Dom Pedro II, and the declaration of the republic, the now elderly Pereira da Silva retired from public life, writing the Memórias do meu tempo (1897), a record of Brazilian politics between 1840 and 1886.

A Note on Rarity

All the three original editions of Pereira da Silva’s História da fundação do Império Brazileiro are scarce on the market, and complete examples with fine bidings in very good condition (as the present example) appear very rarely.  The second edition seems to be less common than the first.

References: New York Public Library: HFB (Pereira da Silva, J. M. Historia da fundação do Imperio Brazileiro); Newberry Library: Ayer 1300.5 .B8 P43 1870; Bibliothèque nationale de France: 8-PX-66 (A); OCLC: 457426316, 35747106;