ÁLVARES, Francisco (1465-1540). Verdadera informaçam das terras do Preste Ioam das Indias. [Lisbon:] Luis Rodrigues, 1540.

First edition of the most comprehensive European account of Ethiopia to this date, detailing the Empire of Dawit II from first-hand travel. Francisco Álvares was the chaplain on the Portuguese mission to Ethiopia which lasted from 1520 to 1526/1527 and was the first European mission to the area. He was an acute observer and his account attracted wide readership and was translated into several languages. It "includes interesting descriptions of the antiquities of both Aksum and Latibala, accounts of Ethiopian governmental and social institutions, and a narrative of Portuguese negotiations with Lebna Dengel [aka Dawit II]. The work is of a particular interest because it gives a clear picture of the Ethiopian empire in its heyday, just before the invasion of the Muslim conqueror Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, also called al-Ghazi" (Pankhurst, Encyclopaedia Africana). Not in Anselmo; Iberian Books before 1600 513.

Folio (264 x 184mm). Title printed in red and black and with a full-page woodcut depicting Prester John and his entourage outside a walled town, woodcut printer's device on final leaf (title soiled and slightly trimmed, ink stain to F4-5, dampstain to lower margin of index, encroaching to text on 5 leaves). Modern vellum with ties, slipcase (erasures to vellum). Provenance: Bent Juel-Jensen, 1922-2006 (bookplate in Amharic).