Bidspirit auction | CATÁLOGO dos Manuscritos de Macau.

CATÁLOGO dos Manuscritos de Macau. Lisboa. 1960-1966. - CATÁLOGO dos Manuscritos de Macau . Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1960-1966. 7 v.; 245 mm. Catalogue of manuscripts existing in the archives of the Province of Macau, compiled over several years and published in successive volumes by the Centre for Overseas Historical Studies. The work originated from the task, entrusted in August 1955 by the Governor of the Province, of indexing the documentation scattered throughout the various departments of Macau. The most important collection is the archive of the Leal Senado da Câmara de Macau (Loyal Senate of the Macau Chamber), composed of two hundred and thirty-six codices covering the period from 1630 to 1924; this was joined by the archive of the Central Department of Civil Administration Services, with documents between 1734 and 1895, which was then still to be chronologically ordered and threatened by termite damage. According to the account of the person responsible for the work, in a preface addressed to the Governor in 1956, several of the books of minutes of the General Councils of the Leal Senado, from the 17th and 18th centuries, were already copies from the beginning of the 19th century, because the originals had been destroyed by white ants and moths, and there were still volumes with text that was practically illegible or corroded by old inks; the indexing of the book of minutes of the sessions from 1712 to 1718 proved especially time-consuming, because the margins damaged by moths had been covered with paper in the binding process, concealing part of the original text. This catalog is an indispensable working tool for any research into the administrative and institutional history of Macau between the 17th and 20th centuries. Thank you. ⚑ Auto-translated via Google Translate