Bidspirit auction | Fialho D'Almeida

Fialho D'Almeida - Saibam Quantos..., 1ª Edição - Fialho D'Almeida, 1912. Published in 1912 in Lisbon by Livraria Clássica Editora de A. M. Teixeira & C.ª, this is the highly important and much sought-after first edition of this biting and celebrated collection of letters and political articles by José Valentim Fialho de Almeida (1857-1911), compiled and printed posthumously the year after his death as Volume II of his ”Complete Works”. The book brings together the author's best and most caustic journalistic and satirical prose, offering an indispensable critical portrait of the agonizing moments at the end of the Constitutional Monarchy and the early stages of the consolidation of the First Portuguese Republic (preceded by a text dated November 1, 1910 in the middle). The copy is presented in its original, fully paperbacked format, unusually preserving its cream-colored cardboard cover with the publisher's circular typographical stamp on the frontispiece, as well as the intact paper spine bearing the period price of ”500 Réis”. The back cover is illustrated with period advertisements and price lists from the Livraria Clássica Editora editions (highlighting other works by the author himself and by Carlos Malheiro Dias). The text block and pages are very sound and clean, showing only the natural yellowing and marginal oxidation typical of porous paper from the early 20th century and small numerical inscriptions in pencil on the endpaper.