Bidspirit auction | António de Almeida Portugal Soares

António de Almeida Portugal Soares Alarcão Melo Castro Ataíde Eça Mascarenhas Silva e Lencastre - Algumas Observações sobre a Inquisição - António de Almeida Portugal Soares Alarcão Melo Castro Ataíde Eça Mascarenhas Silva e Lencastre, 1856. Published in Lisbon in 1856 at the Typographia de Mathias José Marques da Silva (Rua do Ouro, No. 5), this is a rare and important work of apologetic and polemical bent written by the 5th Marquis of Lavradio, António de Almeida Portugal Soares Alarcão Melo Castro Ataíde Eça Mascarenhas Silva e Lencastre (1794–1857). Written as a direct and convincing response to Alexandre Herculano's iconic and then recent work, ”On the Origin and Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal (Historical Attempt)”, this ultramontane counter-reaction essay passionately debates the historical and religious legitimacy of the Holy Office and the Crusades, including at its end the famous ”Dissertation of Canon Muzzarelli on the Inquisition Tribunal”. The copy, in octavo format and comprising 78 pages of text, is presented in an elegant and well-preserved period binding in dark half-leather with a smooth spine decorated with fine fillets and titles engraved in gold (”LAVRAD / INQUISICA / CRUZADAS / REACCAO / ULTRAMONTAN”), with cardboard plates covered in marbled paper in shades of yellow, brown and blue. The text block is in very good condition, very clean and sound, exhibiting only the natural marginal yellowing of the paper and bearing an interesting handwritten note in pencil on the flyleaf (”Of interest for the study of the Inquisition in mainland and overseas Portugal”).