Bidspirit auction | Armando de Mattos

Armando de Mattos - Evolução Histórica das Armas Nacionais Portuguesas, 1ª Edição - Armando de Mattos, 1939. Published in 1939 in Porto by the prestigious publisher F. Machado & C.ª, Lda., this extremely rare first edition of ”Historical Evolution of the Portuguese National Arms, ” ​​authored by the renowned heraldist and researcher Armando de Mattos (then Director of the Municipal Museums and the Public Library of Gaia), constitutes one of the most rigorous and beautiful studies on the evolution of Portuguese national heraldry. Included in a strictly limited edition of only 770 copies, this lot is an exceptional bibliophile rarity, belonging to the select group of the first 20 unique copies printed on special, high-quality paper. It is numbered copy no. 11 and contains on the bookplate a valuable handwritten dedication by the author himself, Armando de Mattos, dated October 1939 (”To Uncle Carlos, with a hug of much and deep friendship from Armando”). Additionally, the copy bears on its respectable page the handwritten ownership signature in pencil of the illustrious collector Valdemar Cordeiro, accompanied by the period mark ”65.w”, reinforcing its pedigree and ownership history shared with other prestigious lots in this collection. The volume is presented in a magnificent and impeccable period half-binding in blue leather, signed in gold on the back cover by the historic and renowned workshop of Guilherme Persil (Persil - Porto), displaying a ribbed spine decorated with fine tooling, rosettes and gold fillets, covers and endpapers covered in handmade marbled paper in a bluish and gray pattern, and all the edges of the leaves carved in light blue in perfect chromatic harmony. It is in excellent overall condition with the text block clean and perfectly firm, preserving the beautiful title page decorated with the national coat of arms printed in color, which makes this copy an extraordinarily valuable piece for collectors of high heraldry and signed bindings.