PACHECO, Diogo (fl. 1505–1514). Emanuelis Lusitan. Algarbior. Africae Aethiopiae Arabiae Persiae Indiae reg. invictiss. obedientia. [Rome: Marcellus Silber, 1514].

First edition of the oration made for Tristão da Cunha’s famous embassy to Pope Leo X, with early reference to the Americas. The text glorifies Portuguese exploits in the East Indies with sensationalist rhetoric around wealth, power, and religion. Pacheco, a Portuguese doctor of law identified in the text as the speechmaker, made the oration in the Castel Sant'Angelo after the embassy's lavish procession through Rome on 12 March 1514. Most famously, this parade included Hanno the elephant, a much beloved gift to the Pope and the first elephant seen in Europe since Roman times.

The occasion is recorded by famed Portuguese Renaissance scholar Damião de Góis in his Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel, who records the particular praise that Pacheco received for his Latin prose style. Pacheco’s speech alludes to the Americas when conveying the extent of Portugal’s recent expeditions: “Dominaberis […] a Tyberi usque ad terminus Orbis terrarium […] Tibi serviet ultima Thule […] Quid eim iam sperandum est, nisi extremam illam Orientis oram nostrae occidentali conjunctam et ad veri Dei fidem cultumque traductam.” [You will rule … from the Tiber to the edge of the Earth … Ultima Thule will serve you … What is there now to hope for, except for the farthest shore of the east joined to our western shore and brought to the faith and worship of God.] EDIT16 CNCE 56280; Rodrigues 1830.

Quarto (200 × 135mm). Title in woodcut border with Portuguese royal arms (light toning, text faint in places). Modern red morocco by Chambolle-Duru, tooled in gold, supralibros in gold on covers, edges gilt, marbled endleaves (covers lightly soiled, joints rubbed, head of upper joint starting, front free endleaf loose). Provenance: José Pinto Leite, 2nd Count of Penha Longa, 1871-1956 (supralibros) – José Mindlin, 1914-2010 (bookplate).