First and only Portuguese edition of an account of the embassy sent by the Prince of Bezancudos, a tribe located between Persia and Tartary, to the Shah of Persia. The Prince (or Chief) was afraid of Persia's emperor and the speed and brutality with which he conquered large parts of the Middle East, the Caucasus and South Asia. Thus, he sent specially selected ambassadors with gifts and other tokens of good-will, accompanied by a large group of servants, infantry and cavalry to help protect the ambassadors and try to appease the Shah. Nader Shah Afshar (1688-1747), also known as Thamas Kouli-Khan, was one of the most powerful Iranian rulers in the country's history and ruled between 1736 and 1747 as Shah of Persia (present-day Iran).
According to the title page of the present copy, the account has been translated from the French. It is probably based partly on a history of the reign of Nader Shah, Histoire de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Roi de Perse (nouvelle edition, Paris, 1743) by André de Claustre. Whoever prepared the Portuguese text would of course have had to add the description of the 1744 proceedings.
With a purple ownership stamp of the library of the Dukes of Palmela (their monogram beneath the ducal coronet) on the title-page. The upper outer corner of the title-page has been restored, slightly affecting the text, slight foxing, mainly to the margins. Overall in good condition. Ameal 1018; Porbase (3 copies); WorldCat (3 copies); not in Fonseca; Innocêncio; JFB.