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Rare Book and Manuscript

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Rare Books and Manuscripts - Manuscripts

Pombaline Collection


This collection was purchased from the heirs of the First Marquis of Pombal at auction in 1887. It comprises the manuscripts that belonged to him and his descendants and includes items on a wide range of subjects. There is a particular emphasis on genealogy, with many works by Rangel de Macedo, Monterroio Mascarenhas and Alão de Morais, literary and historical works such as the 1715 Memórias da Paz de Utrech by Dom Luís da Cunha, and a compilation of legislation from the reigns of Dom José and Dona Maria I, which is known as the "Colecção Josefina".

The collection also contains the Marquis of Pombal’s personal archive, which includes documentation on his public life as Ambassador to London and Vienna and then King Dom José’s Secretary of State. Of particular import are his official correspondence, and documents in relation to Brazil (the Marquis of Pombal’s brother was Governor of Pará and Maranhão), and the Company of Jesus. Equally significant is the documentation that was generated by the Marquis’s non-public activities, especially his intellectual life (one example is Dedução cronológica e analítica – a work that was ordered and inspired by the Marquis, with autographed additions and alterations), and a range of personal documents, such as family correspondence, his marriage contract and so on.

♦  MONIZ, José António - Inventário da Collecção Pombalina. Lisboa: BN, 1889.
♦  FERREIRA, Teresa A. S. Duarte - "Guia das Colecções de Manuscritos da Divisão dos Reservados".
Revista da Biblioteca Nacional, Lisboa, S. 2, 3 (1) 1988, p. 95-129.
♦  COMISSÃO ORGANIZADORA DAS COMEMORAÇÕES DO BICENTENÁRIO DA MORTE DO MARQUÊS
DE POMBAL. Catálogo Bibliográfico e Iconográfico. Lisboa: BN, 1982.