Letter patent of nobility and grant of arms - Lot 78

Lot 78
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2000 - 3000 EUR
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Letter patent of nobility and grant of arms - Lot 78
Letter patent of nobility and grant of arms Portuguese manuscript, entitled Livro ebrazað das armas fidalguia e nobreza do Liçenceado Pedro Afonso Galvao, Lisbon, 1637. In-folio (31.5 cm). 22 leaves, paper and vellum, some blank. Licensee Galvão, originally from Campo Maior in Portugal, residing in Arahal in Spain, applied for a grant of arms and recognition of his fidalgo status. He presents numerous witnesses from Campo Maior to attest that his parents, paternal grandparents and paternal great-grandparents were all legitimately married, and that their first-born males were their legitimate children. Leçenceado is also a legitimate child of a legitimate marriage. The witnesses also declare that all the individuals are free of Moorish and/or Jewish blood. Portugal's King of Arms accepts the applicant's request and gives detailed instructions concerning the coat of arms and its colors. The manuscript begins with a full-page illustration on vellum of the granted coat of arms. They are finely painted in red, black, blue and silver, and illuminated. The title page is written in black ink within a highly decorative border of grotesques, urns, flowers and architectural elements in sepia, all within an outer frame of black and red fillets. Each page of text is contained within a similar black and red frame, imitating the aesthetics of a fine printed book. One line of text is written in large gold type on a dark red background, with a gold initial and gold watermark. The signatures and certifications on the last two pages of the manuscript are written in an official, ornate and elegant style. Provenance: An early 20th-century English bookseller's description is pasted on the first flyleaf. Bookplate of the Philadelphia collector Herman Blum (1885-1973). Vintage soft vellum, without bindings, repaired at top of spine and at top and inside of rear board. Old green stain in a corner of the front cover. Some traces of glue on bookseller's description. Old traces of adhesive tape on front and back covers. Text and illuminated coat of arms in excellent condition.
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