"This is the first Portuguese work about Brazil ... From the fact that this book is so extremely rare today, it has been concluded that it was suppressed after publication because of the information it contained on the colony's riches, which the Portuguese government might not have wanted to see publicized."

" ...[the wood] which we call brasil for its red color and resemblance with fire, so the new land got the name Brasil. But in order to hurt the devil - who does his best to extinguishe the memory of the Holy Cross, let's restitute its original name and call it again Provincia de Santa Cruz (Holly Cross), as it used to be before, and as João de Barros referred to it in his first Decada..." (leaf 7, verso)

"Vendese em casa de Ioão Lopez liureiro na rua noua", verso of title page.

Prefatory verses by Luis de Camões.

Imprint from colophon.

Signatures: A-F⁸ (F8 verso blank)

Engraved title page.

Verses by Luis de Camões.

Moraes, R.B. de. Bib. Brasiliana (1983 ed.), p.344.

Silva, I.F. da. Diccionario bib. portuguez, VI, p.429.

Anselmo, 709.

Barbosa Machado, III, p.591.

Alden, J.E. European Americana, 576/26.

Brown, J.C. Cat., 1493-1800, I:307.

Pinto de Mattos, p.369.