A general view of the state of Portugal; containing a topographical description thereof. In which are included, an account of the physical and moral state of the kingdom; Together With Observations on The Animal, Vegetable, And Mineral Productions of Its Colonies. The whole compiled from the best Portuguese writers, and from notices obtained in the country. Illustrated with plates by Murphy, James Cavanah - 1798

First edition. Quarto. Printed for T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, In The Strand. London. 1798. xi, [1] errata, 272p., 15 engraved plates. Folding engraved map of Portugal. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards. Spine in six compartments with double gilt rules, red leather label and gilt lettering. Silk bookmark. Light shelf wear, a couple of nicks to spine, corners rubbed. Occcasional light spotting/offsetting. A handsome volume.

ESTC N1850. Four copies only recorded in the UK: BL, Cambridge University, Bodleian, and MPL Special Collections. One copy held by the National Library of Ireland. Not held at Trinity College Dublin. One copy held at the Houghton Library, Harvard. Not held at Stanford.

Murphy, James Cavanah. Blackrock, Co. Cork, Ireland 1760 – 1814

Born in Cork, and trained in the Dublin drawing schools, Sir James Chatterton first noticed Murphy's artistic skill. He became an architect, and attracted the attention of Hon. William Burton Conyngham under whose patronage Murphy was sent in 1788 to Portugal to record the Dominican church and monastery of Batalha. He afterwards undertook a long journey through Portugal and Spain, recorded in his splendid drawings. That visit resulted in the publication of 'Plans, elevations, sections and views of the church of Batalha…To which is prefixed an introductory discourse on the principles of Gothic architecture' (1795), Travels in Portugal (1795), and this rarer publication, 'A General View of the State of Portugal' (1798). An important record of Portugal immediately before the Napoleonic Wars.