Item #5816 Monstruo prodigioso, que appareceo no Reino de Chile. Relação de hum monstruo prodigioso, que appareceu no Reino de Chile entre os montes, que dividem este Reino das dilatadas Provincias de Tucuman, e Paraguay, ou do Rio de Prata, que são confinantes com o Brazil. Americana, / / / ANONYMOUS, Chile, Brazil.
Monstruo prodigioso, que appareceo no Reino de Chile. Relação de hum monstruo prodigioso, que appareceu no Reino de Chile entre os montes, que dividem este Reino das dilatadas Provincias de Tucuman, e Paraguay, ou do Rio de Prata, que são confinantes com o Brazil.
The ‘Monstrous Prodigy’ Stalks the Andes
A Popular Pamphlet from Lisbon Reporting on Events from Brazil’s Western Frontier
With Much Information on the Geography, Flora and Fauna of the Region
Lisbon, Na officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, Impresor do Santo Officiò, 1751.

Monstruo prodigioso, que appareceo no Reino de Chile. Relação de hum monstruo prodigioso, que appareceu no Reino de Chile entre os montes, que dividem este Reino das dilatadas Provincias de Tucuman, e Paraguay, ou do Rio de Prata, que são confinantes com o Brazil.

Small 4to [18.3 x 13.2 cm] 16 pp, with woodcut on title page. Disbound. Red ink stamp “ICM” and blind stamp of “Francisco Joze de Almeida” in border of first leaf, contemporary manuscript foliation (1 to 8), some toning to edges of leaves, the occasional very minor stain.

Extremely rare first edition of a 1751 Portuguese report concerning a deadly encounter with a fearsome monster on Brazil’s western frontier, in the Andes Mountains of Chile, near the province’s border with Peru, Paraguay and Tucuman. The pamphlet – illustrated with a striking woodcut of the creature on its front cover – formed part of a vibrant print culture known as literatura de cordel, a genre in which bold imagery attracted passersby to bookstalls on the streets of Portugal to buy lively narratives about exotic lands in the Americas (D. F. Fernández, pp. 77-8). Initially tempted by the promise of a monster story, the buyer of the present pamphlet would have found that the first half of the narrative was given over to a broad-ranging discussion of the Andes region (geography, natural resources, investment potential, etc.). The pamphlet thus both preserves an important picture of the Portuguese popular imagination about interests in colonial holdings in Brazil (and beyond) during the 18th century and serves as a reminder of how monsters and monstrosities – long a feature of the depictions of the New World – continued to serve as symbols of the risk and reward involved in seeking out the vast material wealth of the Americas.

The narrative opens with a discussion of Chile’s salubrious climate, abundant agricultural potential (grains, oils, vegetables, fruits, viticulture), limitless sources of clean water, the region’s potential for animal husbandry (cows, rams, goats, ‘camels’), its considerable mineral wealth (including mythical mines whose secret locations are guarded by natives), the appearance of natives, the peculiarities of the Andes (including mention of altitude sickness, extreme cold, and seasonal river flooding), volcanos, and the region’s exotic native animals including guanacos, armadillos, monkeys (‘cercopithecus’), mountain goats, birds of all sorts, lions, tigers, and wolves.

The story – which mimics many of the characteristics of an official ‘relaçao’ conveying political or military news from the New World – then segues into the account of the most fearsome animal of all, which was lately encountered by the party of a certain Spanish merchant named Diogo Sarmento de Toledo as it traveled from Peru to Chile. The massive hybrid creature (with features of a serpent, lion, eagle and unicorn, which carries its young in a marsupial-like pouch) is distinguished by the light-emitting red gemstone set in its forehead, the legendary ‘carbuncle’ (a clear allusion to the precious-stone industry of the region). The monster kills 27 men before it is captured in a pit. At the time of the report’s writing, other monsters of the same species have arrived to dig out their companion; word of the incident has been sent to Santiago at to the Governor in Concepción. The report ends leaving the reader suspense, with the townspeople still in discussion about how to proceed.

OCLC and KVK locate examples of this pamphlet (Lisbon, Na Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, Impressor do Santo Officiò, 1751) at Harvard, University of Sao Paolo, and Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (defective, half of first leaf missing and partially supplied in facsimile). Another edition (no priority known) was printed in the same year at Coimbra (“No Real Collegio das Artes da Companhia de Jesu”) and is preserved at the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and the University of Toronto.

* M. Onetto-Pavez, “Un monstruo prodigioso en el Reino de Chile,” Estudios filológicos, no. 61 (2018), pp. 321-39; D. A. Fernández, De Monstris: An Exhibition of Monsters and the Wonders of Human Imagination, pp. 76-8.

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