A rare Teixeira atlas containing sixteen manuscript charts of the Portuguese coast.

The most prolific of the seventeenth century Portuguese cartographers, João Teixera Albernaz I was the son of Luís Teixeira, brother to Pedro and grandfather to another João, all prominent mapmakers. João learnt the art of cartography from his father, who had contributed a map of Japan to Ortelius's 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' and published an important atlas of the colony of Brazil, and worked ceaselessly from the moment that he received his licence as master for 'Nautical charts, astrolabes, compass needles and cross-staffs' in 1602, until his death around sixty years later.

The majority of this time was spent as an employee of the Casa da Índia, the organisation established by King Manuel I in 1500 to protect and promote the interests of the Portuguese Empire and its trading monopolies. João was not the first Teixeira to work in the cartography department of the Casa, with his uncle Domingos having created the famous Teixeira planisphere there in 1573; in 1630, João created an updated version, his 'General Chart for All Navigation'. In total, Teixeira produced 215 maps and charts, many of which were contained within his 19 atlases. He also worked alongside his brother on several projects, including charts of the Strait of S. Vicente and Strait of Magellan, and a nautical survey of the Spanish coastline, which was published as a manuscript atlas.

In 1648, João published another manuscript atlas of 'the sea ports of the kingdom of Portugal'. The sixteen coastal charts within describe the coast of mainland Portugal, with the first depicting the entire western coastline of the Iberian peninsula, from Spanish Galicia in the north down to the Algarve region in the south. The following charts describe Portugal's coast from north to south, beginning with Caminha (chart two), the northernmost coastal municipality, passing down through major cities such as Porto (chart three), Aveiro (chart four) and Lisbon (chart nine), and on to the important southern ports such as those at Cabo de São Vicente (chart 14) and Cabo de Santa Maria (chart 15), the gateway for European ships bound across the Atlantic.

Some of the charts display soundings in the water, as well as sandbanks and other maritime obstacles, while on land notable towns and cities are depicted pictorially and identified by name. Additional sites such as forts, churches, bridges and mountains also appear. Occasionally short notes identify places of historical importance. For example, on chart seven, a note reads that "here the English armada disembarked in 1589", and on chart 12, another stating that "ships of 80 tons can go here". Before each chart is a short description of the area shown, sometimes with information about its ports and the type of ship to which it is accessible.

The charts:

1. Demonstraçao de toda a Costa de Portugal, desde Castropol ate Ayamonte.
2. Barra de Caminha, na foz do rio Minho.
3. Barra do Porto.
4. Barra de Aveiro.
5. Barra de Mondego.
6. Demonstraçao da costa que vay de Buarcos ate a Pedemeyra.
7. Barra de Pederneyra.
8. De Peniche ate o Rio das Maçans.
9. Demonstraçao da Barra de Lisboa.
10. Barra de Setuval.
11. Demonstraçao da costa que vay da Barra de Setuval ate Perceveyra.
12. Demonstraçao da costa que vay de Melides ate a Barra de Odemira.
13. Demonstraçao da costa que vay do Cabo Sardao ate Cabo de S. Vicente.
14. Demonstraçao da costa que vay do Cabo S. Vicente ate Villanova de Portimao.
15. Demonstraçao da costa que vay de Villanova de Portimao ate o Cabo de Sta. Maria.
16. Barra do Faro. Barra do Tavira. Barra do rio Guadiana. Costa da Reyno do Algarve.

Extremely rare: there are five other known examples, two held at the Nationalbibliothek in Viena, one at the British Museum, one at the Society of Geography in Lisbon and one at the Museu de Marinha, also in Lisbon. The present item is the only known example in private hands.