Book Details

Publication Year: 2020

Contributors

Author Info: About the Author: - Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara was a Portuguese physician, professor, intellectual and politician. He excelled as a scholar of the history of the Portuguese presence in India and as a champion of the Konkani language. However, he was not attracted to clinical practice and therefore chose an administrative career in the Civil Government of Évora, which he joined in 1837 as administrative officer of its secretariat. In October of that year he was appointed Professor of Rational and Moral Philosophy of the Liceu de Évora, where he could indulge his taste for the humanities and his love for books. In 1838 he was appointed by the government of Queen Maria II of Portugal as Director of the Public Library of Évora, the first director of the institution appointed by the state and the first layman to occupy the position. Over the more than 15 years of his service (1838–1855), he distinguished himself as a librarian and bibliophile, reorganized the library and published its catalogue. He built a new wing with a capacity of 8,000 books, carried out a complete repair of the building, brought in more than 10,000 volumes from defunct convents, besides donating also several books from his own private library. Because of the shortage of employees, he catalogued all these volumes himself.