Gois was a Portuguese humanist, a friend of Erasmus and his circle, and a writer imbued with the classical learning of his day. His "Description" was written in 1554 at the height of the city's commercial and cultural influence. It places the city in its geographical and historical setting, surveys its topography and environs, and reviews its major architectural attractions. Ruth's introduction places Góis in the intellectual and historical context of the age, summarizes previous scholarship on the author and his work, and provides useful notes. This edition also includes reproductions of the full 1598 map of Lisbon published by Braun & Hogenberg and a complete English transcription of their numbered key: an indispensable tool for the topography of the Renaissance city. The electronic version allows the reader to magnify these images for closely detailed views of the Renaissance city and its monuments and buildings. Introduction, notes, bibliography, index, illustrations, maps.