During his stay in Paris, he had his first work published, Description dês monnaies , médailles et autres objects d’art concernant l’histoire portugaise du travail [Description of coins, medals and other artefacts relating to Portuguese labour history] , when he was 45 years old. In 1868, his first work on archaeology appeared, entitled Relatório sobre o cemitério romano descoberto próximo da cidade de Tavira em 1868 [Report on the Roman cemetery discovered near the town of Tavira in 1868] , in which the author openly criticises the lack of support for archaeological studies and draws attention to the abandonment of Portuguese heritage, particularly built monuments ( Relatório sobre o cemitério … [Report on the cemetery…] ,1868, pp.3-5).

In 1871, Teixeira de Aragão published the first edition of Vasco da Gama e a Vidigueira [Vasco da Gama and Vidigueira] . Initially intended to be a newspaper article, it quickly reached book form and had three editions : 1871, 1886, and 1898. The revised and expanded editions reveal the author ’ s concern for the pursuit of truth and his awareness of its limitations. For the author, ‘ the thoughtful writer studies and amends; criticism helps to investigate the truth, and this is the only foundation of history ’ ( Vasco da Gama e a Vidigueira … [ ( Vasco da Gama and Vidigueira …) ] , 1898, p. XIV). The truth can be found in documents, monuments , and artefacts. As such, he stated that the sources should be the target of a strong inquisition on the part of the researcher; however, always bearing in mind that the ‘ chroniclers mainly narrated the great deeds of princes and high-ranking figures, failing to mention many things that they considered secondary and that history today cannot do without ’ ( i dem , 1898, p.X ).

Between 1875 and 1880, the Descrição geral e história das moedas cunhadas em nome dos reis, regentes e governadores de Portugal [General description and history of the coins minted in the name of the kings, regents and governors of Portugal] was published in three volumes. Although the work is incomplete ( Antologia da historiografia portuguesa de Herculano aos nossos dias [Anthology of Portuguese historiography from Herculano to the present day] , 1975, vol. 2, 30), it is still one of the essential works in the history of numismatics in Portugal today. Of the three volumes published, the first refers to the study of the coins of the first dynasties (1128-1640) and those of the kingdom ’ s governors; the second volume is dedicated to the study of the coins of the Bragança dynasty up to D. Luís (1640-1877); the last volume published is dedicated to the study of the coins of India and East Africa; a fourth volume should also have been published, which would have covered the coins of Brazil and West Africa ( Da Numismática em Portugal [Of numismatic in Portugal] , 1923, p.159). A portion of this volume was published under the title Breve noticia sobre o descobrimento da América [A brief account of the discovery of America] and is included in a compilation of studies called Centenário do descobrimento da América [Centenary of the discovery of America] . This work was produced as part of the commemorations of the IV Centenary of the Discovery of America, in which Teixeira de Aragão took part as Treasurer of the Portuguese committee and as the author of two texts contained in the aforementioned work.

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