Description
Colombo, Fernando. Historie... Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' ammiraglio D. Cristoforo Colombo suo padre: Et dello scoprimento, ch'egli fece dell' Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo Nvovo, hora possedute dal Sereniss. Re Catolico: Nuovamente di lingua Spagnuloa tradotte nell' Italiana dal S. Alfonso Vlloa. Venice, Francesco de' Franceschi, 1571. 8°. 20 nn. Leaf, 247 pl. (without the last white leaf). With woodcut printer's mark on the title. Flexible vellum binding. (Newly bound). Sabin 14674 - Rare first edition by Alfonso Ulloas (died in Venice 1570). Translation by Fernando Colons (1488-1539). Biography of his father, which was only preserved in manuscript. Luis Colon, Columbus' "playboy" grandson, who was always in need of money, sold the manuscript to a Genoese doctor, Baliano de Fornari; it is now lost. Ulloa's translation saved the biography, which contained much valuable information about Columbus' discoveries, for posterity. Fernando Colon was the second illegitimate son of Columbus and Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage to the New World. The treatise by Fran Ramon Panés "delle antichità de gl'Indiani, le quale egli, come huomo che sà la lor lingua, ha raccolte per commandamento dello Ammiraglio" printed on p. 126ff. is of particular importance; this is the earliest report on Native Americans and the earliest sample of the Arawaka language. Fernando Colon was a cosmographer, but his most important achievement was probably the expansion of his father's library into one of the most valuable collections of books of its time. It contained up to 15,000 titles. Today, the library is kept in the cathedral of Seville in a shrunken form - legal disputes arose. Owner's stamp on the title (Vincenzo Botteon, Conegliano).Tears - some with loss of text - old repairs to 8 leaves. Traces of moisture in the margins. Ink scribbles on the last leaf. Cut ink stained.
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