LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DODlDEflb^EA 3§0 3X> < wzyifi) < 1 53» ^ ^j»3 o ,'5:s> 3 If ■ >:^ 00 ) a&> '-*- ',"¥^ y2i 3 2> 3>> t^^g ?>>:©> i^'^_3 >3p:2^ ;:5>3> ^:s /'^f ^..^^A^^•<^) Letter of Columbus, TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL, M93- Pac-similes of the Spanish Letter of Columbus Published in 1493, From the only known copy in the Ambrosian Library, Milan. Comni<^jiceniciit .SttOiuw qucfecittcanreisplajabela gtatib vrcro2iaqu€Tifofcnotmebabat>o mjoi^p^it i?03 efcrftio cllapozlaqliabzef 6[tomo ^trm; bieas paCe alaa fntna^ cofaarmaM cjae losttlu Joiibeyo failetiw^mucbas^tfla^poblabaecotigerc (J'a uwnero^j^ 5eUa^ toda^Jjc tcntvabo prfcfiffo po2r«s aUoas eoitptegcn3?vackrareaiefte^v^^apwmefttccottabxcbo: Close of tUe Letter. ala efpaaa tnas a todoa los crifttanos teman aqttf tefrige rfo p gauatvciacrtotegnn elfecbo aficubiettefccba cnlacar lauern fobic laspdas be canarfa ayv. ^e febicto. ^ilU quiatrocifentDSTnotteutaj rresattoj* 5'ata lo que mrnitiarcps tiimmte, iFlpaque^'mJ'a^etftro enlacarta. E)efpue8 bcftaeferipto;pcltattdo eumat be CaftiUa falpo tauto mntocottii^o.ttil jfneftc quemebafccbo^jcfcargar los mmo8 poz mt aqm m cftepnerto bcljJlbona op q me la wapoiiiiaratiflla belttttibo aJontlcacoibe efcrCmrafws alTc3ao.iEatoda6la& pttbiasbcfiempieballa^o lostcapo talcs coiiio cvtmayo aboixbcf o ftif en txm<),b(as zbolni eti.tjcwf Jaltto qtteftae cozmentas mcbattbctmtJ^o.rmj,bi ascozvfettdopozeltatuar^&ijenaqaa todos los bonbzes bclaitiavque/amasono tattmatyuternotiotrttHtas per' bibas bet\mua/ecbaa.):»^,i)ia8 bewaco. jfitacanactnbto Colottalcfcraiano 0emc(on belas 5fl^ balladas enlaa "^ndftta^/^oatetitba aotxa^efasMcjae. Letter of Columbus, TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL, 14 93- w I 1 t Eru5 .3 .L45 LETTER OF COLUMBUS, 14-93- PRINTED copy of the firft letter of Columbus in Spanijh^ addreffed to Luis de Santangel/ has at 0^ length been difcovered in the Ambrolian Library at Milan. It belongs to a colle6tion of books and manufcripts bequeathed to 1 He is called at the clofe of the letter Efcribano de Racion. This office feems from Navarrete's explanation to include thofe of Secretary and Steward of the Royal Houfehold. 4 that library about twelve years ago by the Baron Pietro Cuftodi, a Milanefe hiftorian and political economift. It is a fmall quarto of four leaves in femi - gothic type — that is with black letter and roman charadlers mixed : — the text begins on the red:o of the iirft leaf without any title, and fills feven entire pages, and above a third of the eighth page. The full page contains 32 lines, while there are only eleven lines of text on the 8 th page, followed by a poftcript of 14 lines. I The firft 1 This Spanifh original muft not be con- founded with the other letter written by Columbus at the fame time to Rafael Sanchez, the royal Treafurer, tranflated from the Spanifh into Latin by Leander de 5 capital letter, S, is an ornamented wood cut, occupying the fquare fpace of 5 lines of the text. There are neither iignatures, catchwords, pagination, nor paragraphs — the text being printed without any break in the lines. The paper is thick, and very much iized — the water-mark is an open hand with the monogram of Chrift over the third finger. The copy is in very good condition, with broad mar- gins — a drop of oil, however, disfigures the laft page. The whole leaf meafures 20 centime- Cofco. This tranflation has been frequently- printed. The two letters are in fubftance the fame; but no cotemporaneoufly printed copy of that to Santangel was known until the difcovery of the one now announced. 6 tres high by 14 broad, and the printed portion is 13.3 centimetres high by 16 broad. Belides this full account of this precious little book, my corre- fpondent has fent me a fac fimile of eight lines at the beginning, and five lines at the end of the letter, and of the whole 14 lines of the Any ma at the clofe. A copy of this fac fimile is given with this notice. Thefe portions agree generally with the reprint of Navarrete (vol. I, pages 167 to 175) from the MS. in the Royal Ar- chives at Simancas. There are fome variations, the moft remark- able of which is his omiffion of the words at the end of the letter. 7 " Faro lo que mandereys — El al- mirante." He has corredled the orthography in fome places, and leaves out many of the contradtions. Some of the readings of the letter are better than his, becaufe the words it fupplies render the mean- ing more clear. The date at the clofe is at the Canary lilands the 15th of February, 1493 ; and that of the Any ma the 14 th day of March. Of the firft Navarrete fays, that the iflands feen on the 15 th February were the Azores, not the Canaries ; and of the fecond, that although the figures feem to in- dicate the 14th, the true date muft be the 4th of March. Anima^ he fays, means a written paper, in- 8 ferted in a letter after the letter is clofed. As there is no place or name of printer, thefe muft remain un- known unlefs the type and water- mark fhould help fome bibliophile to make a fortunate conjediure on thefe points. The volume, how- ever, muft have been printed before any of the Latin editions of the letter to Sanchez, and moft probably in Spain. I may refer in this place to the fmall 8vo edition in Latin with wood cuts ; which fome biblio- graphers fuppofe to have been printed at Grenada, becaufe the arms and name of that city are found on the laft page. Mr. 9 Brunet infers that this is not to be taken as politive proof that the book appeared at Grenada, and I am not difpofed to affert that he is miftaken. But in other inftances a limilar mark is confid- ered an indication of the place of printing : — among thefe I may cite the German abridged edition of Columbus' Voyages, printed by Sigifmund Grimm in 1522. The pine-apple on the laft page is deemed good evidence that the volume was iffued by him at Augf- burg. (Vide Appendix B in the New York reprint of Syllacius, page Iviii.) And I may add that the arms of Grenada in the form B lO in which they appear in the 8vo edition with wood cuts, are not found in any other edition. Even the Bafle edition of 1494, which copies all the other wood cuts of the little 8vo, does not copy thefe arms — but gives on the redio of the laft leaf, the arms of Caftile and Leon as thefe appear on the firfl: leaf of the 8vo, and on fthe verfo of the fame leaf reproduces the cut of the veflel, found on the firft leaf, both of the 8vo, and of its own firft leaf, with the addition of an ornament above and below the cut. Thefe different wood cuts may be feen on pages xxxvi, xxxvii and xlii of Appendix 3 of the New York Syllacius. II In order to avoid mifapprehen- fion I may add that in the por- traits of Ferdinand both in the 8vo and in the Bafle editions, two efcutcheons containing the arms of Caftile, Sec, and of Grenada hang from the arm of the king ; but they have nothing to do with the crowned efcutcheon, and the word Grenada as thefe are found on the laft page of the little od:avo. I regret to fay on the authority of my correfpondent that the copy of this laft edition, defcribed by Roffi, has difappeared from the Brera library in Milan. I will tranfcribe what he writes upon the fubjed:. " Cette bibliotheque 12 vient de perdre I'exemplaire de la lettre de 1493, fur laquelle Boffi a fait fes travaux. Ce vol a ete fait avec une audace, et avec une adreffe d'efcarmoteur. Elle exif- tait encore a la bibliotheque il y a lix ans. Nous avons ici des amateurs larrons dont on ne fe garde pas affez, et qui font la pefte des coUedtions publiques et particulieres ; il y en a partout, mais chez nous fe donnent ren- dezvous les filous du monde entier. Quant a la Bibliotheque Am- broiienne, c'eft different ^ on y eft moins coniiant. ^l?'::^" Mb S^^ >>' 5 '2>>' DO II: >1>;?38^ ^.^ 5> ':^-3>«^ > ■>»■ ^►^ ■ fjijg^ JL^ ^=^-^ rss* .^ ^.' '.Tz>» ::>' s> i^ !:>> ?\:2> z> ».^:3> :i3Bg> :>oj»'-iu ^ ^'^ ^ ^^^ :-««2> >:^^ B{5»^ .sa> : »•► :> ^ •i> x» z S^^ 13 ■>1> . >>• :3»^3 V. 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