The History of the Life and Actions of Adm[iral] Christopher Columbus and of his Discovery of the West Indies, Call’d the New World, Now in Possession of his Catholick Majesty. Written by his son D. Ferdinand Columbus.: First English Translation

Text, complete in itself, is extracted from CHURCHILL, AWNSHAM, and JOHN: A Collection of Voyages and Travels (vol 2,). Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Paternoster-Row, London, 1704.

Title-page, preface, pages numbered 559-688.

Boards with marks, spine rubbed with split to top 70mm of front joint but holding firm. Text clean and clear. Age toning and traces of humidity to page margins not touching text.

Hernando (Ferdinand) Colon was Christopher Columbus's youngest son. His life of his father was written at a time when his father's legacy was under serious challenge from many quarters, including the court of the Spanish Crown. These attempts to diminish Columbus's role as the primary discoverer of the New World also presented a threat to the fortunes and future legacy of the wider Columbus family.

Hernando is the major source of information concerning his father's life and voyages, especially his fourth voyage to the New World. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage and in writing this 'life of…' had access to all of his father's papers (letters, charters, log-books, notes as well as his annotated library of books).

"Hernando's biography of his father was to have an immense and lasting impact upon European history, both through the image of his father that arose from it and by creating a model for future narratives of European superiority, narratives founded on the qualities of discipline and technical mastery Hernando put at the centre of his portrait." In so doing he was able to push back on the "onslaught on his father's reputation". (Edward Wilson-Lee, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books, London, 2018).

Extracted from the 1704, 1st, edition of Churchill's Voyages, originally published in Italian in 1571.

This is a heavy / high value volume and, as consequence, the shipping cost (using a tracked and signed for service) will be higher than the average quoted in my store listings.