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 the Possession of his Catholic Majesty.: Extracted from Churchill, Awnsham, and John: A Collection of Voyages and Travels.

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 the Possession of his Catholic Majesty. Written by his Son D. Ferdinand Columbus.

Text, complete in itself, is extracted from Churchill, Awnsham, and John: A Collection of Voyages and Travels (vol 2), printed, by assignment from Messrs Churchill, for John Walthoe, over-against the Royal-Exchange, in Cornhill and others, London, 1732.

Folio (395 x 255 mm), title-page, preface, pages 499-628. Later, quarter bound, brown calf with marbled paper covering boards, spine with five raised bands, morocco label lettered in gilt on spine. Watermark to end-papers, "Abbey Mills Greenfield" (i.e. Abbey Mills papermill, Flintshire, Wales).

Boards lightly rubbed to extremities, corners slightly bumped. English text, with wide margins, clean and crisp. A very good attractive copy.

Hernando Colon/Ferdinand Columbus 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. It was first published (in Italian) in 1571 after Hernando's death, having been translated by the Spanish humanist Alfonso de Ulloa.

The attempts to diminish Columbus's role as a primary discoverer of the 'New World' was a threat to his legacy and the fortunes and future financial legacy of the wider Columbus family. Hernando had first-hand knowledge and a host of primary resources from which to write the 'Life of....'. He accompanied his father on his fourth voyage to the 'New World', and 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 drive back the "onslaught on his father's reputation". (Edward Wilson-Lee, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books, London, 2019, page 311).

Extracted from the 1732, 2nd, edition of Churchill's Voyages, the text being published in a larger font than used for the 1704 1st edition.

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