Author: Columbus, Christopher; Quaritch, Bernard; Kerney, Michael; Fernández-Armesto, Felipe (introduction); Martin Davies, Martin (essay); Posa, Pere (essay); Payne, Anthony (editor).
Title: The Spanish Letter of Columbus: A Facsimile of the Original Edition Published by Bernard Quaritch in 1891.
Description: London Bernard Quaritch, 2006. Facsimile ed. Hardback elephant folio, dustjacket, very good plus condition (in very good plus dustjacket), full-page colour photos centre spread, copy 1. Heavy (1.0 Kg), and extra postage may be requested to destinations outside Australia. 33 pp. Subtitle: With an Introduction by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and essays by Martin Davies on Pere Posa, the printing of the Spanish Columbus Letter at Barcelona in 1493, Anthony Payne and Katherine Spears on Quaritch, the Spanish Columbus Letter and America 1890 - 1892. Edited by Anthony Payne. Includes a colour facsimile of the original letter in the centre pages. The Columbus Letter that London bookseller Bernard Quaritch bought in 1890 was the most valuable item of printed Americana to ever appear on the market. No other copy of this, the earliest edition - a folio printed in Spanish at Barcelona in 1493 - is known. Quaritch and his assistant Michael Kerney originally published The Spanish Letter of Columbus in 1981 (now reprinted), being the first authoritative study of the document. But, as Felipe Fernandez-Armesto recounts in his introduction (new to this reprint), it nearly got dismissed as a forgery, in era of many forgeries. Quaritch's Letter did contain some errors, mostly the result of assumptions common at the time or deficiencies of knowledge unremedied until later. It demonstrated, correctly, that the folio in question was printed at Barcelona in 1493 and that all other known editions of the Columbus Letter followed it. This was a service to his firm and to the Lenox Library (now part of the New York Public Library), which purchased the item. This new edition also includes an account of the printing of the original Spanish Columbus Letter in 1493 and, drawing on materials surviving in the Quaritch Archive, the story of how Quaritch, and his son Alfred, marketed it in America. (Limited facsimile edition of 500 copies.) ISBN: 0955085225

Keywords: letters, history, maritime, exploration, europe, spain, collectible, collectable, facsimile edition, limited edition 0955085225


See more books from our catalog: letters