Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-17

America. Seated at his tsesk, the old
American abroad went into "reminiscences:
From the beginnins tlHs library was
discovery of America" setd Mig
maud. Il a poor man. 1 had not
the advantage OF buying II ~ 5together
| had To watch my chance. pIsk up one
book here. one atlas there. Neverthe-
less. the library now contains all the
original sources Of information, in what
ever language, mostly Spanish and Por-
tuguese. Every work on the subject worth
having is here"
He showed me a thin little book that
cost him soc
1T could not be bought for double that
today" he told me. 1T is the book that
baptised America. the .Cosmographae
lntrodNctio' of Waldseemuller Of 1867, the
book in which the name America was
first applied to our continent. The United
States Catholic Historical society publish
ed fac-simile reproduction Of it in 1907.
What is it, | asked.
1T contains a relation of the three voy-
ages of Americus Nespucius. and the pub
Usher simply made d mistake. He thought
that Americus discovered America
ION account OF the name" l asked.
impulsivey.
lie showed me famous original editions.
Peter Martyr "Oviedo,' Las Casas"
"Gomara." Beside them were the mod
A popularity of my library is its rich
ness in aliases of the fifteenth. sixteenth
and seventeenth centurie>, said Mr.. Wig
maud. He pulled them out Oh their rollers.
immense old in-folfos from Antwerp. TIL
Hague, Rome, Madrid London. Paris,
Lisbon. Here are aliases for which mil
lionares pay heavy prices: Mercator.
'Ortelius,' 'Blaeu.' Jonsohnius. Many
come on the market less than three times
a century. All together they could scarce
he 1nnlic1fGG no q
'Brochures'-thin printed contr ,vs'sial
essays-is amazing. On the single sub
ject:
Where IS Christopher Columbus
buried?'
Il copied at random "a few names of
the many authors in English, Dutch, Ger
man. Italian, Spanish. Portuguese, to the
obscure press of little capitals of South
America. Curtis, Rossi, Harrisse, Podesta.
Franconi, Prieto, de Echeverri. Shea, Van
Broken, FosSati, Travers. Asserato, Able
Casabianca, Twis and Tejera."
Where is Columbus buried?' ! asked.
He was first buried in SPAIN and his
remains were taken to ST Domingo That
is sure. The doubt is were they after
ward removed from St Domingo to Ha-
vana? In my opinion, said the profound
student, they are still at ST. Domingo"
Here is a book that is becoming rare"
he said and it is very interesting. 1t
is the famous Chronicle of Nuremberg. ;"
| opened the heavy black-letter folio,
packed with information on all subjects.
endless Gothic wood cuts of mythical
monsters, giants. men with two heads.
winged beasts, the wonders of the world
in 1893.
The year of the discovery of America"
he said.
But such a book can have no bearing
on the discovery of America l said.
Not much.'' he smiled. but it has one
very important paragraph 1t is a para
graph on Martin Behaim, the celebrated
cosmographer, who knew Columbus we'll
in Portugal. He is suspected of having
given precious information to Columbus.
Beham. a fascinating personality, has
had dozen books written about him.
Mr. Eignaud showed them all to me: the
latest, Martin B1haim, His Life and His
Globe" by Z. G.. RaVenstein, r. X. G. s.,
is a volume with expensive plates, pub
Iished only in 1908.
That globe that Behaim made Is a
unique thing said Mr.. Nignaud. 1t ex-
lists still in Nuremberg. 1t shows the
world as it understood to be at the
eve of the discovery of America. Years
ago the French government had copy
of it made for the National Library, and
for the Chicago exposition | was intrusted
with having it exactly reproduced. My
copy is now at the Smithsonian lnsttu-
ton and as the original is fading so
that it can scarcely be read. ny slobe
will be the only source of information.