Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-06

by the King of Sardinia. who presented it to
the municipality of Genoa.
1t was received with gratitude, and has since
been accorded great distinction, having been
deposited in marble column surmounted by u
bronze bust of Columbus in the municipal pal
ace, where 1t remains an object of reverence
and solicitude.
The other of the two copies vanished from
view between 1910 and 1880. It was then dis
covered in the archives of the Office of foreign
affairs in Paris by B. F. Stevens and Henry
HariSSe Its presence there is easily accounted
for. In 1909 Napoleon conceived the idea OF
centralizng, at Paris the archives of the entire
French empire, including all territory subject
to its authority. The plan was immediately put
into execution and soon there were streaming
toward the French capital scores of carloads of
precious documents distracted from their dusty
repositories in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland,
Austria, Italy and Spain. There was a partial
restitution in 1915. but it was quite easy for
many papers to have slipped into the midst Of
material native to France This undoubtedly
is what happened to the Geneva Columbus CO.
dex. which is still in Paris
The final parchment copy seems unqueStion-
ably the one now to be seen in the Library Of
Congress Apparently it was the one used as
evidence in the celebrated litigation over the
Columbus inheritance late in the sixteenth
century How it eventually reached Washing
ton is a romantic story.
In 1918 Edward Everett, the gifted New
England orator. was rummaging through an old
book shop in Florence, Italy, when he came
across the manuscript of about 80 pages in
characters which appeared to be those of CO.
lumbuS' time. In 1928 the Codex at Geneva
was published and Everett discovered that the
manuscript in his possession conceded precisely
, with those in the GenoeSe volume
After Everett made this statement in 1924
the manuscript again dropped from public no
tice, and apparently was forgotten by all con-
cerned. About 1890 Justin Winsor, engaged
in his monumental Life Of Columbus" wrote
to DR.. William Everett, whose father Edward
Everett, had died, asking whether he might in
spect the relic. Dr. Everett was unable to To-
cate it at that time but in 1897 it came to light
In the locked lower part Of a bookcase, which
had remained undisturbed after his fathers
death. Still its adventures before reaching the
safe custody of the American Government
were not at an end.
Once, after being sent to London for the in
spection of experts, it lay in it's wrapping ON q
table in the Everett home when the room in
which it was was swept by flames from which.
however, the precious document was seemingly
miraculously spared. 1t was finally sold to the
Library of Congress by DR.. Everett for a sum
which was nominal compared with what it
would have commanded in the open market.
ONE of the foremost authorities in the United
States on early Americana Wilberforce
Eames of the Lenox Library, New York. in con-
graduating the library upon its acquisition Of
the manuscript, characterized it as "docu-
ment of the highest historical Importance and
which will be better appreciated as time goes
on"
Concerning the authenticity and the interest
and significance which attaches to the Wash