Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-15

n rUoOd cut of a map of the islands 20
Eumbus disco"ered on his first UOyGge-
HiSpaniOLG, Fernandina, Isabella, San
Salvador and Santa Maria de la Con-
cepcion. THE tUO pictures at the top
of this page are taken from the Verar-
dus Book containing the Second Letter
Of Columbus and the Uery first pic
lures of The discovery Of the Ne'U
World
bus ScientiaEum" Antonius NebriSsenstS' Cos
mographiae Libri" and Fedia InghramS tu-
neral grafton on Prince John, son of Ferdinand
and Isabella in which he mentioned the New
world All of these except the last mentioned
are among the Vollbchr Americana.
Strange as it seems there was surprisingly
little written about the brave Genoese admiralS
exploits IN his era, and many famous historians
in the early part of the sixteenth century utter
~ ignored Columbus in their chronicles. The
above mentioned Sebastian Brandts Ship OF
Fools" published at Augsburg in l497-an
amusing satire on the folies of society-con-
tans one of the earliest printed references to
the discovery of the New World.
This beautiful little edition of lat leaves Is
illustrated with 1l6 Of the quaintesc wOodcuts
imaginable on the title page is a woodcut por-
traying four boats loaded with fools" The
picture accompanying the reference to the
New World is of two fools or TESTERS one Of
whom Is holding a compass, while the other
leans on q window sill gazing out at him.
The Library of Congress also owns an Eng
hsh version of the Ship of Fools" almost as
unique as the older one in Latin, in which
both Latin and English text are included At
the top of the title page is the title in Latin,
while at the bott m one reads: The Ship of
Fooies, wherein is showed the folly of all States,
with divers other workers adjoined unto the
same, very profitable and fruitful for all men,"
The New World reference trips along in this
manner:
For nosO OF late hath large landc and grOunde
Bene founde by mdrDncrS and crafty 0oU-
ernourS,
The uhich IGndeS mere neuer knOtoR nor
founde
Before or time Oy our predeceSsouTS.
And hereafter shall By SucceSSours
Perchance more be founde. wherein men
dt0eu
OF Diom ne Rever before this same heard
tell.
Ferdinandus that late ,Oas King of Spavne,
OF lande and people hath founde pleNtie
and store,
OF Whom the bid ng to US uNcertayne.
No Christian OF them heard tell be-
fore:
thus it is toly to t-nds unto the lore,
And insure science OF rain geometry.
Since none can knoroe all the World per
tectly.
Zacharius Liiias also referred TO the new dis
covef7es during Columbus second voyage, in his
work published in Florence in 1896. the title
of which seems to be The origin and honor of
the sciences. There are TO AntipodeS. The
misery of man and cont cmpt for the world
The origin OF winds. The life of Charlemange."
On page 40 LilaS makes one of the earliest
printed illusions to the discovery of America
as follows:
THE case seems to demand that explain
shortly in what time the ocean may be crossed.
lest any one think it extraordinary that, the
King of Spain, is reported, is sending naves
to explore new shores
The third in this trio who early mention
Columbus Deeds Antoniis NebrssensiS does
SO in his description of the world, "Cosmo-
graphiae Libri," published in 1893. Vastly in
teresting to Columbus scholars is the fact that
q copy of this work in the Coumbine Library at
Columbus. Says Neb' issensis of the New
World
such is the daring spirit of the men of our
times, that they will bring us q fine de-
scription of that land, both of the islands, and
of the continent, of a great part of the sea
earth whereof the sailors have given us an &C
count; that part chiefly which lies opposite to
the newly discovered islands, HiSpana, Isabella
and the others adjacent to them"
DAPTISTA MANTUANUS' three works in
- cuded in the Vollbehr Americana are ire
mendousy valuable. The three of them were
published in 1899 but in different places-one
in Venice another at Basel and the third in
Florence. Two of them have the same
title: THE Three Golden Books of Patience -
but their subject matter is different
The one hailing from Venice has this to say
about Columbus discoveries: and espe-
cially because in our days through the activity
of the Kings of Spain have been found