Description

The single most crucial document for Columbian scholarship is Christopher Columbus's log, or day-by-day account, of his first voyage to the New World. The original document has not survived, but three texts transmit versions of the log: a unique manuscript summary of Columbus's account, written in the hand of Bartolome de Las Casas; chapters 15-41 of the Historie attributed to Fernando Colon and translated into Italian by Alfonso de Ulloa; and the reports of Columbus's first voyage contained in book 1, chapters 35-75 of Las Casas's Historia de las Indias. Now, for the first time, Columbian scholars have access to the three texts in a single volume presented in a form which allows detailed comparisons among them. Using Las Casas's summary of the original log as the text of reference, Dr Lardicci has carefully identified in the other two texts, using a simple system of numbering, corresponding passages, expansions of the reference text, and completely new material. In addition, this entirely unprecedented synoptic edition contains new scholarly editions of the three texts accompanied by new English translations. Dr Lardicci introduces her work with a detailed and fascinating study of the histories of the three texts, their individual characteristics, and the relationships among them. Useful commentary on unusual terminology and a new edition and transation of the notations, or postils, found in the margins of Las Casas's summary account, complete this fascinating volume.