Updated: Sep 5, 2021
Historical Documents Relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773 Spanish Texts and English Translations Volume 2 by Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier, Fanny R. Bandelier, Charles Wilson Hackett (Lebanon, NJ: Franklin Classics, October 2018), 524 pp.
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923, and may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. The publishers believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of their continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. Recommended by GSHA VP Frank Dominguez.
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World’s Greatest Library, by Edward Wilson-Lee (Scribner, 2018), 401 pp.
The author tells the story of the first and greatest visionary of the print age, a man who saw how the explosive expansion of knowledge and information generated by the advent of the printing press would entirely change the landscape of thought and society. He also happened to be Christopher Columbus’s illegitimate son. Now you can read the story behind this year’s biggest news in books: the discovery in Denmark of a 350 year old manuscript commissioned by Hernando Colón that was mistakenly shelved with an Icelandic collection. The Libro de los Epitomes was a guidebook to the 16th century library of Colón, who had assembled one of the greatest libraries the world has ever known. The Libro summarized all the books in the collection, making it easier to find a specific book among the 15,000 volumes written in several languages. With the discovery of the Libro we now have more information about the entire collection—only a fraction of the library is extant. It is housed at Cathedral of St. Mary of the See in Seville, where son and father are buried.
Updated: Sep 3, 2021
by Henry Kamen (NY, NY: Harper Perennial, December 2008) paperback 544 pp.
According to one review, “This is a fascinating study from an old hand and one that looks afresh at a crucial theme in Spanish history.” Author is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London and an emeritus professor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona. He is the author of Empire: How Spain Became a Great Power, 1492-1763, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest living historians of Spain.